76 FOR BETTER CROPS 



Advantages of the Alfalfa Crop — What, briefly, are the 

 advantages of the alfalfa plant over other forage crops? First, 

 that it roots so deep in the soil. It is safe to say that alfalfa 

 roots penetrate as deep as there is any soil. If the soil is three 

 feet deep, the roots will penetrate three feet. If the soil is ten 

 feet deep, the roots will go down ten feet. And if the soil is 

 thirty feet deep, the roots will go down thirty feet. Thus the 

 whole soil is utilized. 



The Whole Season— Next, remember that the plant uses the 

 whole of the growing season, and it is the one crop that the 

 farmer grows that does this. It is very hardy and does not much 

 mind cold. As soon in spring as the sun has slightly warmed the 

 earth the alfalfa is up and is growing. It does not mind light 

 frosts, but keeps right on growing. Soon after the corn is 

 planted the alfalfa is ready to cut— by the first of June in most 

 of the region of the corn belt, earlier in the South, and not much 

 later anywhere. Thus the soil has yielded one crop almost before 

 the corn has begun to take hold at all. 



]S^ext, consider what happens when you cut off that first cut- 

 ting. It should be taken away as soon as little buds appear on 

 the lower part of the stems, showing that a new growth is ready 

 to start up. At this time the plant will be partly in bloom and 

 the leaves dropping from the larger stems. Then is the time to 

 cut it down and make it into hay. The hay making must 

 proceed rapidly, for soon after this first crop is laid low these buds 

 start into action, and in about fifteen minutes after the mower 

 has passed over the field there is a second crop under way. This 

 makes it needful to get the crop off the field promptly and let the 

 next one come on. In thirty days from the time it is cut there 

 stands a second crop ready for the mower. And after that in 

 thirty-five or forty days there is yet a third crop ready. And if it 

 is taken off on time there is the fourth cutting. Much of the 

 yield of these later cuttings depends of course upon the presence 

 of moisture in the soil, but it is sure that the alfalfa will use all 

 of the moisture from rainfall, and if irrigation is possible it will 

 use a very large amount of irrigation water. Thus it uses to the 

 best advantage all of the soil, all of the season from early spring 

 till late fall, and all of the soil moisture. Of no other crop can 

 this be said. 



Value of Resultant Crop — The best of all is that the forage 

 that the alfalfa plant produces is the richest and most palatable 

 that the farmer can grow. The alfalfa plant, cut at the right 

 time, and rightly cured, is very rich in protein. What is protein? 

 It is what makes the red flesh and red blood of the animal. It 

 is what makes nerve and brain and vital process. Alfalfa is rich 

 in bone. It is the best feed for the baby on the farm, for the 

 baby colt, the baby calf, the baby lamb, pig, and chick, it is 



