LIVE STOCK BREEDERS* ASSOCIATION. 227 



a crop of it be here in Missouri ? The thing is to start out and sow it. 

 It is not simply a good horse feed, it is a good cattle feed ; it is a good 

 sheep feed,, and above all, it is a good hog feed. There are farmers in 

 Kansas who don't give their hogs an ear of corn, but send them off to 

 market as shoats weighing 200 to 250 pounds, having been fed on al- 

 falfa fields ; but of course a few ears of corn, thrown out daily, would 

 be of great advantage to them. We have been neglecting one of the 

 most important crops ever since our State has been a state — the alfalfa 

 crop. In Europe it is called Lucern. I saw it in large fields upon the 

 Rothemstead experiment station farm in England, saw it in Germany, and 

 in France, in Belgium, Holland and Scotland. It is considered there 

 an indispensable crop to the farmer ; it is there fed to dairy cows ; fed 

 to everything, and if it can be produced there, it can certainly be pro- 

 duced here in Missouri, where Heaven has given us such bounteous 

 soil and glorious climate ; and if I can make an impression upon every 

 farmer here to try it, to get the best seed, to give it a fair trial, I will 

 have accomplished something. 



If you are afflicted with crab grass or fox tail on your farm 

 you must keep it cut down or it will smother out the alfalfa the first 

 year or two. I think alfalfa should be sown about the first of August— 

 lafter a good rain, if possible, so as to have plenty of moisture. By 

 sowing it then you will avoid the crab grass. Harrow the ground 

 smoothly, sow the seed, and if the ground is not too moist, run a roller 

 over it to compact the soil about the seed. I use a fluted roller — not 

 smooth, but corrugated ; manufactured in St. Louis ; those who have 

 used it are much pleased with it. I use it on everything I sow — oats, 

 alfalfa and even on corn after planting. 



The great trouble is if you leave the soil too porous there will be 

 too much evaporation of moisture. You must compact it pretty firmly 

 around the seed. My superintendent did not believe much in this rolling ; 

 I had quite a large field to sow in clover, and he decided to try an 

 experiment, thinking I would not know it. He left a gap of an acre 

 or two that he did not roll after sowing clover and oats ; and when he 

 was harvesting the oats I went over the field with him, and saw that 

 place he had not rolled, and I said, "What under the heaven is the mat- 

 ter here ?" There was a strip with only now and then a stalk of clover. 

 He "fessed" up. He said, "I did not think it was of any use to use the 

 roller, and just thought I would try an experiment. I see I made a big 

 mistake. Where the seed was pressed down firm and compact the re- 

 sults are good, but where I neglected to do this I see the results in 

 tliis bare strip here." 



The only way you can return the mineral elements to the soil is 



