ALL ABOUT ALFALFA. 237 



profitably, fat sufficient for twenty -four days and carbo- 

 hydrates for fifty-one days must be added from soi in- 

 other source, such as cornstalks, green fodder corn, or 

 ensilage, wheat straw, oat straw, root crops, etc. Two 

 tons of a mixture of equal weights of field corn- 

 stalks and alfalfa would furnish food sufficient for one 

 hundred and thirty-six days, without noticeable loss of 

 any of the digestible compounds. Four tons of a mix- 

 ture composed of one ton of alfalfa hay and three tons 

 of corn ensilage, or green fodder corn, would furnish 

 food sufficient for one hundred and thirty-six days with- 

 out any appreciable loss. Alfalfa, therefore, furnishes 

 a feeding material rich in protein, which can be substi- 

 tuted for such waste products as wheat bran, cotton- 

 seed meal, etc., usually bought in order to profitably 

 utilize the excess of carbohydrates. 



There is no way in which more net profit may be 

 secured from an acre of good alfalfa than by pasturing 

 young hogs upon it. One acre should sustain ten to fif- 

 teen hogs from spring to fall. If they weigh a hundred 

 pounds each when put on the alfalfa, they should make 

 another hundred pounds. One thousand pounds at five 

 cents is fifty dollars, and there is no expense to be de- 

 ducted. Six hundred pounds of pork from an acre of 

 corn would be a good yield, and then the expense of cul- 

 tivating and harvesting and feeding would make a big 

 hole in the net profit. Pork making from alfalfa is one 

 good road to success. Alfalfa hay is used largeh 7 in fat- 

 tening sheep and lambs which get no other ration. 

 Fowls eat it greedijy, and it can be relied upon the same 

 as green food, by steaming the hay. Horses can live on 

 alfalfa the year around. 



Diseases and Enemies. Some of the alfalfa 

 fields of a humid climate are affected with root rot, 

 which causes the alfalfa to die in almost perfect circles 

 during June. Cool weather checks the dying until the 



