AS A PASTURE PLANT. 345 



pounds of pork. One lot of fattening hogs was fed 

 all the corn they would eat, another lot all the grain 

 and dry alfalfa hay they would eat, The lot hay- 

 ing alfalfa hay made a gain of 868 pounds of pork 

 per ton of alfalfa hay." 



Pasture for Horses. — ^There is nothing else so 

 good for horses as* alfalfa pasture. Working horses 

 keep in good flesh and work well, with a trifle of 

 grain added to their daily run on alfalfa ; especially 

 is it good for mares and their foals. The mares 

 give a great abundance of milk when having alfalfa 

 green and the colts make a growth and development 

 that is surprising. When visiting the great ranches 

 along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys in 

 California, I was constantly astonished at the size and 

 quality of Thoroughbred and standard-bred horses 

 and colts running on alfalfa pasture in summer and 

 wintering on alfalfa hay. There is such an abun- 

 dance of flesh and bone-forming material in alfalfa 

 that colts develop naturally and to their utmost 

 when fed upon it. No ill results whatever have ever 

 been observed by myself from depasturing alfalfa 

 by horses, though I would not put them on it too 

 early in spring nor when too hungry. 



As a Bee Pasture. — In California, Nevada, Utah 

 and Colorado, alfalfa honey is a staple article of 

 commerce. I have seen some marvelous things in 

 the way of alfalfa-fed bees. At Grov. John Sparks' 

 ranch, at Reno, Nev., the bees took possession of the 

 space between the weatherboarding and the plaster 



