VoL. LX. No. 2660. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 19, 1901. 
«1';.PER YEAR. 
ALFALFA FOR NEW YO R K STATE. 
ITS GREAT VALUE AS A STOCK FOOD. 
Ought to Be More of It. 
AN OLD PLANT.—There is probably no problem of 
greater interest to the farmer than the production of 
forage for the farm animals, and especially is this 
true of the dairyman. At the present time he must 
face low prices for his products, and it becomes neces¬ 
sary for him if he would receive a fair profit from 
his business, to reduce the cost of production to the 
lowest limit possible. When he begins to consider 
this matter he is at once faced by the problem, “What 
can I raise that will produce a larger yield per acre, 
at less expense of labor and money?” It is not my 
purpose to enter into a general discussion of fodder 
plants, but to call attention to Alfalfa, which is one 
of the most productive. While the raising of Alfalfa 
is comparatively new to us, it has been grown many 
years in other parts of the 
world. It has been grown 
in Greece for nearly 3,000 
years as a forage plant. 
The Romans esteemed it 
very highly, and Columella 
writes that it yielded four 
to six crops a year. In 
France the plant is known 
as Lucerne, and in Spain 
as Alfalfa. It is grown 
quite extensively in south¬ 
ern Europe. From Spain 
Alfalfa was introduced in¬ 
to South America and tuen 
by way of Mexico to Cali¬ 
fornia, where it still re¬ 
tains the Spanish name. 
While in California and 
many of the Western and 
Southern States it is 
grown quite largely, it has 
never been much cultiva¬ 
ted in the Northern States. 
In the Eastern States it 
was intx’oduced from Eu¬ 
rope, and is generally 
known as Lucerne. The 
Alfalfa from California is 
said to withstand drought 
far better than the Lu¬ 
cerne of Europe, while the 
Lucerne withstands cold 
Winter better than Alfalfa. 
GOOD WORDS FOR IT. 
—It has been grown suc¬ 
cessfully for the past 16 
years at the New York Ex¬ 
periment Station, and has given large yields of green 
forage and hay per acre, which has been proven to 
have a large feeding value, and to contain a much 
larger per cent of digestible matter than Red clover. 
The soil at the Station is a stiff clay. The following 
yield reported for 1886, from seed sown the year pre¬ 
vious will give some idea of its productiveness: June 
11, yield at rate of 5,166 pounds dry fodder per acre; 
July 19, 14,385 pounds green fodder per acre; August 
18, 11,795 pounds; September 23, 8,172 pounds, or a 
total for the season of 47,636 pounds of green forage, 
equal to 23 tons, 1,623 pounds. As to its feeding value, 
we quote from the year-book of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture for 1896: "One hundred 
pounds of freshly-cut Alfalfa contain at time of flow¬ 
ering 2.82 pounds of dry matter, and of this the 
amount digestible is 3.89 pounds of crude protein, 
11.2 pounds of carbohydrates and .41 pounds fat, so 
that the nutritive ratio is 1 to 3.1, One hundred 
pounds of Alfalfa hay contain the following digestible 
constituents: 10.53 pounds of crude protein, 37.33 
pounds of carbohydrates and 1.38 pounds of fat, with 
a nutritive ratio of 1 to 38. Alfalfa hay is much richer 
than clover hay, containing for every 100 pounds 54.5 
pounds of digestible substances, of which about 11 
pounds are protein. The relation of the crude pro¬ 
tein of Alfalfa hay to that of Red clover is as 11 to 
7.” Altogether Alfalfa is one of the best forage crops 
grown in the United States, and is adapted to culti¬ 
vation in a greater range of latitude than Red clover. 
Its successful cultivation depends largely upon the 
character of the subsoil. Alfalfa will not do well on 
any soil, no matter how rich or well prepared, if it is 
underlaid by rock or hardpan near the surface. 
