Vol. LXIX. No. 4050 
NEW YORK, JUNE 11, 1910. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
HANDLING AND FEEDING GREEN ALFALFA. 
Its Value as a Soiling Crop. 
Many farmers in New York have learned to grow 
Alfalfa to the extent that they have fields of an acre 
or two that are yielding fair crops. Having learned 
how to grow the crop, one needs to know how to 
handle it to get best results. On most farms, where 
only a small acreage is grown, I think the most will 
be realized from it, to 
use it as a Summer soil¬ 
ing crop to supplement 
pastures, and perhaps 
for feeding poultry. Al¬ 
falfa is by far the best 
soiling crop on the earth. 
I speak from experience, 
I have grown and fed 
Alfalfa for 12 years. 
There is no other soil¬ 
ing crop one can cut 
three or four times dur¬ 
ing the Summer; none 
that produces half as 
much, or is as rich in its 
protein content; none 
that is so valuable in the 
production of milk and 
eggs, or for the farm 
horses, when it is fed 
green, or better, wilted. 
After animals have 
learned to cat Alfalfa 
you may place before 
them all foods known, 
and they will leave 
everything for the Al¬ 
falfa. After one has 
made all tlv?. milk or 
eggs possible with other 
foods, their production 
can be considerably in¬ 
creased with Alfalfa. 
My experience is that it 
does not pay to substi¬ 
tute Alfalfa for all the 
grain ration, but to feed 
some grain, qven with 
plenty of Alfalfa, al¬ 
though the ration may 
be reduced. With Al¬ 
falfa one is able to get 
the maximum produc¬ 
tion at smallest cost. 
On nearly every farm 
there are a few acres 
that can he made to 
grow Alfalfa success¬ 
fully. Perhaps there is 
a field of alluvial or 
washed-in soil, on gravel 
subsoil, affording natural 
drainage, or red sand¬ 
stone (red slate) soil, 
underlaid by drift, or 
some place where there is mellow soil at least a foot 
deep naturally underdrained. Such lands can be 
made to grow Alfalfa without artificial drainage. 
\\ hat are known as “hardpan” soils should be drained 
for Alfalfa. When Alfalfa is well established on a 
farm it is as valuable as a bank account, for instead 
of paying out money for grain to feed when pastures 
become short, as do most Eastern farmers (and there 
are few pastures that fully feed the cows during the 
best of the season) they have a crop on the farm 
that will take the place of grain, and will give better 
results because of its green or succulent condition. 
As it has been often stated, the same weight of Al¬ 
falfa hay has about the same feeding value as one 
ton of bran. 
When feeding Alfalfa green in Summer, there are 
a few things that should be kept in mind, or some 
may be disappointed with it. There is danger in 
feeding hungry cattle all they will eat of green Al¬ 
falfa, not wilted, as it may cause bloat. If one soils 
cattle with Alfalfa, he should not depend on cutting 
it every day, as he will have to feed it entirely green, 
and often when there is dew or rain on it. When 
there is a prospect of sunshine all day, mow all the 
Alfalfa that will be needed for three or four days, or 
longer, with a mowing machine, ted it sufficiently to 
get it wilted before the dew falls, then put it up in 
small heaps and cover them with hay caps made of 
oiled muslin, with weights at corners to hold them 
down. Some use leaden weights for this purpose. 
Now there is no danger in feeding a moderate quan¬ 
tity of this wilted Alfalfa, even to horses. It is 
better to feed Alfalfa with corn fodder, or some car¬ 
bonaceous food when possible, to balance its large 
protein content. If it rains the Alfalfa is pro¬ 
tected, and one always handles and feeds it when 
there is no water on it. Feed it in the stable where 
each animal gets its share, and you save all the 
manure, including the liquids, for manure from Al¬ 
falfa-fed animals is nearly as valuable as from grain- 
fed animals. 
When deciding if the 
Alfalfa is ready to cut, 
do not be governed al¬ 
together by the blossoms 
—although when part of 
the blossoms have conic 
out, it is usually ready 
for cutting—but look at 
the plant near the roots 
and if new sprouts or 
shoots have started to 
grow, it is time to cut it. 
It is the nature of the 
plant when it carries one 
plant to the blossoming 
stage, to start to grow 
another, whether the ma¬ 
turing crop is removed 
or not, and the cutting 
of the maturing crop at 
once, hastens the growth 
of the one just starting 
at the base, or roots of 
the plants. As I haw', 
stated, the best results 
are obtained by growing 
Alfalfa and corn on the 
farm, and feeding them 
together. These plants 
best work for the far¬ 
mer. Alfalfa takes the 
nitrogen and corn the 
carbon from the atmos¬ 
phere, when conditions 
are made right for their 
growth, so when Alfalfa 
and corn fodder or sil¬ 
age are fed together, he 
has a roughage that is 
nearly a balanced ration. 
I have talked with far¬ 
mers in Onondaga 
County, in the Alfalfa 
belt, who feed this ra¬ 
tion with no grain, and 
get as much milk per 
cow as some dairymen 
who feed Timothy hay 
and a large grain ration, 
but experiments made at 
Cornell University have 
shown that when feeding 
silage and Alfalfa, it is 
profitable to feed some 
grain. 
I have found it a good plan to make hay of the 
first cutting of Alfalfa early in June, and then use 
the later crops for supplementing pasture. When 
the pasture begins to dry up and get short in July, 
green Alfalfa and silage and later Alfalfa and green 
fodder corn will keep cows up to as full a flow of 
milk as does good June pasture. Alfalfa will grow 
on some part of most farms. If all the conditions 
necessary to its growth are furnished, it cannot pos¬ 
sibly fail. w. H. JENKINS. 
New York. 
A -CROP OF ALFALFA HELD FOR A SOILING CROP. Fic. 203. 
. A HAY FIELD IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. Fig. 264. 
