No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. • 547 



getting to the point where you will take notice a bit. One day he 

 drove too close to the edge of the bank and went down over it and 

 then an ambnlance-chasing attorney came to him and took up his 

 case on commission, sued Slayman township for |5,000, and got |2,500 

 damages and that could have gone to build roads in Slayman town- 

 ship. We don't want very much of that up in Luzerne town- 

 ship. I believe that there should be some protection where there is 

 a highway placed on the road to keep that man who is prudent and 

 stays sober from slipping off the bank, and I do not believe there is 

 anything better or more lasting than a sloping ridge at that side 

 of the road that will stay there and be there for twenty-five years, 

 and have that law repealed that makes it necessary that you put up 

 a lot of railing for fellows who are not prudent enough to keep on 

 the road and use judgment enough to stay on the safe side to drive. 



ALFALFA IN PENNSYL\ ANIA 



By M. H. McCALIiUM, Wernersville, Pa. 



The subject of alfalfa is quite an interesting one to me and I 

 have had to do with it for eight years and I dare say that the last 

 year was one of the most interesting years that I have had the 

 experience of growing it, from the standpoint of value as a food. 

 Now the time that 1 am to speak to you on this subject is very 

 short, I have been told by the Chairman, and in the few minutes 

 I have I shall try to confine myself only to a few of the most im- 

 portant phases of the subject. I should like to speak to you of its 

 great value as a food for the dairy and practically all animals upon 

 the farm ; I should like to tell you of the essentials in the growing 

 of the crop; I should like to speak to you of the methods of making 

 hay; but I shall have to forget all these in order to confine myself 

 to the limited time, and I shall speak in the few minutes that are 

 allotted to me of alfalfa in Short Eotation. 



ALFALFA IN SHORT ROTATION 



I believe that the farmers are coming very fast to the time when 

 they appreciate the requirements of a crop; that they more fully 

 realize the likes and dislikes; and it is only when we come into this 

 knowledge that we appreciate the value of this crop. I wish that 

 I might be able to picture to-night in words and give expression of 

 my enthusiasm just along this line; but this will be impossible; but I 

 shall in a few words try to tell you of this crop in short rotation, 

 for I thoroughly believe in it. 



First of all, because of the turning doAvn of the sod. I don't 

 like to leave it standing longer thuu three years. I used to leave 

 it stand just as long as 1 possibly could on account of the weeds 

 and I have had it stand for four and five years, but I believe that 

 the limit of time is the three years when it comes to get plowed, 

 and it is tough enough then. It is all that three good mules can 



