ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN^. ASSOCIATION. 25 
ales, cattle, and even liogs—has been for hundreds oi f$E& eslabiished in 
irope, and again shown in California, the land of its adoptioiL^l^^fMir^d seem 
• edless to produce more evidence on that point, but for the benefit ofHl&se who 
ve not the means at hand for looking up the evid* nee, I will cite first the secretary 
i the State Board of Agriculture of Connecticut, who says in his report for 1868-9 : 
•For purposes of soiling, lucerne is an excellent auxiliary crop, as it can be cut five 
, six times in a season and needs but little cultivation after the first year. It is a 
• rennial, long-rooted plant, requiring a rich soil, with an annual top-dressing of 
ne, ashes and barn-yard manure, and should be sown in drills fifteen to eighteen 
ches apart, and kept free from weeds.” Mr. Lewis, of Herkimer county, N. Y., in 
s address on dairying, before the Massachusetts State Board at Barre, in 1872, says: 
As a soiling plant I regard lucerne as the best—cattle eat it with great relish. It 
ill grow more than one hundred inches in a year, on a good soil that is adapted to 
3 requirements. It wants a deep, loose, mellow soil, and if the soil is open so that 
e roots can run down about eight feet, to reach water, it will be found the proper 
(Veiling place for lucerne.” 
Of lucerne in Europe, Loudon says : 44 The principal and most advantageous 
acticewith it is that of soiling horses, neat cattle and hogs.” Air. Wycoff says: 
For milch cows it is superior to any other hay—it excites the secretions.” Air. C. F. 
eed speaking officially as president of the California State board, says of alfalfa, 
that cut when it is in bloom, it makes hay of good quality for stock of all kinds, but 
,pecially for milch cows; that according to the testimony of good dairymen, cows 
ken from the native grasses and pastured on it will increase in product of milk, 
[itter and cheese, sixty to seventy per cent. Most careful and accurate tests made 
r dairymen in California, show that feeding milch cows upon alfalfa increases the 
lantity and improves the quality of the milk, at the same time and almost equally— 
result quite different from the usual one, where quantity is increased only at the 
, pense of quality.” Air. E. W. Hilgard, in his report on the agriculture and soils of 
ilifornia, says: u Undoubtedly the most valuable result of the search after forage 
ops adapted to the California climate, is the introduction of the culture of alfalfa, 
plant able to withstand a drouth so protracted as to kill out even more resistant 
ants than red clover.” 
And now come down to actual experience with alfalfa here in southeast Alissouri. 
l 1878 we had what our Boone county friends euphoneously called “ a year of full 
oisture,” and that year, for 44 soiling purposes,” I could have cut all my alfalfa 
ery two weeks, from the middle of April to the first of December. I did cut it for 
w in May, June, July and August, cutting it the first week in May, the second in 
me, the third in July, and the fourth in August, as nearly as I recollect, and then 
isturing it heavily during October and November. The fall before a heavy crop was 
anding^on the ground late in November, which 1 gave to a couple of Creoles to cut 
i shares, but the night before they were ready to go to work, we had a heavy freeze, 
akin" ice over the creek and whitening the stalks of alfalfa, and effectually scaring 
f the^Frenchmen from haying. Cutting it for hay in this climate, the mowing 
3 kle shaves Jack Frost at both ends of the season. The American hay-tedder is 
ided for air-curing the product, for we cut it in the spring, before the sun has suffi- 
ent power to dry it, and also in the autumn, after its rays have lost their power to 
:complish that result. 
In 1879 we had a year somewhat deficient in moisture—as our Boone friends would 
mbtless put it; in fact, we had one of those drouths that would injure the first crop 
red clover, ruin the second, and on all but the moistest of localities, rendered the 
nothy crop’ 44 not worth cutting;” to avoid being subject to which, I had years be- 
re obtained alfalfa seed from California and sown it, and the result showed the ad- 
mtage of having a forage plant whose roots go so deep as to render it independent 
: drouth. From all over the country came the complaints that the timothy meadows 
ould not 14 pay to cut,” and in many cases the stand itself was lost, and all sorts of 
:pedients w T ere resorted to for a supply of forage or 44 roughness.” That year I did 
)t cut alfalfa for hay each month of Alay, June, July and August, but I cut four 
ops, a little further apart, and I had plenty of hay of the very best quality for all 
Here in Missouri I should far sooner expect to find any other forage plant injured 
i the winter than this deep-rooted lucerne. As to its uses, California reports, 1878, 
iat at first alfalfa was used almost exclusively for pasture and green-soiling pur¬ 
ges, but during the past three or four years, alfalfa hay has become a regular article 
. the market. Here in Missouri I have fed it to mules, when freshly cut, as if I were 
'een-soiling them, and they would neglect their corn or ground-feed for it as they 
ould also later for the dried new hay. Fed from the mow where it was mixed when 
it in with all other kinds of forage that we cut; the shoats in the yard show their 
ipreciation of the food best adapted to their use by carefully selecting out the alfalfa 
id eating the dried hay with relish, while all other stock equally show their prefer- 
lce for it. 
