148 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



that may be raised or bought. The profit problem for 

 the dairyman is constantly to find the feed that will 

 decrease the cost of his production. 



The diagram below, prepared by the editor of the 

 Nebraska Farmer^ is to ''represent the digestible protein 

 or milk property contained in different kinds of rough- 

 ness. Points represent the decimals of a pound, and the 

 bars are an exact representation of the superiority of one 

 kind of food over another for the production of milk. 

 Each bar represents 10 pounds of roughness. The ap- 

 proximate yield is also given per acre :" 



A. S. Hitchcock cites as an illustration of feeding alfal- 

 fa alone, the case of the dairy farms in the vicinity of 

 Moneta, CaL, where the stock are ordinarily fed no other 

 ration than alfalfa. As alfalfa is not a balanced ration, a 

 number of local dairymen tried to replace a part of the 

 alfalfa by sorghum, thus giving a more nearly balanced 

 ration. The cows, however, did not give as much milk 

 upon this combination as upon pure alfalfa. ''This result 



