76 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
sands of dairy farms and her sheep farms and pig 
breeding farms. The same is true of Pennsylvania 
and New York, only the need is greater, for the 
farther east one goes the higher priced is hay and the 
more wheat bran is bought to furnish protein to 
make milk or grow animals. 
All over America just now there is a quickening of 
the agricultural life. Men are awakening, gaining 
new courage, new hope. The young have higher as- 
pirations than ever before; farming is coming out 
from the ruts; it is no longer a disgrace to be a 
farmer. The best brains and best thought and best 
blood of ‘the land are being devoted to agriculture. 
Alfalfa comes at opportune time. It fits in on every 
farm, once the soil is made right. It is a permanent 
thing. It is a mine of riches, a magazine of rich 
provender, a source of fertility wherewith to build 
animals and to build other soils. 
Alfalfa brings hope, courage and joy. It brings 
beauty to field and landscape. It covers over the 
scars made on the face of Nature, it stops the waste 
of erosion and soil leaching. Where it comes boys 
cease leaving the farm, bees come, and birds; the 
cows stand tranquil with full udders, land values 
advance, paint comes to the country school-house 
and happy children trudge along the lanes with. well- 
filled dinner pails. 
And is it practical to grow alfalfa over all this 
region? It is practical. Alfalfa is one of the sim- 
plest and easiest things grown in the world. It is 
one of the hardiest plants known, one of the most 
