FEEDING VALUE OF ALFALFA. 107 



be secured from a roughage ration composed of two-thirds alfalfa and one- 

 third corn stover, together with a grain ration of corn-and-cob meal. If 

 the stover is well cured and kept under cover it wiU give more satisfactory 

 results than if left in the open during the winter. The yield of milk, how- 

 ever, on such a ration would not be quite equal to the yield on one com- 

 posed of first-cut hay and a grain mixture of equal parts of wheat bran, 

 corn-and-cob meal and gluten feed. 



17. Too high an estimate should not be put upon the alfalfa, for while 

 studies at this station and elsewhere have shown it to contain more pro- 

 tein than most other sources of roughage, and to equal wheat bran in 

 feeding value, it is quite inferior as a source of energy or fat production 

 to most of the concentrates. 



18. In the light of our present knowledge it is preferable, particularly 

 in the eastern states, not to use alfalfa as the entire source of roughage 

 for milk production, but to feed one-half alfalfa and one-half hay, or two- 

 thirds alfalfa and one-third corn stover, or 10 to 15 pounds of alfalfa and 

 1 bushel of silage daily. Such combinations, together with a grain ration 

 of 70 to 80 per cent, corn-and-cob meal, and 20 to 30 per cent, wheat 

 bran or oats or barley, ought to give quite satisfactory results. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the year 1914 this station published Bulletin No. 154, entitled "Al- 

 falfa," which related primarily to the growing of the crop in Massachu- 

 setts, based upon the results of home and co-operative experiments. It 

 included specific directions for the general management of the crop. 



The present bulletin summarizes the analyses and digestion trials made 

 with alfalfa, both at this station and elsewhere, and presents the results 

 of seven feeding experiments relative to its effect on milk production and 

 its place in the dairy ration. 



Alfalfa belongs to the same family of plants as the clover, pea and bean. 

 The family name is Leguminosce, and these plants are usually spoken of 

 as legumes. It has been cultivated both in Asia and Europe for a long 

 time, being known in Germany and France under the name of Luzerne. 

 It has been grown with great success in California and in the hot semi- 

 arid regions of the southwestern portions of our country. Of late years it 

 has been c .iltivated with success in the northwestern States, and more 

 recently it has been grown with considerable success in different portions 

 of the Middle Atlantic and New England States. It is an especially deep- 

 rooted perermial, and needs, among other things, a well-drained soil hav- 

 ing a water table several feet below the surface, and an abundance of lime. 



THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ALFALFA AND RED 

 CLOVER. 



The composition of these plants will vary more or less, depending upon 

 the stage of growth at which they are cut, and whether the material is 

 derived from the first, second or third cutting. The analysis of medium 



