THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 25 
Florence, named for Miss Florence Crawford, of Topeka, is a junc- 
tion point at which branches to the north and south leave the main 
line. Beyond Florence the railway leaves the Cot- 
tonwood Valley and ascends that of Doyle Creek, a 
tributary from the southwest. The strata lie nearly 
horizontal in this region, but dip slightly to the west, 
forming a continuation of the general monocline 
which exists throughout eastern Kansas. 
West of Florence the traveler will note that pasture lands become 
more frequent and that cattle raising is an increasingly promi- 
nent industry. At many stations there are small stockyards with 
special gangways for loading cattle on cars for shipment east. 
There are also numerous fields of alfalfa, which is one of the most 
Florence. 
Elevation 1,262 feet. 
Population 1,168. 
Kansas City 172 miles 
important forage crops in the West.1 
Some notably large fields of 
this plant may be seen just west of milepost 169. 
At Peabody, which was named for F. H. Peabody, of Boston, large 
numbers of range cattle are received for fattening i in the adjoining 
region, 
Peabody. 
pales 2 351 a 
Populat 
Here the Santa Fe line is crossed by the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. 
Peabody the country is a wide, rolling upland, with 
West of 
esate “ia cee numerous broad fields of grain, mostly wheat, inter- 
spersed with pastures. 
The few railway cuts show 
gray shales with some thin layers of limestone. 
Newton, named for the city in Massachusetts, is a minor railway 
center kicm which a branch line of the Santa Fe leads to Wichita 
and other places in southern Kansas and Oklahoma. 
Newton. 
Elevation 1,440 feet. 
Population 
It is also on one of the larger branches of the Missouri 
Pacific Railway. Years ago Newton had a very large 
Kansas City ace miles, Cattle-shipping business, but most of this has long 
ago moved much farther west. 
"Alfalfa is generally called lucern in 
Europe. It is the oldest known plant to 
be cultivated exclusively for forage, as 
historians record its introduction into 
Greece from Persia as early as the fifth 
century before Christ. Its cultivation 
was attempted by the early colonists in 
America, but not until 1854, when a vari- 
ety from Chile was introduced into Cali- 
fornia, did its development proceed rap- 
idly. Alfalfa is peculiarly adapted to 
semiarid regions, for it does not require a 
moist climate and does not suffer from 
extreme heat or from relatively severe 
cold. It thrives best under irrigation, 
an occasional flooding being necessary for 
its growth. Besides being highly nutri- 
tive and palatable, alfalfa j is, when well 
the largest screens, with Nebraska and 
rooted, of rank growth, long lived, and 
hardy. It is said that in the semiarid re- 
gions there are alfalfa fields 25 years old. 
The best yield is obtained from the third 
to the seventh year. Its roots vary in 
length from 6 to 15 feet. Though alfalfa 
fields can be started in some places with 
a pound of seed (about 220,000 seeds) Me 
the acre and So 
tained with 5 _pounds, about 15 
lan 
yield than any other forage plant in the 
western United States. Over 5,000,000 ee 
acres were in alfalfa in 1909. has. 
Colorado a 
