124 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



A METHOD FOR THE SMALL FARMER 



In the Central West where labor is scarce and land 

 comparatively low in price, farmers are not likely to adopt 

 the soiling system while such conditions exist; but east 

 of the Mississippi river, and especially in New York, 

 Pennsylvania and New England, where land is high and 

 labor scarce, alfalfa offers great possibilities as a soil- 

 ing crop. The small farmer who now cannot afford to 

 raise many pigs, because he does not raise enough corn to 

 fatten them, will find that by soiling alfalfa he can main- 

 tain from May to September from five acres as many as 

 ten cows and fifty pigs; and that these pigs, with some 

 grain from the first of August, while being fed green 

 alfalfa, may by the middle of November be made ready 

 for market. If he has another five acres of alfalfa for hay, 

 it will yield enough in three cuttings to go far toward 

 wintering his cows, a team of horses, and his sows. His 

 ten acres will be growing richer every year, and at the end 

 of five years be in prime condition to yield him big re- 

 turns in corn, wheat, or potatoes and other vegetables. Al- 

 falfa is distinctly a crop adapted to the small farmer, 

 everywhere; there is, as a rule, little question that this 

 method of utilizing it brings much greater returns per 

 acre than if it were used as pasturage or hay. 



Green alfalfa when pastured, (barring bloat), or cut 

 and fed daily is peculiarly valuable for all such young 

 stock as colts, lambs, calves and pigs. It tends to develop 

 strength of bone and hastens the growth of muscle. 



