FOB BETTEIi CHOPS S3 



up clean. In this manner is made the cheapest and best possi- 

 ble pork. Fed in tliis way an acre of alfalfa pastured with lio^rs 

 has made a clear profit in one year of as much as $25.00. 



Grain to Feed with Alfalfa — Com is the best Single grain 

 to be fed in connection with alfalfa. Corn is rich in fat and low 

 in protein. Alfalfa is very rich in protein and somewhat low in 

 fat. These two should not be separated where flesh is desired. 

 They most admirably supplement each other. Either for the 

 fattening lamb, pig, calf, or steer the ration of corn and alfalfa 

 is an Ideal one, for they very nearly balance each other, and both 

 can be produced on the farm, and both are adapted to most 

 parts of the United States and much of Canada. 



After corn, however, come barley and oats and wheat, valu- 

 able to supplement alfalfa, though of the three barley is best, 

 being richer in fat making elements. Very good lambs are made 

 with alfalfa and barley, or alfalfa and wheat, or alfalfa and oats, 

 or with a mixture of them all together. Yet when corn is availa- 

 ble at nearly the same price it is very much to be preferred. 



Alfalfa for Poultry — The alfalfa field is a rich storehouse 

 for the poultry keeper. In summer time fowls forage far and 

 wide, eating the tender alfalfa leaves, rich in protein, and find- 

 ing insects. In winter time fowls will consume great amounts 

 of alfalfa leaves and the fine stems. Sometimes alfalfa is ground 

 into meal for poultry and swine. This is well, though when it 

 is in large supply it is not necessary to do this, as it is cheaper 

 to waste a part of the stems than to grind them into meal. 

 Fowls given all the alfalfa that they desire are more healthy and 

 lay many more eggs than without it. 



How Alfalfa Hay Builds Soils — The amount of fertilizing 

 material that will come from an acre of first class alfalfa is 

 equal to what would be bought in the bag for $60.00. Xow if 

 the owner of a depleted soil can get one small field established 

 in alfalfa, and will save the hay and feed it with care, saving all 

 of the manure and putting it out upon another tract, he can 

 thus enrich this sufficiently to make it grow alfalfa. Kow let 

 him have the two fields producing alfalfa, and using the hay 

 again and saving the manure he is ready to enrich the third 

 field. And thus gradually he may extend the area of his alfalfa 

 land until some day, if that man has faith and keeps on, some 

 day he may sweep the poverty altogether off his farm and find it 

 redeemed, glorious in beauty in summer time and yielding him 

 a steady and very great profit. Alfalfa is a clover, and enriches 

 soils in the same manner that all clovers do by the growth 

 upon its roots of bacteria, that have the powder to fix nitrogon 

 from the air. Then by its very deep roots it feeds upon the 

 lower depths of the soil and draws up the stores of fertility 



