138 ALFALFA 



"I have raised alfafa for the past eight years, and 

 find it the most profitable crop that I have ever raised. 

 Last year I cut, for seed, forty acres; had it thrashed, 

 and sold the seed for $1 ,131.25, and made a good crop 

 of hay after the seed was cut. This year I will cut 

 fifty acres for seed, and it will bring me $1,500. 

 Everything else here is killed by the dry weather, and 

 aUalfa is to us who have it as a bank-account for a 

 dry year." 



NKW JERSEY 



Edward B. Voorhees, diredlor of the agricultural 

 experiment station, says: "Alfalfa has been given a 

 sufficient trial to determine its success as a green for- 

 age and as hay. Success depends more than anything 

 else upon the character of the soil, method of seeding, 

 and treatment of the plant the first year. In ordinar- 

 ily good seasons here, four cuttings are obtained, the 

 first about the 20th of May. We usually have a dry 

 spell, or it would be possible to get five crops. In 

 1899 the yield of green forage per acre was 20.2 tons, 

 containing an equivalent in protein of that contained 

 in six tons of average wheat bran. It is valued as a 

 focyi largely because of its richness in protein, thus 

 enabling the farmer to raise a large proportion of the 

 feed necessary for the dairy. In 1900 the field at the 

 college farm yielded nine tons of green forage at the 

 first cut, and the second cut, just now made into hay, 

 but not hauled and weighed, is estimated to be between 

 one and a half and two tons. Its permanence depends 

 largely upon the thickness of seeding and the start 

 gained the first year. The area now in alfalfa at the 

 college farm is in the third year, and is much better 



