112 FARM MANAGEMENT 



Because of the large amount of digestible food that can 

 be produced per acre, some persons have recommended 

 that corn for the silo and alfalfa and no other crops be 

 grown by the dairy farmer. 1 This will perhaps produce 

 the most food per acre, but to produce the greatest profit 

 is another question. If a large area of corn for the silo 

 and alfalfa are grown, there is a rush of work trying to get 

 the heavy first crop of alfalfa cured, and, at the same time, 

 trying to keep the weeds down in the cornfield. Again 

 in Illinois, the last cutting of alfalfa and silo filling conflict. 

 The teams can raise more corn than they can put in the silo. 

 With such a type of farming, one would either be very 

 short of men and horses at certain periods, or else have 

 idle ones most of the year. The horses on such a farm 

 might just as well raise oats and timothy and corn for 

 grain in addition to the corn silage and alfalfa. A limited 

 amount of corn silage can be grown with a limited amount 

 of alfalfa and combine other crops to good advantage. 



In the North Atlantic States, where hay is one of the 

 most profitable crops, alfalfa combines well with clover 

 and timothy. The alfalfa is cut before the new seeding 

 of clover and timothy, then follows timothy, and then 

 the second cutting of alfalfa. In the fall a third cutting 

 of alfalfa is ready. This allows eight to ten weeks to be 

 spent in haying a very desirable condition when hay pays 

 as well as it does in this section. Unfortunately, only a 

 small proportion of the soil in this section is adapted to 

 alfalfa. 



In some irrigated sections in warm regions, as in Arizona, 

 alfalfa alone provides almost constant work. 



85. Distribution of labor on corn and cotton. Corn 

 conflicts more or less with cotton, alfalfa, winter wheat, 



1 Illinois, Circular 151. 



