No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 429 



practically the same as when rations were used whose protein was de- 

 rived from other sources; and third, the cost of milk was very much 

 lower when cost of production of alfalfa hay was taken into con- 

 sideration. 



In fact, the substitution of an amount of protein equivalent to that 

 contained in a mixture of wheat bran, dried brewers' grains and mixed 

 hay, would make the feeding value of alfalfa hay |24.52 per ton, when 

 mixed hay could be purchased for |1G per ton, wheat bran for |26, 

 and dried brewers' grains for |20. In other words, the low cost of 

 production of alfalfa is accompanied by a higher feeding value— the 

 avera^ value per acre of the crop for 5 years being |118.43, when 

 compared with fine feeds having an established feeding value. 



Further experiments conducted at our Station and elsewhere, while 

 variable — due to the different methods of using — all united in showing 

 the high feeding value of well cured alfalfa hay, as compared with 

 purchased feeds of known value at prevailing prices, and the superior- 

 ity of alfalfa hay over the mixed feeds made up of refuse materials 

 of low feeding value, but high in price. This phase of the question, 

 while most interesting and suggestive, does not, however, show the 

 entire advantages that may be derived from the growing of alfalfa 

 hay. 



On file average, the hay produced on this acre of land in five years 

 contained 16.5 per cent, protein, or an equivalent of 2.0G per cent, of 

 nitrogen. The nitrogen gathered by the average crop of hay was, 

 therefore, 257 lbs. per acre — one-quarter of this nitrogen was probably 

 utilized in the production of milk, as it furnished the basis of the pro- 

 tein in the ration for milk cows, and the remainder of 193 lbs., was 

 contained in 1.245 lbs. of nitrate of soda. 



Inasmuch as the nitrogen in this crop was not gathered from soil 

 sources, but from the air, sufficient nitrogen was left after the hay 

 had been fed to milk cows, to provide for that contained in 193 bushels 

 of wheat, as a bushel of wheat will, on the average, carry about one 

 pound of nitrogen. This amount of nitrogen, if bought in the market, 

 in the form of high-grade fertilizers, would cost about .f38, and it ma> 

 be legitimately added to the value of the crop, for it may not only be 

 assumed, but is a fact that this nitrogen is largely, if not altogether, 

 gatliered from the air, as wheat, corn and other crops seeded after 

 alfalfa grow more luxuriantly than upon those farmed in regular rota- 

 tior"*!. anrl nburflnTitlv fsuprdir-fl v^ith ■n'.fvnfraryo^^o for+ili^pr'?. For 

 every ton of alfalfa hay. therefore, which was worth .'R24..52. as a sub- 

 stitiite for purchased feeds at prevailing prices, there should be cre- 

 dited to it at ]or\^i ?^ fnr tho nitroo-en wbirh the fnrmor does no( 

 have to purchase to grow his wheat crop, plus that which is left in 

 the roots and stubble in the alfalfa field, and which when the land is 

 broken is quite as caT>nble of surtnlying that needed for wheat, corn 

 anrl other cereals as flint bought in the regular commercial forms. 



These are colrl facts; they are not fin:ures dependent ur>on the man 

 who figures, as anyono will testify who has grown the crop. Ts it 

 any wonder, then, that after such an experience that one should de- 

 precate the time that could not be given to snreadins: the news of the 

 wonders of alfalfa, and urging the growth of the crop whenever con- 

 ditions are favorable? 



As a result of this experiment, others were begun, not only at the 

 College Farm, but elsewhere throughout the State, to determine its 



