The Globe-republican., 1894-01-26

At the regular annual meeting of th'
Kansas state board Of agriculture at To-
peka, the following paper on the growing
of alfalfa was read by Mr.. John II
Churchill of Dodge City:
come before you rep
resenting what l believe to be true.
come with no fairy tale, or pleasing story
to tickle your fancy, that lacks confirm.
alton; have cold naked truths and fact,
to back up every assertion. l come to
tell you again of that sweet, purple,
blooming alfalfa, of the new and solid
prosperity it is bringing to us through a
large section of Western Kansas, OF
thousands of cattle that are driven into
our valleys each winter to be fed on this
most nutritious plant, of the many
hundreds and thousands of dollars left
with our farmers for the bright, golden
seed, this the dryest year ever known in
our section. You may have thought me
too enthusiastic iu my paper last year.
and have understood that the growers
of corn in Eastern and Central Kansas
view with some considerable suspicion
the merits which we claim for alfalfa.
1.-The past season has fully proven that
alfalfa is king of crops wherever grown,
and every claim made year ago stand
now firmly by to-day. A member of
this board wrote me in May that he had
made a trip through Western and North
western Kansas, and the only green thing
that was then in sight was alfalfa, and he
took off his hat aud cried, 'Hurrah for
alfalfa!' He could have made that same
trip in June, July and August, in at least
the west half of the state and taken off
his hat for every month and cried hurrah
for alfalfa, for it was the only thing green
in sight. From June Is till October 10
the harvest was going on-in this field
for hay, IN that for seed-and never was
there better seed or feed gathered In
Ford county, which is without irrigation.
Along the valley three or four crops were
cut for hay, at an average of thirty five
days between cuttings. Where a field
was saved for seed, only one and two
crops of hay were cut, according to the
location.
"Do you wonder we hail alfalfa king,
when our fields are paying us $50, s25.
$50, and as high as $40, per acre net?
Do you wonder when we run up against
a season that burnt dear old Illinois,
dried up her streams and pastures and
ruined her corn crop in many sections; a
season that spread destitutiOn and ruin
in that grand state of Wisconsin; when
the fire started in her Northern forest it
swept through the kiln dried woods re-
sistless, destroying thousands of acres of
the finest timber on the American con-
tinent? This was drouth, ruin, we know
not of in Kansas. Do you wonder that
while a large part of Kansas was drouth-
striken, the alfalfa harvest was going on.
paying its dividends to its policy holders,
an insurance, asI claimed last year,
against drouth? Bear it in mind, Alfalfa
Forage, Seed s. Co., is the only concern
that insures against dry weather and
pays a yearly dividend. Coming over
the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe road
from Dodge City to Topeka and along
the Arkansas valley have noticed thou
sands of acres of the best alfalfa lands
that are producing perhaps ton Of wild
hay to the acre worth SIS or Sc. This
land should and will be broken out,
cultivated and seeded to this plant when
the ground is suitable; when the wilder
ness and weed and grass roots are all
subdued it will be done; It's only a
question of short time; the handwrit-
ing is on the wall, and to the wise man
tits enough.
81 now have few facts to present for
your consideration. McBeth & kinnison
of Garden City. wholesale aud retail
dealers in alfalfa seed, have purchased
since August $500 bushels of seed,
paying s45, 900 for the same. The above
seed was sold to Chicago and New York
parties for export. They paid A. D.
Wettick, of Cimarron, 50 3,26l SO for 759
bushels seed raised on second bottom
without irrigation. Al. Edmanson,
four miles east of Garden City had
twenty five acres, which yielded him PA
bushels clean seed, second bottom with
out irrigation. J.. j. Munger 1O3 BUSH
els from nine acres. John Stevens, of
of Garden City, reports 800 bushels
seed from $50 acres now worth SIS per
bushell, amounting to $500. The
highest yield for single acre to date is
sixteen bushels raised by George Sharp,
of Garden City. The average for Finney
county will not be higher than six bushels
In Ford county, without irrigation. the
average will be about the same.
George Reighard, trustee of Dodge