ALFALFA. 



ALFALFA. 



THE AVAY ALFALFA HAY IS STACKED ON lUUU AND oUOU ACKE FARMS IN THE WEST. 



ers were obliged to place their extractors in 

 warm rooms, and even warm the combs 

 sometimes before extracting, so thick is the 

 hoiiey. And then to do any thing like a 

 good job of extracting one must give the 

 extractor-baskets a h gh rotative speed, and 

 this necessarily puts a great strain on the 

 wire cloth and the bracing of the extractor. 



We have already spoken of the superb 

 quality of alfalfa honey. If any one takes a 

 liking to it, as we liave done, he will be al- 

 most spoiled for eating any other honey. 

 Some of it is so thick and tine that it can be 

 almost chewed like so much delicious wax 

 candy. The flavor is a little like that of 

 white clover, with a slight trace of mint 

 that is very pleasant. In color it is quite 

 equal to it, and in every other way it has no 

 superior, althougli in some i^arts of the 

 West the color is a light amber. In the vei y 

 hot portions of the United States it is dis- 

 posed to be darker than in the colder locali- 

 ties. The Colorado alfalfa is as a rale tlie 

 lightest in color. 



The nectar from alfalfa is secreted so 

 abundantly during the time it is in bloom 

 that anywhere from 100 to 500 colonies can 

 be supported in a given location. In Colo- 

 rado, however, it is found more profitable to 

 have ajnaries containing no more than from 

 100 to 150 colonies, owing to the very great 

 overstocking in many of the best localities. 

 Bee-keepers have rushed to this land of gold 

 and golden honey in such numbers that in 

 the great alfalfa-growing regions apiaries 



are stuck in very closely, from half a mile 

 to a mile apart, so it is. not now profitable to 

 have more than 100 colonies to the yard. In 

 other localities not so much overstocked, 

 from 200 to 300 colonies can be kept in a 

 single apiary. 



For a given acreage there is no plant or 

 tree, unless it is basswood, that will support 

 as many colonies. In several localities in 

 Colorado aud Arizona, within a radius of 

 five miles there will be anywhere from two 

 to seven thousand colonies, the like of which 

 can not be found anywhere else in the world, 

 probably. 



In Kansas and Nebraska, in the unirri- 

 gated regions, it is being grown more and 

 more; where, too, it is so dry, and the soil 

 so alkaline, it was supposed nothing would 

 grow. It has been found that the roots of 

 the alfalfa will pierce the hardpan, reach 

 down into the moist subsoil, and leach out 

 the alkali. Some of these lands have thus 

 been transformed into productive ranches. 

 With the onward march of the alfalfa has 

 come the busy bee to take its share of the 

 wealth. 



There is scarcely a prettier sight than al- 

 falfa when in bloom. The beautiful bluish 

 or violet tinted flowers present a mass of 

 color that is truly striking to one who has 

 never seen the like of it before; and the 

 fields are measured, not by the acre, but by 

 the square mile. Indeed, we rode through 

 one ranch in a Pullman car, going probably 

 50 miles an hour, that seemed all of -10 min- 



