No. 4.] ALFALFA IN NEW ENGLAND. 145 



alfalfa that makes it a better food than its chemical composi- 

 tion would indicate. This may be due to the large percentage 

 of mineral matter it contains, or some stimulating element that 

 is not yet understood. The man who sells alfalfa products to 

 our eastern farmer I consider a missionary. He is giving us a 

 chance to prove for ourselves its great feeding value. When 

 once tried we are convinced of its worth, and then it is up to us 

 whether we want to continue to pay from $10 to $15 freight per 

 ton on this valuable food from the west, or whether we shall 

 grow it upon our own farms and save the freight. 



We think of alfalfa as a crop that grows spontaneously in 

 the west. From all statistics that can be gathered on the aver- 

 age yields, even in the most favorable localities in the west, our 

 yields in the east show well in comparison. Even down in the 

 great Imperial valley, the hottest place in the United States, 

 the average yield of alfalfa is less than 5 tons per acre. We 

 can grow on our eastern farms a yield between 3 and 5 tons per 

 acre per year, depending upon soil and climatic conditions. 



There is no forage crop known to-day that will yield more 

 nutrients per acre than alfalfa. There is no plant that is able 

 to send a taproot into the subsoil as alfalfa. It feeds upon the 

 mineral matter in the subsoil that has lain dormant and useless 

 all these years. It is also capable, as are other leguminous 

 plants, through the bacteria that live upon its roots, to convert 

 the free nitrogen of the air to its own use, making it unnecessary 

 to feed the plant with the expensive nitrogenous fertilizers. It 

 is not only able to produce what nitrogen it needs for its own 

 use, but will contribute fertility to other plants growing with it, 

 or when plowed it will add more dollars' worth of fertility to 

 the soil than it has cost to lime, fertilize and prepare the soil 

 to establish it. Therefore we have a plant that is a winner 

 from every standpoint It gives us the richest and best kind of 

 food, it yields more nutrients per acre than any other crop, it 

 is a soil builder, and by its use in the rotation our farms will 

 grow richer and richer as the years go by, capable of yielding 

 more bounteous crops. This means prosperity, better homes, 

 better schools, better churches and a better community. 



Can we grow it in New England? We can! The fields that 

 are already growing it demonstrate that it can be grown. The 



