l8 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



ods and habits. A few acres in alfalfa provides all the 

 roughness needed for stock on these small places, and 

 gives extra room for fruit or similar crops. In fact, the 

 most interesting thing about these alfalfa fields is the 

 way they are changing the entire conditions of the coun- 

 try. It is similar to what happens when a new industry 

 is established in a town or city. 



''The Grange meeting at a Mr. Worker's farm, was 

 held in a great barn. He had delayed the alfalfa cut- 

 ting so that the barn might be empty. Some other farm- 

 ers nearby had already cut. I had a chance to see alfalfa 

 growing under what seemed to me about the toughest 

 chance you can give a plant. The city of Syracuse is 

 buying gravel from his field, to use on the street. The 

 workmen are digging right into the hill, and it requires 

 hard labor to pick up this tough, hard soil. As they dig 

 they follow the roots of the alfalfa down. Some of the 

 roots are quite as large as my thumb, and I am sure that 

 many of them had gone down twenty feet at least into 

 this tough soil. These big roots make plowing an al- 

 falfa sod anything but fun. This is one of the few ob- 

 jections to the crop. I had supposed that the plant does 

 its best where it can work down into an open or gravel 

 subsoil. I have been told by one who is called an 'ex- 

 pert' that alfalfa cannot thrive on a hardpan subsoil, 

 yet here it was going down into the toughest soil I ever 

 saw, and covering the surface with a perfect mat of 

 green stalks. Mr. Worker goes so far as to say that the 

 tougher the subsoil the better the alfalfa goes through it, 

 provided water does not stand about the roots. That is 

 one point upon which all agree — the alfalfa cannot stand 



