Alfalfa in Kansas. 13 



"It was either in 1874 or 1875 Mr. Millar does not remember which 

 that he (G. C. Millar, now a resident of Hutchinson, Kan.) and J. R. 

 Blackshere [evidently the same person above mentioned], who owned ad- 

 joining farms, located in section 11, township 20, range 8 east, three 

 miles from Cottonwood Falls, Chase county, chipped in and sent to Idaho 

 for five bushels of alfalfa seed. It cost them something like $56 a 

 bushel laid down in Cottonwood Falls." 



* * * 



The Barteldes Seed Company, of Lawrence, Kan., reports as follows : 



"We were the first seed house to introduce alfalfa in Kansas. I think 

 either in 1875 or 1876 we shipped in from San Francisco some twenty- 

 five pounds of the seed by mail. The seed was worth at that time about 

 one dollar a pound. The next year we made some small local shipments, 

 by express, from the same place. The next two years we bought from 

 Sacramento, and shipped by freight, two or three bags at a time. Later 

 on we bought from Utah, and shipped in ten- and twenty-bag lots, by 

 freight. After that we shipped from Colorado, and mostly from the 

 Arkansas valley. I remember that one year we had some twenty or 

 thirty carloads from this valley. This amount was more than could be 

 used here and we exported some of it to Germany. I can not tell exactly 

 in what year we commenced to handle Kansas seed, but think that we 

 purchased small lots in Kansas between 1880 and 1885. At that time 

 we knew of none handled in New Mexico and Arizona, but California 

 handled it quite largely, though mostly for home consumption. I do 

 not know who has the oldest field in Kansas, but I think Mr. Blackshere, 

 of Elmdale, was one of the earliest and largest growers of alfalfa hay 

 and alfalfa seed." (See pages 171 to 179.) 



THE OLDEST FIELD IN KANSAS. 



An effort was made to determine the oldest field of alfalfa now in 

 Kansas. The oldest field of which it has been possible to gain knowledge 

 is located in Marion county, and is the planting of Mr. John A. 0. 

 Lovania. Mr. Lovania purchased his seed in 1873, in Europe, and there 

 is alfalfa on the same ground yet, where he sowed it. This would make 

 the field to be 43 years of age. The 'information was volunteered by Mr. 

 Charles J. Grosse, of Marion, Kan. Mr. John H. Rich, of Coolidge, 

 Hamilton county, reports as follows: "There is a field one-half mile east 

 of Coolidge that was planted by one Joe Borders in 1882." Mr. George 

 Yoxall, of Stockton, Rooks county, reports: "I have some good alfalfa 

 planted in 1883." This would make these fields to be 34 and 33 years of 

 age, respectively. Three fields were reported to be 30 years old, four 28 

 years old, two 27 years old, seven 25 years old, one 24 years old, and two 

 22 years old. Most of these older stands are located in the western third 

 of the state. 



PROFITABLE LENGTH OF LIFE. 



The average profitable length of life of an alfalfa field is, according 

 to reports received, about 12 years. In the eastern third of the state 

 it is estimated at 10 years, in the central third at 12 years, and in 

 the western third at 15 years. The indications are that alfalfa on bottom 

 land lives much longer than that on upland. The average of the reports 

 on this point show the usual life of alfalfa on bottom land to be 14 years 

 and that on upland to be 6 years. 



