178 



Feeds and Feedmg. 



and energized by the tropical sun of summer, alfalfa furnishes 

 from 2 to 5 cuttings each season, yielding from 2 to 5 tons annually 

 of nutritious hay per acre. Within the humid region, experience and 

 tests are developing districts from Louisiana to Maine where alfalfa 

 can also be profitably grown. That good crops of alfalfa can be 

 produced in the East when conditions are favorable is shown by 

 Voorhees of the New Jersey Station,^ who reports the following 

 returns from a well-established alfalfa field: 



Green alfalfa and total nutrients from one acre of alfalfa. 



It will be observed that 1 acre yielded over 26 tons of green 

 alfalfa, containing over 11,000 lbs. of dry matter which held over 

 2,300 lbs. of crude protein. Voorhees estimates that this acre of 

 alfalfa yielded as much crude protein as is contained in 7.5 tons of 

 wheat bran. These exceptionally large returns are given to show 

 what is possible in the eastern states from alfalfa grown by experts. 



At the Colorado Station,- Cooke compared a crop of dent corn 

 from 1 acre of land with the returns from an adjoining acre plat 

 of alfalfa 3 years seeded, as shown below. The alfalfa acre was cut 

 3 times, yielding a total of 5.6 tons of hay. 



Comparative acre yields of corn forage and alfalfa hay. 



Forage Crops. 



Bui. 26. 



