WHY GROW ALFALFA ? 



By Prof. A. D. Cromwell, West Chester, Pa. 



Alfalfa in our Agricultural Readjustment.— Life is a never 

 -ending series of changes. Like one carrying a lantern on a dark 

 night, man cannot see far enough ahead but he can see reasonably 

 ■^vvell within a small arc in front and around him. In no occupa- 

 tion is change more certain than in farming. The changes made 

 in farming during recent years can hardly be equaled by the com- 

 bined changes made from the time of David to the establishment 

 of our land grant colleges and experiment stations connected with 

 the colleges. But not all farmers make the changes. The farmer 

 is an individualist. He does as he pleases. He frequently tries 

 the new, tries it in the wrong way or at the wrong time and suf- 

 fers financial loss. What he needs is closer and more sympathetic 

 co-operation with those who are making the newer things pay on 

 the farm. He needs closer touch and co-operation with those who 

 know what adjustments he may make to his advantage. For this 

 we have established our Farm Bureaus and for this showing v/hat 

 adjustments a farmer may make to his advantage, the United 

 States Department of Agriculture has had many highly trained 

 men at work taking Farm Management Surveys. 



These trained specialists agree with the leading farmers that 

 among the changes that are coming, there is no one that will 

 equal the adjustments to be made because of the introduction of 

 alfalfa. It is an interesting fact that alfalfa is the oldest known 

 .agricultural plant and yet in a way a newcomer and a recent dis- 

 covery of American agriculture. There are more farmers interest- 

 ed in learning how to grow alfalfa than there are interested in 

 learning any other one thing about agriculture. Except clover 

 and timothy, there are more acres of alfalfa grown on our Amer- 

 ican farms than of any other forage or hay crop. We are in- 

 creasing our acreage at a marvelous rate. We are doubling the 

 acreage east of the Missouri River each five years. 



Why Grow Alfalfa ? 



Alfalfa for New England. — New England needs alfalfa. The 

 farms are small, m.any of them are surrounded by stone walls and 



