142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ALFALFA FOE NEW ENGLAND. 



ARTHUR D. CROMWELL, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE AND BOTANY, STATE 

 NORMAL SCHOOL, WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA. 



Why geow Ai^falfa? 



Life is a never ending series of adjustments. Of one thing 

 we may be sure and that one thing is change. New England 

 farmers have not always understood or remembered this, and 

 hence at times New England farmers have failed to adjust 

 themselves and their farm practices to the demands of the times. 

 Among the changes that are now upon us are the adjustments 

 that are to be made in farming by growing alfalfa. For as 

 Mr. Ellsworth of Worcester, Massachusetts, has said, " Alfalfa 

 is to be grown on every farm in New England." 



Alfalfa will enable those who gi'ow it to produce on each acre 

 from 3 to 5 tons of feed, which is pound for pound equal to 

 thrashed oats or wheat bran. At the same time that the alfalfa 

 raiser produces from 3 to 5 tons of feed, equal pound for pound 

 to thrashed oats, he is growing a plant that is storing, in each 

 acre of his ground, from $25 to $30 worth of nitrogen each 

 year. Then, too, alfalfa roots deeper than other farm crops, 

 and it brings up from the subsoil rich stores of potash and 

 phosphorus. But since alfalfa comes to us from the semi-arid 

 regions, we must not expect it to produce good crops of seed 

 in this humid climate. However, since it is a gift of the 

 desert, we are to understand that when dry seasons come, as 

 come they will, alfalfa growers are to have a crop, and, if any- 

 thing, a better crop. Alfalfa can stand hard winters. Alfalfa 

 is green a month earlier and a month later than other crops, 

 and hence for a man who is practicing the soiling system, al- 

 falfa offers a crop that can be used about two months more 

 each year. Since it grows through the whole summer, it offers 

 a soiling crop that is available every month from the time it 



