FEEDING VALUE OF THE HAY. 
Alfalfa has high feeding value. This arises from 
its digestibility and its composition. Alfalfa is rich 
in digestible protein. Protein is the substance in 
foods that goes to build red flesh and blood, to make 
nerve and brain. There is much bone-making ma- 
terial in alfalfa also. Thus alfalfa is a builder of 
tissue, of muscle, bone, nerve, brain. It is a food 
rich in nitrogen, the prime component of protein. 
It is because of its alliance with the bacteria that 
it is able to store itself so full of this nitrogen. We 
have no other forage so good, so rich in protein. 
And protein in foods is what costs. Carbon is cheap 
enough. We get carbon, the heat-maker, the stuff 
that makes fat, in corn (maize), in most sorts of hay, 
in alfalfa also, as it has nearly enough of carbon 
or carbohydrates to make it a balanced ration in 
itself. 
Protem the Costly Food Eleiment——Protein we 
must have. Especially do we need it when we are 
growing any sort of young animals or making milk 
or farming for eggs. One can not possibly get 
growth or milk without protein in abundant supply 
in the ration. If he is dependent on corn for his 
chief food supply he must buy his protein. A great 
many farmers and dairymen are buying theirs. 
They buy wheat bran, about as rich in protein as 
(858) 
