346 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



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

 tons of a mixture of equal weights of field cornstalks 

 and alfalfa would furnish food sufficient for one hun- 

 dred 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 com, would furnish 

 food sufficient for one hundred and thirty-six days 

 without any appreciable loss. Alfalfa, therefore, fur- 

 nishes a feeding material rich in protein, which can 

 be substituted for such waste produ(5ls as wheat bran, 

 cotton-seed meal, etc., usually bought in order to profit- 

 ably 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 

 fifteen 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 ex- 

 pense to be dedudted. Six hundred pounds of pork 

 from an acre of com would be a good yield, and then 

 the expense of cultivating 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 largely in fattening sheep and lambs which get 

 no other ration. Fowls eat it greedily, 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 affedted with root rot, 

 which causes the alfalfa to die in almost perfedl circles 



