408 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 
management and the price of hogs. It may reach 
anywhere between $10 and $35 per acre. The Kan- 
sas experiment station realized $24.10 from an acre 
of alfalfa pasture. 
In 1907 C. E. Quinn, a special agent of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, investigated the pasturing of 
alfalfa with hogs in the west, giving especial atten- 
tion to conditions in Kansas and Oklahoma. The 
report is found in full in Farmers’ Bulletin 331. It 
is so pertinent here that we quote freely: 
During the past summer (1907) about 150 of the most suc- 
cessful swine growers and pork producers of Kansas and Okla- 
homa were interviewed on the subject of the crops used for feed. 
In Southern Oklahoma along the river valleys and in northern 
Oklahoma and southern Kansas the farmers are favored with a 
soil and climate that makes it possible to produce pork very 
cheaply. The mildness of the climate makes it unnecessary to 
build as expensive shelters for hogs in winter as are required 
farther north, and the short open winters make it possible to 
furnish pasture during a greater portion of the year, thus les- 
sening the amount of grain which it is necessary to feed. The 
main pasture crops for hogs in this region are alfalfa, wheat, 
oats, and rye, ranking in importance in the order named. 
It is the testimony of 95 per cent of the farmers interviewed in 
this region that there is no better forage crop for hogs than 
alfalfa, where it can be grown successfully. 
Amount of pasturage—As to the amount of pasturage or the 
number of hogs alfalfa will carry per acre without injury to the 
crop, the estimates given by farmers very considerably, depend- 
ing on the kind of soil, the fertility of the land, and the size of 
the hogs pastured. The following, however, is a safe average esti- 
mate as given by conservative men who have had much experience. 
River valley and creek bottom land well set in alfalfa will carry 
from 15 to 20 head per acre of 50 to 125 pound hogs. Upland of 
fair average fertility will support from 8 to 10 head of the same 
kind of hogs. There are fields that have supported 25 head per 
acre all through the season for a number of years and are still 
in good condition, and there are other fields that will not furnish 
pasture for more than 5 head per acre; but these are extremes. 
