No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 549 



Then again, I believe in short rotation because of the sod or the 

 root system that we turn up in these few years' growth, the long 

 tap roots that go down into the subsoil. This fall when I plowed 

 these twenty acres of three years' standing, the plow brought up roots 

 that had gone down into the subsoil from fifteen to eighteen inches, 

 mind jou, fifteen to eighteen inches into the subsoil, and pulled 

 them up out of the subsoil and deposited them in the upper layer 

 of surface soil where the shallow crops can get hold of them. These 

 long roots puncture that subsoil, and when plowed add that plant 

 food to the surface layer. I wish you could compare the root sys- 

 tem of the alfalfa with the root system of the red clover. I have 

 had results along this line. I have been able to grow potatoes and 

 grow corn on sod that has been turned down from the alfalfa sod 

 and, we may know something of the value of alfalfa as a food but 

 I say we don't appreciate at the present time the great value of this 

 plant to our soils. AVe have yet a lot to learn along that line; but 

 1 say the time is fast coming when we will appreciate this more. 

 I have had potatoes ui)on this sod and corn and years when condi- 

 tions were unfavorable 1 have had as high as twenty bushels more 

 to the acre with the same tillage, the same planting and the same 

 conditions practically all through and I could see throughout the 

 season I was going to get better results from the alfalfa as com- 

 pared with the red clover. With the little experience I have had 

 along this line 1 am enthusiastic over the outcome of this crop. 



I should be pleased to take up more time in the discussion of this 

 subject and present it from the standpoint of value as a feed, be- 

 cause I have had lots of good experience along this line. But I am 

 more enthusiastic now because of the results that I have obtained 

 just along the line of the value to our soil as a soil reviver and soil 

 vigorator, and the man who plants it should look to this not only 

 as selecting one of the best foods for his cattle and animals, but 

 he can stand assured that it is going to be a great benefit to his soil 

 as well. 



ALFALFA 



By P. P. GHEEN, WiUow Grove, Pa. 



What is it? It is a leguminous plant, and in reckoning its value, 

 we cannot compute its value to agriculture. We have record that 

 it existed in Central Asia, 490 B. C. But in using the common sense 

 view, we have no doubt that after the third day that God said, ''Let 

 there be light and there was light," that alfalfa as well as all other 



things existed. 



From Central Asia it Avas carried into Greece; from Greece to 

 Kome— to Northern Africa — to Spain ; and thence to the Western 

 Hemisphere. Its name is Arabic, meaning best fodder; and we 

 feel that it has never belied its name. 



