UNIVERSALITY OF ALFALFA I9 



wet feet. It must have water enough; that is why its 

 roots go down so far, but it will not thrive in wet fields 

 where water does not run easily away. 



"On other farms I saw the alfalfa growing at the top 

 of steep day hills, which were formerly almost useless 

 for farm purposes unless stuffed with stable manure. 

 Now that alfalfa has been started these hill-tops have 

 become about the most profitable fields on the farm. At 

 another place I saw a fair crop of alfalfa growing in a 

 thin streak of soil over a rocky ledge. There were not 

 eighteen inches of soil covering the solid rock, yet the 

 alfalfa was thriving. I have been told that this is the 

 condition under which alfalfa will not grow, yet here it 

 was giving more forage than any red clover we can 

 grow. I have said that the spreading of these alfalfa 

 fields is changing the character of farming in central 

 New York. It is not easy to realize just what this means 

 without visiting this favored section. This new forage 

 plant brings fertility and feed to the farm. It is just 

 like having a fertilizer factory and a feed store drop out 

 of the skies upon the farm, to get this alfalfa well 

 started. Of course as the farmer learns what the crop 

 will do he uses it more and more to feed both stock and 

 the farm. It would not be a very bright farmer who 

 would continue to grow wheat or some other annual 

 crop which brings him $25 per acre when a permanent 

 crop like alfalfa will guarantee $60. Some farmers are 

 quicker to see this than others, but in the end the major- 

 ity of them see it and then we see a change. These alfalfa 

 farmers are giving a great object lesson, and their farms 

 are more interesting than any exhibit at the state fair.*' 