Neither will it stand flooding with water; good drain¬ 
age is absolutely necessary. It will not stand close 
pasturing because the new growth is sent out from 
the top of main root, and if this crown is destroyed 
the root soon dies. To bring this matter a little near¬ 
er home I will give some of our experience with this 
plant, which has been most encouraging, 
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE.—On May 31, 1893, we 
plowed a piece of land that had been in corn the year 
before, and contained 150 rods of land. The soil was 
variable and full of weeds with some Quack grass; 
not a good chance for Alfalfa, but it was the best we 
had at the time, and so it was fitted as well as we 
could do it with the tools at hand, and seeded with 20 
pounds of seed on June 2, lightly harrowed In. The 
weather was favorable, and it soon germinated and 
started to grow, so that by August 1 it would average 
12 or 15 inches high. We harvested a light crop about 
August 15, and let the remaining growth remain on 
the ground during the next Winter. During the sea¬ 
son of 1894 this piece was mowed three times, and 
gave an estimated yield of 5% tons of hay, with a nice 
growth left on the ground to go into the Winter. From 
these results we determined to try some more, and 
on May 23, 1895, we seeded a piece of about one acre 
adjoining the other. This time we put on 20 pounds 
of Alfalfa seed, and at the same time one-half bushel 
of oats, sown broadcast and harrowed lightly. The 
seed started well, and about the middle of August, 
when the oats were in the milk, we cut from this 
piece nearly two tons of hay, weighed at time of draw¬ 
ing from field. The first piece was cut three times 
again In 1895, with a yield of six tons of hay. For 
the season of 1896 both pieces were cut three times, 
with such a satisfactory yield that on May 20, 1897, 
we seeded another strip, using seed at the rate of 20 
pounds per acre with one-half bushel of oats. This 
last seeding was harvested in August, when the oats 
were In the milk and the Alfalfa about 15 Inches high, 
giving a yield equal to 1% ton of hay. The other two 
pieces were cut three times this -eason, with a con¬ 
siderable increase of yield. During the season of 1898 
the three pieces wer3 cut three times, with a yield 
that taxed the capacity of our bam to Ihe utmost, be¬ 
sides feeding two horses 
and a cow all Summer, and 
about one-half acre was 
cut in June to mulch 
strawberries. A growth of 
one foot or more went 
down on the ground at the 
beginning of Winter. We 
have kept two horses and 
a cow, and they have been 
fed almost entirely on Al¬ 
falfa since 1895. They are 
kept in the barn all the 
year round. At the end of 
1896 we had several tons of 
hay left, and at the end of 
season of 1897 a large mow 
full. Note the fact that as 
yet we have been to no 
other expense than that of 
seeding the ground, except 
to gather the crops. 
ITS FEEDING VALUE. 
—Now as to its feeding 
value. Our experience 
would seem to agree with 
Prof. Cottrell, of the Kan¬ 
sas Experiment Station. 
He says that good Alfalfa 
hay contains over 86 per 
cent as much protein as 
wheat bran; that the 
amount of protein in Al¬ 
falfa varies from 9.9 per 
cent when it Is poorly 
cured to 16.2 per cent when 
the best of care is taken. 
Average bran contains 13 
per cent of digestible protein. With good handling, 
therefore. Alfalfa hay can be made, which Is worth 
more than Its weight of bran. In Colorado, tests show 
that the leaves of Alfalfa hay contain over 14 per cent 
digestible protein, so that a ton of them has a feeding 
value of 2,400 pounds of bran. Alfalfa, like clover 
hay, when roughly handled, loses many of the leaves. 
As the best feeding value is in the leaves, we can 
readily see the reason for care in curing the hay. We 
have produced a crop of heavy yield and high feeding 
value. Are we robbing the soil? On the prairie lands 
of the West, where Alfalfa has been raised for some 
time, they have found that the soil is actually richer 
after growing Alfalfa for a few years, and will pro¬ 
duce larger crops of grain. The reason of this prob¬ 
ably is because its roots go very deep into the soil, 
and pump up the mineral elements from the lower 
strata that could not be reached by other crops. This 
is another point in favor of Alfalfa; it does not Impov¬ 
erish the soil. Then again, the manure made from 
A FAMILY AFFAIR AT MILKING TIME. Fig. 13. 
