HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 157 
four in some districts, as Doctor Woods spoke of yesterday, where they 
get alfalfa nine times a year. They usually count on a ton ona cut- 
ting with poor farming, and a ton anda half per cutting with good 
farming. 
The Cuatrman. There is no use in top-dressing it? 
Mr. Sritiman. Yes; it will pay well. — 
The Cuatrman. With barnyard manure? 
Mr. Sprutman. Yes. The best barnyard manure in the world is that 
just fresh from the barn. 
The Cuarrman. Drawn out in the winter? 
Mr. Sprupman. Yes. And when drawn out that way you can get 
the liquid manure as well as the solid, and the liquid is 20 per cent 
better than the solid. 
Mr. Grarr. [gs that always true with reference to manure? 
My. Srituman. Yes; practically always. 
Mr. Grarr. That applies to all conditions of soil and plants? 
Mr. Spiryman. Yes. If the feed and bedding is all cut into quarter- 
inch lengths, that manure is short manure to start with, and if you take 
the liquid and solid together you will get 25 to 50 per cent more ferti- 
lizer on the land than if you were to let the manure rot. We have 
careful data on that. 
Mr. Henry. There is no doubt about that. 
Mr. Sprutman. If you knew the name of the man. who prepared it 
you would accept the results without question. 
Now, to show you the interest that is taken in alfalfa: The price 
three years ago ran about 10 centsa pound. The interest has increased 
so that the price is now 20 cents. And when an announcement is 
made that there is alfalfa seed anywhere in the Eastern States there 
is an immediate scramble for it, and I think five times as much could 
be sold as is now produced and available. 
Mr. Henry. How much do you sow? 
Mr. Sprttman. In some places in the Ohio Valley they sow 30 pounds, 
but 20 pounds is considered the standard. At Dallas, Tex., a seed 
house sold over 500,000 pounds of alfalfa. They import all they can 
get, and they also import strange new things and sell them for alfalfa. 
The Cuarrman. I paid $9 a bushel last year. 
Mr. Srimuuman. That is 16 cents a pound. 
Mr. Brooxs. Are the western-grown seeds as good as the eastern- 
grown seeds? 
Mr. Sprutman. We do not know yet where the best seeds come 
from. A great deal comes from Kansas and Utah, and some from 
Texas. We are having alfalfa seed grown now in practically every 
State in the Union. 
The Cuatrman. It will surely come; that price will fetch the seed. 
Mr. Scorr. What is the relative value of the alfalfa straw after 
thrashing, compared with the straw cut for hay and not thrashed? 
Mr. Sprttman. The farmers in Kansas tell me that that is pulverized 
alfalfaafter going through the thrashing machine, and the leaves break 
up and make a dust which the cattle eat very readily. 
The Coairman. That is better than timothy, a good deal. 
Mr. Sprttman. Oh, yes; it is more nutritious than timothy. 
Mr. Lerver. What kind of a machine do you use? 
Mr. Sprttman. A regular clover huller. 
The Cuarrman. What is the usual yield per acre? 
