390 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



alfalfa as this at from three to four dollars a ton and fed it to cows, 

 after running it through a shredder. Heavy seeding and a thick 

 stand, with early cutting, remedies this difficulty. It is hard to " get 

 rid of " in the fields. So is white clover and timothy. It roots 

 very deeply, and the root is strong, and it takes a sharp plow point 

 to cut it off. But those who are growing it here are not anxious to 

 get rid of it. At an Institute held at Fayetteville some years ago, 

 this same question of how to break up an alfalfa meadow was 

 brought up by a conductor, and a fine old gentleman of Celtic 

 ancestry answered in Yankee style, by asking " 'Phy the devil wod 

 ye want to break up a meady that is givin ye five to sivin toons av 

 good hay ach year." 



His reply seemed to express the sentiment of the growers pres- 

 ent. 



Our friend seems to think that alfalfa needs irrigation to make 

 a fair crop. Water does help it. Three years ago I cut an aver- 

 age of more than five tons of cured hay in four good cuttings on 

 a small piece that had been down 14 years; my father cut 

 a larger quantity to the acre that same year. The past summer 

 has been the driest one I remember. The average yield of 

 alfalfa on our place this year was not less than three tons per acre, 

 in three cuttings. I would have been glad of an opportunity to 

 irrigate, but as my Celtic friend above alluded to remarked: " It 

 was so dhry here that it was a sin for ony man on the hill to dhrink 

 wather." I believe the average yield of all the alfalfa in this sec- 

 tion in 1900 was not less than three tons per acre, and our people 

 are all anxious for more. A few years ago I bought good alfalfa 

 hay for $4 per ton; to-day I can buy red clover hay for less than 

 alfalfa; the people have learned its value as a cattle food. It may 

 please some of those who are worrying about the condition of the 

 eastern farmer to know that within two miles of my home is a man 

 who last spring bought a farm for $61 per acre, running in debt 

 for five-sixths of the purchase price, and that he has already (Jan. 

 1st) sold from the alfalfa fields on this farm enough hay to more 

 than half pay for each acre on which the hay grew. This is not 

 an exceptional case this year ? with alfalfa hay worth $12 per ton. 



Alfalfa is good for any animal that will eat it, although I do 

 not advise too much of it for horses. With rye straw, oat straw, 

 and grain, an ideal ration can be compounded. Hogs and sheep 

 both relish it, and for milch cows and young cattle it is an ideal 

 food. 



