ALFALFA IN CROP ROTATION. 247 



profitable. Let us see what sort of rotation is 

 adapted to this region. 



A considerable amount of land will naturally be 

 devoted to permanent pasture. Supposing we take 

 160 acres of land to be put under the plow. We will 

 begin with a field -of potatoes, 40 acres, planted early, 

 thoroughly well cultivated, dug early and marketed, 

 say 200 bushels per acre. This is 8,000 bushels at 

 50 cents, or $4,000. Alfalfa is sown after the pota- 

 toes. This remains two years after the first year, 

 thus 80 acres will be mown, or 320 tons of 'hay. 

 Forty acres will be turned under each year for corn, 

 part for the silo, part for the crib. On the alfalfa 

 sod the corn will need no manure; this may all be 

 applied to the corn stubble and the land planted to 

 potatoes and thus back again to alfalfa. 



How Many Cows? Fifty cows will consume in six 

 months about 100 tons of alfalfa hay. Letting them 

 have a ration of it, as is wise, at milking time during 

 summer, spring and fall they will get away easily 

 with 150 tons. Horses will take a lot more and there 

 will evidently be a surplus unless some good heifers 

 are raised. Fifty cows will consume 200 tons of si- 

 lage in six months. That will take the corn from 20 

 acres or less of the 40 devoted to it and leave approxi- 

 mately 20 acres to be ripened and put in crib. 



Profit from the Cows. As to the profit of keeping 

 the 50 cows I prefer to let the experienced dairyman 

 make the estimate. There are cows that yield as 

 much as $125 in a year, and even much more than 

 that, and others that drop far below $100. It is safe 



