Alfalfa in Kansas. 



171 



tions as mentioned are practiced and when the yields and prices are as 

 stated. 



It is interesting to note that, except where a seed crop is raised, the 

 net profit per acre is greatest when the hay is fed on the farm. A 

 peculiarly happy circumstance is that an alfalfa seed crop, the most 

 profitable crop of all, usually comes in those dry years when all other, 

 crops are at their worst. Baled alfalfa hay brings a better profit than 

 loose alfalfa hay, when sold. When shipped to a distant market the 

 transportation charges and the commission charges are usually offset by 

 a higher price. 



GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THEMSELVES 



THE POOD THEV PRODUCED FROM AN ACRE, 



I COULDNY START A3\ /NO USE TRYING TO ^ 

 EARLY A5 ALFALFA NOR (I COMPETE WITH ALfAUFA 

 WORK AS LATE. AND HE HAS BOGS TO HCU> 

 THEN RUST AND HOT II HIM AND WHO WANTS TO 

 WEATHER HURT ME. ) | WORK ALL THE TIMC . / 

 ANYWAY. ^ 



COULPXT WORK 

 AS EARLY AND LATE 

 BUT HERE IS WHAT 



PRODUCED 



I WORKED EARLY AND LATE 

 FROM SPRING, TO FREEZE- 

 UP AND HERE IS WHAT 

 I HAVE BROUGHT YOU. 



WELL , BOYS, 

 WHAT HAVE. 

 YOU DONE 



WHO WILL GET THE JOB NEXT YEAR ? 



FIG. 147. Alfalfa probably is Kansas' most profitable crop. 

 [Courtesy North Dakota Experiment Station.] 



It is doubtful whether any of the field crops common to Kansas will 

 show a greater net profit than alfalfa, and few will show so great a net 

 profit. (See -pages 469 to 472.) 



FROM PERSIA TO KANSAS. 



By H. J. WATERS, President Kansas State Agricultural College. 



It's a long way from Persia to Kansas, nearly half way around the 

 world, even as the crow flies. Yet this is the distance alfalfa traveled 

 from Persia, the place of its birth, to Kansas, the place of its most 

 effectual fruition. It 's a long time from 500 B. c. to 1869 A. D. Yet this is 

 the time that elapsed from the date of, the earliest extant record of alfalfa 

 to the date of the plant's first entrance into Kansas. 



It was in the land of Media, a well-watered, fertile and wealthy coun- 

 try in what is now northern Persia, that alfalfa had its ancient home. 

 The first word of the botanical name of the plant, Medica>go sativa, is a 

 reminiscence of the ancient land of the Medes, of whom we read so much 

 in the Old Testament Scriptures and secular history. The word sativa 

 means cultivated. In England, where words live longer than in the 

 United States, the name "purple medic," suggesting both the origin and 

 the color of the flower of the plant, is commonly applied to alfalfa. 



