No. 7. • DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 619 



Well, our soil was limestone, aud I hauled manure on it until I 

 got it pretty rich, and then I sowed alfalfa. I had not much faith 

 that it would grow, but it did grow. That was in 18 — well, never 

 mind the date. Well, I gathered alfalfa three times a year, and 

 sometimes four times, for five years, and by that time it had died out 

 some and we planted corn. Now, before we had the alfalfa about 

 30 bushels of corn was a fairly good crop; even after we had drained 

 it, 50 bushels was a good crop, and if we got 65 bushels of shelled 

 corn to the acre, it was a remarkable yield. After we had the alf- 

 alfa we made 80 bushels of shelled corn — twice the quantity — and 

 — I can assure you of fields where we made 100 bushels of shelled 

 corn to the acre. The more alfalfa we grow, the better crop of corn 

 we grew, and the more corn we got, the better crop of alfalfa. That 

 was because the soil had become innoculated, and the bacteria are 

 living there now. Last year we grew on our farm 300 tons of alfalfa, 

 and we expect to grow 400 tons this year. That old farm has now 

 320 acres, and on that farm we harvested last year more than 7,000 

 bushels of corn of 75 pounds to the bushel, and 300 tons of alfalfa 

 haj', and we save some of the land for pasture for our sheep, and 

 for the cattle, and some good Percheron horses we have. 



These alfalfa roots get down into the bottom of the soil, where it 

 has been planted for a year or two years. The plant is a heavy feed- 

 er on nitrogen in the air, and at the same time you grow alfalfa, you 

 enrich the soil. Now, what Prof. Hopkins said this afternoon is 

 true. Alfalfa needs phosphorus, and last j-ear we put on our farm 

 from 200 pounds to 400 pounds to the acre, and actually doubled our 

 crop, and we got |14 worth of crop for every dollar's worth of phos- 

 phorus we put on the soil. 



This is what alfalfa has done for one farm. Don't you think I be- 

 lieve in it? When I started in in 1889, one old darkey and my father 

 were sufficient to do all the work. Now on that farm my brothers 

 work the year round, and I work when I am home — and my brothers 

 are good workers — and we have three married men working every 

 day in the year, and we have a number of single men there, too, and 

 I am glad to give them employment, because the more good people 

 you get into your neighborhood the better your neighborhood. I 

 walk out through the corn fields, and I see where a man has thrown 

 back a clod of ground away from the corn, or where he has straight- 

 ened the stalks, and I know what that man is. These things show 

 faithfulness in a man, and these are the sort of men to have around 

 you — people who take an interest in their work, and their surround- 

 ings. These men live there, and their little boys go to the village 

 school with my boys, and their dinner pails are packed with the same 

 food my boys have — they are filled with alfalfa. 



Why, it is just as easy to grow alfalfa as it is to keep your sweet- 

 heart or your wife in love with you. If you know, I don't need to ex- 

 plain it to you. If you don't, I will say that I have never found it 

 requires any superior talent. She does not expect you to climb 

 the roof of the house, or to do any great thing, but she does expect 

 of you the little things that show your affection for her, and your 

 thoughtfulness for her. 



Now, if you will get into your minds a few things that alfalfa de- 

 mands, I think I can help you get your farm started in growing al- 



