78 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



two are grown together the )'ield of an acre of land is increased 

 at least a third. In my opinion a farmer could get rid of over- 

 plus of Johnson grass by sowing the land with alfalfa. 



"One of the strongest and best reasons vt^hy alfalfa should be 

 grown in this section is the fact that it ripens for cutting about 

 May I. This' gives the farmer the chance to feed his stock dur- 

 ing the plowing season with a forage raised during the same 

 year. If his corn supply is running short along the first of May 

 when his heaviest plowing season is upon him his alflafa hay 

 will meet the difficulty. In a report sent cut from the Union- 

 town Experiment Station, Professor Duggar stated that he had 

 fed the work stock during the heaviest plowing, season on 

 alfalfa to the exclusion of corn. This same thing I did last 

 spring for three weeks. For three weeks the stock that did the 

 plowing was fed on nothing but alfalfa and they thrived upon it. 



"It is a well known and accepted fact that alfalfa is the 

 best food for dairy cattle. It has more milk producing prop- 

 erties than any other forage known to us. It makes a magnifi- 

 cent winter pasturage for hogs. In our climate the stock and 

 cattle can feed upon it in the winter months. Chickens eat it 

 eagerly and it is a healthy food for them. 



FINE SOIL RENOVATOR. 



"But one of its most valuable properties has almost escaped 

 notice. It is a splendid soil renovator.' It is' as effective in 

 renovating and restoring an acre of soil as if the land had been 

 planted in pea vines. It renders its benefits to the soil by 

 storing up nitrogen, a most expensive and valuable fertilizer 

 property. This is what is most needed on our lands' which 

 have been exhausted by cotton growing. In an official bulletin 

 Professor Duggar has declared that to plant an acre in alfalfa 

 would confer the same value upon the land as would $5 worth 

 of nitrogen fertilizer. 



"I think io well of jJialfa tliat I have been steadily increas- 

 ing my acreage. This year I will put a hundred acres in that 

 forage. I grew last year sixty acres of alfalfa. Part of this I 

 mixed with Johnson grass, the two growing together on the 

 same land. The mixture increased the yield at least one-third 

 and I got a better price for the mixed hay than I would have 

 received for Johnson grass. 



"The farmers about here who grow alfalfa and raise stock 

 are compelled to grow some cotton. They are obliged to grow 



