No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 167 



present. These schemes would make it necessary to put from one- 

 tifth to one-seventh of the land devoted to crops for feeding the dairy 

 down to alfalfa. Alfalfa, when once established, will stand for to 

 10 yeaiisi. Kesnlts of tests thus far seem to indicate that alfalfa can 

 be successfully grown in most parts of this State, and that during 

 August or the first of September is the proi)er time for seeding. 

 From the digestion and feeding experiments which have been con- 

 ducted it has been found that the protein of alfalfa hay can be used 

 as a substitute for wheat bran and cow pea» will answer nearly as 

 well as the alfalfa. 



It will be noted that the rotations as given in Table II will fur- 

 nish enough feed of a balanced character, according to the western 

 standard, to maintain a cow on from one and one-half to two acres. 

 The yields outlined herewith in Tables I and II are only such as 

 Mould be considered fair and satisfactory. Many farmers are pro- 

 ducing much more. The ideal in dairying of maintaining a cow on 

 one acre means that this must be done to a large extent by increasing 

 the yields and using the combinations which have been suggested. 

 The value of the leguminous crops as gatherers of nitrogen and 

 miners of subsoil fertility must not be overlooked in the matter of 

 the economical procuring of protein and is an additional argument 

 for introducing these crops in the farm rotations. 



COST OF PRODUCING vs. BUYING OF PROTEIN. 



From the discussion in the preceding pages, and the figures to be 

 noted elsewhere, it is very evident that the necessary protein can be 

 procured on the farm; but this is only one phase of the question and 

 still leaves the question of the cost of production for consideration. 



An examination of Tables I and III will show that one acre of 

 cow peais will produce a little more digestible protein than is fur- 

 nished by two tons of wheat bran, which would make the product of 

 one acre of cow^ pea hay worth on the basis of the present (December 

 1st, 1901) market value of bran, |14.00 or |17.G0 per ton. The cost 

 of producing one acre of cow peas would vary from flO.OO to $15.00. 



One acre in alfalfa would yield the equivalent |T3.00 w'orth of pro- 

 tein if purchased in wheat bran; or in other words a six-acre field of 

 alfalfa would yield as much digestible protein as is purchased in a 

 20 ton carload of wheat bran. Of course protein can be purchased 

 cheaper in cottonseed meal, linseed meal and gluten meal than in 

 wheat bran, but even with these protein can be produced by alfalfa or 

 cow peas at about one-half their cost. 



These figures together with the fact of the leguminous crops being 

 soil improvers and that they can be grow n often as catch crops be- 

 tw'een the regular crops, leave but little doubt as to the wisdom and 

 ]irofit of the home production of })rotein. It may be that some of 



