MANURING
A light top-dressing of manure after sowing, or, in case of fall sowing, any time during the winter, helps to conserve moisture as well as to give the growing plants some nitrogenous food. Applying a top-dressing of stable manure at least every second or third winter is certain to prove profitable. If it contains coarse straw or other litter, this should be raked and hauled off later, but before the alfalfa grows too high, especially if the hay is intended for the city market. Many successful growers in Kansas, who claim to cut from five to seven tons of alfalfa hay per acre in a season apply a top-dressing of manure every winter. The highest yields reported from eastern states are where this practice is followed. Some experiment station men believe that where this is not done the crop will after eight or ten years tend to impoverish the land instead of further improving it.