EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 215 



ALFALFA FOR MILCH COWS. 



* In 1899, Cottrell made inquiries throughout the state of Kansas to learn in what 

 localities the cows were giving the best returns. The result of this inquiry revealed the 

 fact that the best results from feeding dairy cows were received in those parts of the 

 state where alfalfa hay was a prominent feed. » 



GREEN RYE AND ALFALFA AS SOILING CROPS. 



In the Experiment Station Report, volume 10, p. 295, the following quotation from 

 an experiment at the Ontario Agricultural College where rye and alfalfa were com- 

 pared as soiling crops is given: "The rye, which was a medium crop, yielded at the 

 rate of 12,375 pounds of green fodder per acre and the alfalfa yielded a first cutting 

 at the rate of 15,300 pounds of green fodder per acre. The alfalfa was eaten rather 

 more readily by the cows than the rye. The milk yield was slightly in favor of the 

 alfalfa. When scored by an expert the rye butter scored 35 points for flavor and the 

 alfalfa butter 40 points for flavor, out of a possible score of 45 points. The plat of 

 alfalfa furnished two subsequent crops, which made the total yield from the alfalfa 

 plat more than double that stated above, whereas the rye made but an indifferent 

 second growth." 



Voorheis and Lane in New Jersey Experiment Station Bulletin 148, conclude that 

 "The crop is well adapted for soiling and for hay. The average yield of green forage 

 per acre for three years (including the first year) was 18.27 tons, equivalent to 

 4.57 tons of hay. The yield the third year from five cuttings was 26.G tons of green 

 forage, equivalent to 6.Q5 tons of hay, costing $3.69 per ton." 



"A feeding experiment showed that the protein in alfalfa hay could be successfully 

 and profitably substituted in a ration for dairy cows for that contained in wheat bran 

 and dried brewers' grains, and for this purpose is worth $11.16 per ton, when compared 

 with the wheat bran and dried brewers' grain at $17 per ton." 



"The use of alfalfa hay reduces the necessity for the purchase of protein feeds." 



New York State Bulletin No. 80 records in full a series of experiments with Alfalfa 

 Forage for Milch Cotes which result generally favorable to the feeding value of alfalfa, 

 and particularly to its palatability. 



ALFALFA FOR HORSES. 



Muntz and Girard made an extensive study of the composition of alfalfa in experi- 

 ments with horses, to determine the digestibility both as green forage and cured hay. 

 The alfalfa was fed alone and mixed with meadow hay. The experiments were con- 

 tinued usually for a period of twenty-one days. The conclusions are that as regards 

 nitrogenous material alfalfa is superior to meadow hay, but as regards carbohydrates 

 the hay is superior.! 



As a pasture for sheep, the following experiment was tried on a one-tenth acre plot 

 during the season of 1900: 



A movable pen 16 feet long and 8 feet wide was, on May 1, started at one end of the 

 plot, which was one rod by 16, and moved each day at a rate sufficient to pass over the 

 entire area four times in five months. Until July 1 a Dorset ewe and two lambs were 

 kept in the pen, then the ewe was removed and the lambs left there alone. Up to August 

 15 the lambs gained constantly and had increased 82 pounds in weight. They received, 

 in addition to the lucerne pasture one pint of oats daily. After August 15 the lambs 

 continued to fall off in condition and weight. Had the experiment been a feeding experi- 

 ment only it would have been policy to remove the lambs at this time, and give them a 

 change of feed, but in order to further test the vigor of the lucerne, under continued 

 pasturage and learn if possible its injurious effects upon the lambs, they were con- 

 tinued in the experiment until October 1, when one of them died, followed a few days 

 later by the other. 



Conclusions are that the crop will furnish abundant pasture, and that pasturage by 

 sheep is not injurious to the crop as evidenced by the complete growth which appeared 



* Kansas Experiment Station Bulletin So. 

 f Annals Agron., 24 (1S98), No. 1. 



