FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 675 



ing our soil fertility. We are now learning to grow alfalfa. Experiments 

 with clover and alfalfa side by side indicate that alfalfa has withstood the 

 severe conditions of winter and spring of the last three years and the 

 drouths of the last two years better than clover. Statistics gathered in 

 Iowa show that in the last two years the failures of clover seeding have 

 been more numerous than those of alfalfa. There are plenty of instances 

 in the state where alfalfa has been sown in timothy meadows and each 

 year for a number of years has become more vigorous and persistent. 

 Give alfalfa a "square deal." Supply the conditions necessary to its growth 

 and with a fair chance it will become one of our most prominent crops. 



In the last two years, perhaps no crop has attracted so much atten- 

 tion as alfalfa. As an all around feed it has no equal. It contains over 

 eleven pounds of protein in every 100 pounds of hay — it is almost as rich 

 as bran. It ranks high in its fat content, and in addition contains more 

 bone building material than any other feed grown on the farm. As an all 

 around feed, rich in all the materials necessary to animal growth, it 

 has no equal, while in its total yield of feed per acre we grow no crops 

 which will compare with it. The average yield as reported by the 

 various experiments stations in the corn belt is over five tons per acre. 

 It is not unusual, however, to hear of a crop making five cuttings per 

 year. Indeed, we may reasonably expect three. 



Alfalfa is one of our best feeds. The Missouri Experiment Station 

 produced 600 pounds of pork per acre and in addition received ninety- 

 eight cents for every bushel of corn that was fed. Not including the 

 corn fed, the alfalfa alone returned $36 on six cent pork. As a dairy 

 feed, the dairymen already appreciate its value. Based on the cost 

 of production a pound of protein grown in alfalfa costs only two cents; 

 in cotton seed meal, the dairyman's cheapest concentrate, it would cost 

 twice as much, in gluten feed and oil meal, about three times as 

 much, and in bran even more. The average money value of the protein 

 of each acre of alfalfa in 1909 and 1910' was $22.80, and $31.32 as com- 

 pared with a value of $16.75, and $15.91 for winter wheat and $17.65 and 

 $14.32 for corn. After deducting the cost of growing each crop the 

 profit from the average acre of alfalfa in 1909 and '10 was $14.01 as 

 compared with a net profit of but $3.17 for corn and $4.36 for winter 

 wheat. Placing this on still another basis each acre of alfalfa has aver- 

 aged a production of 2.16 times as much protein as red clover; 2.75 

 times as much as corn, and four times as much as oats. It is significant 

 to note that out of 1,016 alfalfa seedings reported from several parts 

 of the state, that only 12.7 per cent are classed as failures. At Ames 

 sixteen seedings sown since 1904 have given an average yield of 4.38 

 tons of field cured hay. This is merely an indication of what might 

 be done on any farm where it is properly handled. 



Most of the alfalfa failures of Iowa have been due to improper meth- 

 ods of culture. This, not so much to the lack -of knowledge of the re- 

 quirements of the plant as to the lack of applying a few fundamental 

 conditions which we know are necessary to its growth. Alfalfa is a new 

 plant and there are many things concerning it which we still have to 

 learn. But if we would apply the knowledge which we already have. 



