Wichita eagle., 1889-05-12
MORE ABOUT ALFALFA.

> Ii OIueF 20 give ZIG IedoeI6 VI Til
EAGLE an idea of how the people O
Colorado regard alfalfa, we have taker
quotations from four or five numbers o.
the Field and Farm, published at Denver
in that state:
There can be as much money made ir
swine growing in Colorado as in any
other country under the sun. The state
has four hundred thousand people te
consume pork and lard, and unless it be
produced at home million and hall
of dollars yearly must be sent abroad tc
pay for this product. Now the swine
can be grown as well here as elsewhere
and in fact much better than in the
western states whern distemper is SC
rife. There is no domestic animal that
pays better profit for what it costs than
does the hog. A pound of corn will
make as much pork as it will Of beef and
as pork is more convenient to market
than is beef it should be the pride of
every farmer to produce 1t.
No question in our mind but that next
to alfalfa corn must become the leading
crop of the state in the near future.
Then with alfalfa and corn why should
we not produce pork? The foundation
on which to build the hog will be alfalfa,
and the material with which to finish
him will be corn. Alfalfa can be grown
at the rate of fifteen tons to the acre
when measured green, and corn can be
produced at the rate of fifty, sixty or
eighty bushels to the acre, and the two
combined make the best and healthiest
feed in the world. Then why not grow
swine and make pork? 1t is a lazy man
who says he cannot make pork and COM
| pete with Iowa, Nebraska or any other
state. If he cannot it is because he does
not try.
Like all domestic animals, to be pro-
fitable the hog must be well bred. The
scrub hog like the scrub steer is poor
property. A Pennsylvania Dutchman
of our acquaintance who has made q
fortune in hog growing, when asked by
US to give his rule for selecting the best
| breed, replied in his own native brogue
that he always looked to the length,
| breadth and thickness, and if you will
| stop to think for moment this old
Dutchman had solved the whole question
Of selection with view to profit. When
| he found his ideal he had fulI-blood or
registered hog.
There are number of adj
vantages in favor of hogs in
this new country. The first is
early maturity. When the pig is born
in the spring the grain is planted to feed
him. Thirty or sixty days after the
grain is harvested the pig, now hog,
can be made ready to go to the market.
There is no other animal that will grow
and ma4ure so rapidly. Time to the
farmer who has not time to wait Is
everything. Two crops of hogs can be
grown in a year, while 1t takes two years
at the best to grow and mature steer.
The pork producer will beat the beef
producer every time.
The combination of the two will con-
stitute a new hay departure for the fu-
ture in Colorado. One or two years ago
the Field and Farm made mention of
numerous experiments in mixing alfalfa
with straw for feed purpose in Califor-
MIA, and more lately gave the result of
experiments in TINT direction made on
the Windsor farm near Denver. The
new hay departure is attracting much
interest with the farming classes, and
hundreds will experiment in that direc-
ton for themselves this season. We have
been convinced ourselves that there is
great merit in the combination of green
alfalfa and dry straw for cattle and
horse feeding purposes. By this depart
ure, if it is a good one, the worthless
straw stack will be made valuable as
feed for beast and will be converted as a
fertilizer back to the soil that produced
it. There is much in this new method
suggested worth thinking about.
A stack of the mixture-say thirty
tons of green alfalfa and ten or twelve of
dry straw-will make thirty tons of
cured hay for fall or winter use. If
these figures are correct and reliable, as
we believe they are, then with the ad-
dition of the proper amount of straw
every first-class acre of alfalfa can be
made to furnish twelve to fifteen tons of
cured hay. And it is said that the COM
bination of two parts of green alfalfa
with one of straw makes as valuable
feed, pound for pound, as does the alfal- |
ia kept separate and unmixed. Mr.. f!
Morse of the Windsor farm assures US
that these conclusions are correct.
Those who have experimental say that !
it matters but little what variety of
straw is used. Wheat, oat, barley or !
rye, apparently are one and the same |
after having absorbed the juice and the |
flavor of the green alfalfa. Cattle say |
they all will devour every particle of the |
compound, allowing none to go to waste, !
and many of those who have tried it |
contend that the feed is improved py the |
addition of the straw. For the wisdom |
Of this last conclusion we are unable to
vouch, but will say that the experiment |
of the new departure in hay making is
worth the undertaking.
The rain belt in Colorado will have
fifty thousand acres planted to alfalfa by
the first Of June. We have confidence |
that the early planting will succeed.
The later planted will for success depend
upon the clouds. If showered upon fire.
quently that, too, will succeed. We ad-
mire the determination Of those rain belt
people.
The Arkansas valley should soon be-
come grand pork producing country.
1t has all the opportunity. Alfalfa and
corn will flourish here as finely as else
where in the world. Alfalfa and corn
are the two best hog feeds known. There
is opportunity and country between
Pueblo and the state line Of Kansas TO
grow and fatten all the pork that Colo
RADIO may require. Let it be done.
The number of hogs one acre of al
falfa will carry is governed by the quail
lty Of the land and manner of feeding:
by soiling many more can be carried
than by grazing. Which is the more
profitable must be determined by the
owner. This we know: 1t will be found
profitable to arrange for the hogs to have
alfalfa the year round.