178 ALFALFA. 
FERTILIZING VALUE OF ALFALFA. 
Because alfalfa has the power of appropriating for its 
use the free nitrogen of the air, it has a high fertilizing value. 
A crop of alfalfa plowed under adds large stores of this most 
valuable plant food to the soil. The roots when decayed 
furnish to the soil large amounts of humus which improves 
it for crop production both chemically and physically. The 
Wyoming Experiment Station found that when alfalfa land 
was plowed and planted to wheat, it produced $8 to $12 
more value in wheat per acre than the land that had grown 
potatoes and grain before. Alfalfa land gave $16 worth 
more of potatoes per acre than was obtained from land that 
had grown potatoes and grain before.* 
In the digestion trial in which green alfalfa was fed, the 
solid and liquid excrement of the steers contained 94 per 
cent of the nitrogen consumed in the food. Of this amount 
nearly 75 per cent was contained in the Jiquid excrement. 
This shows the value of the manure, especially the liquid 
part and the importance of returning it to the land. 
DAE DIGES TIBeLDY OF AOG Miele al 
(Panicum miliaceum.) 
An examination of American Experiment Station litera- 
ture fails to disclose any recorded results of work done to 
determine the feeding value of hog millet. This millet seems 
to be easily grown and produces seed fairly well in Minneso- 
ta, hence this work was undertaken. 
For this trial,a hog weighing about 180 pounds was 
used. During the actual trlal the animal was fed 17 meals 
and the solid and liquid excrements were collected for a like 
period.. A marker of charcoal was fed to the animal with 
the first meal and another after the last meal of the period. 
Only the feces which appeared between these markers was 
weighed and used for the analysis. Samples were taken at 
the close of every day, and these were carefully dried anda 
composite sample for analysis was madeot all. The feeding 
of the animal and the collection of the excrements was done 
under the supervision of Mr. C. P. Taylor of the Animal 
* Wyoming Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 44. 
