Alfalfa is not easily started, however, on the uplands of the extreme western part of the state; and dry-farming (the Campbell dust-mulch system) has the expensiveness in labour of intensive cultivation.
Constant hoeing or harrowing to maintain a natural soil mulch layer of 2 or 3 in.
Mulch the beds with 2 or 3 in.
A loose layer of earth spread over the surface of the soil acts in the same way, and a similarly effective mulch may be prepared by hoeing the soil, or stirring it to a depth of one or two inches with harrows or other implements.
" Moss culture " may be tried, the common sphagnum or moss of the swamps, mixed with one-twentieth of its bulk of bonedust, being laid as a mulch on the top of the earth of the flower-pots; its effect is to shield the pots from the sun, and at the same time stimulate the roots to come to the surface.
