CORNELL 



IReaMno^Course for jfarmers 



Published Monthly by the New York State College of Agriculture 

 AT Cornell University, from November to March, and Entered at 

 Ithaca as Second-class Matter under Act of Congress, July i6, 1894. 

 L. H. Bailey, Director. Charles H. Tuck, Supervisor. 



SERIES VIII. 

 MISCELLANEOUS. 



ITHACA, N. Y., 

 FEBRUARY, 1908. 



No. 39- 

 ALFALFA 



k 



^ 



ALFALFA. 



G. F. Warren and C. J. Grant. 



Value. The table below shows the total number of 

 acres of dififerent kinds of hay and total yields in 1899 

 according to the last census. 



Acres 



Alfalfa 2,094,00c 



Clover 4,104,000 



•a 



5,221 ,000 

 5,167,000 



Cultivated Grasses' . . 31,302,000 35,624,000 





'13 "C ni 



Q 



2.5 2673 

 1.3 1214 

 I . I 1091 



c2 



O U 



K 0-a 



Q 



609 



177 



62 



'Figured as timothy. 



It will be seen that from half the area Alfalfa gave a 

 little more total yield than clover. Its composition being 

 better it gave over three times the digestible nutrients 

 per acre.^ 



Reports from four hundred farmers in Ohio showed 

 the average yield to be 3.9 tons per acre, with a value 

 of $11 per ton or $43 per acre.^ The average yields in 

 New York are almost the same as those in Ohio, but the 

 value per ton is more. 



Value may be overestimated. Alfalfa has almost the 



same composition as wheat bran. This has led to the 



common statement that it is as valuable as wheat 



bran. This is not true. It is always unsafe to compare the feeding 



values of grain feeds with hay, on the basis of composition only. 



The coarser feeds are harder to digest. Feeding trials in milk pro- 



1 Forage and Fiber Crops in America. 



2 Ohio, Bulletin 181. 



479 



