470 Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



We can well afford to consider the "mammal" value of any foodstuff. 

 On reference to circular No. 25, Michigan Experiment Station, we are 

 told "a ton of alfalfa hay contains 46.5 pounds of nitrogen, 12.2 pounds 

 of phosphoric acid, and 35.8 pounds of potash, and that its total present 

 value, if purchased as commercial fertilizer, would be $10.82." Think of 

 the opportunity thus offered to a person wishing to build up a depleted 

 farm in cheerfully becoming a large buyer of alfalfa hay, and by feeding 

 it to animals worth their feed, thus practically secure its full feeding 

 value free of cost; for the hay can often be procured at the said $10.82 

 per ton in other words, its fertilizer value. 



When we come to realize that 77 per cent of the air is "free nitrogen," 

 in connection with the ability of alfalfa to capture this nitrogen, we must 

 conclude that no thoughtful farmer can neglect to "cash his opportunity" 

 by a somewhat liberal use of the plant, Kansas air being plentiful and 

 nitrogen now selling at eighteen cents per pound. Our humble servant, 

 alfalfa, is easily queen of all the legume family of plants for this purpose. 



In utilizing man labor and horsepower alfalfa easily heads the list. 

 In most instances only one cultivation is required, and it may be per- 

 formed at almost any season of the year when the field is unoccupied by 

 growth and the soil found in workable condition. 



The harvesting date is not condensed and exacting, as is the case with 

 wheat and many other crops, but instead is distributed over a few 

 months of the year, which besides being a relief to both man and beast, 

 also greatly assists in storage space required, wherever the crop is to 

 be placed under roof, for the lapse of time permits the mass to settle 

 very materially and thus occupy so much less space. 



Again, if a definite limited space under roof or stack cover is to be 

 utilized for the care of the season's crops, this separation of harvest 

 dates enables one in the meantime nicely to dispose of the previous cut- 

 ting by sale or use, or at least greatly to condense it by baling at his 

 leisure between successive cuttings. 



Few crops enjoy the popularity as a "selling crop" that alfalfa en- 

 joys. It is considered an "article of commerce" in one or more of its 

 various forms throughout almost the entire civilized world. From the 

 farmer's point of view, selling the crop is excusable only when he is sure 

 that he can spa,re the soil fertility which it contains, which in some 

 special instances is even true. 



Next, selling from the farm might be indulged in where the farmer 

 finds he can purchase soil fertility in other form that will repace that 

 contained in the crop, and at such price as to leave him a margin of 

 profit on the double transaction (which is almost never possible). 



We have a few isolated instances wherein selling outright can be in- 

 dulged in rather freely. There are places in Colorado where the irri- 

 gating water fully supplies the drain on potash, and largely also that on 

 phosphoric acid, while the alfalfa plant utilizes the nitrogen from the 

 atmosphere, thus reducing soil-exhaustion to a minimum. In our own 

 state what is called the "Garden City district," in Finney county, is 

 most favorably located for the production of alfalfa in very large quan- 

 tities. There the soil is specially adapted to its most perfect develop- 



