AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 119 



Dairy $74,515,381 



Poultry 2,586,440 



Eggs 18,120,080 



Honey 950,000 



It may seem strange at first to credit eggs and 

 honey to alfalfa. The egg product in the alfalfa- 

 growing districts is increasing rapidly, and even in 

 the coast regions, where alfalfa is little grown, alfalfa 

 hay and meal from the interior enter largely into 

 poultry rations. As for honey, which was formerly 

 made on wild bee pasturage, the chief product comes 

 now from the alfalfa fields of the irrigated valleys. 

 If it is objected that the dairy product should not 

 be wholly credited to alfalfa, let it be noticed that no 

 credit is given to the plant for its vast meat produc- 

 tion and its contribution to the motive power in farm 

 work stock. In fact, there are only enumerated what 

 might be called largely by-products of alfalfa, but 

 the case may be safely committed on the evidence 

 given, in expectation of a verdict that alfalfa is worth 

 more than a hundred million dollars annually to 

 California. 



Naturally the absence of the meadow grasses of 

 humid countries which excited the apprehension of 

 the pioneers was accompanied by a quandary as to 

 what they should do for hay. They learned that 

 wild-oat hay, of which there was more than abun- 

 dance, could be cut whenever there was a good annual 

 rainfall. The pioneers soon found that wild oats 

 were just as hard to eradicate as eastern meadow 

 grasses were difficult to get in. Cronise in his 



