The herald., 1895-03-06
PLANT ALFALFA

Farmer Who HAS Tried 1t Says II is the
Crop of Crops
In response to the inquiries OF the editor of
an exchange regarding the value of alfalfa a
successful ia. rner said recently:
Get along without it? Why bless you, no.
Without that alfalfa field would be unable
to hold down my place. Let me tell you what
IT has done for me, Four years ago l was
clear discouraged and concluded to leave the
ranch; worked hard but there seemed to be
no returns for my labor. The amount OF hay
my little ranch would produce would soon be
eaten by the stock. My horses were poor, my
cows dried up early. the hogs seemed to have
case OF chronic squeal. while my bees, gener-
ally speaking, produced only limited amount
OF honey to say the least. was disheai tened.
Tor had settled here with the intention to
make this permanent homo for myself and
family. One day the happy thought came to
me, why not try an alfalfa field but then
argued it must be irrigated-it will cost a good
deal to get water, reservoir and pipes; still
concluded TO try IT, There was nice little
spring in the pasture short away above the
house. and at that place Immediately started
to develop more water. In due time had
good stream of water flowing dewn tho hillside
then cut below this to the summit OF slight
elevation above tia ground l wished to irri-
gate, and here, with team, pillow, scraper, pick
and shovel broke ground for the reservoir.
which made round with sloping sides and
about five feet deep in the center AS soon as
completed the pipes were laid and the water
carried to the field and now you would like to
know the results? Well, they have been very
satisfactory, indeed.
l soon enjoyed the sight of brand new ten
acre field of alfalfa. and what o grand sight it
was TO see that bright green spot, like an oasis
on the desert, shine out through the dry sum-
mer months when other vegetation vas with
cred and dry The way that piece Of land re-
sponded to irrigation's magic touch seemed to
put new life in me. tt grew very rapidly, and
the time did not seem long until it hao grown
up aud was in bloom, and th.n what merry
hum arose from that field for the next few
days; the bees fairly swarmed ont on it, and
gathered fine lot OF beautiful alfalfa honey
which. in point OF quality, is second to none
produced by any honey plant in this country.
The chickens thrved on the green feed the
hogs grew and fattened on it, my cows came
out in their milk; in fact. everything about
me gave evidence Of Its superiority as an all.
around article, of food for stock.
AS the result OF my experiment with that
field am still living on my ranch and am now
making good living. have more than dou-
blec my stock, have considerable butter and
eggs to sell, turn out several hogs for market
each year, besides selling some hay now and
then. OF course always grow some beets, pie
melons, pumpkins, etc for a variety feeding.
and also a little barley or oat hay for my
horses, as do not think 1t good plan to feed
alfalfa to horses ali the time without change
Yes, sir; am we'll pleased with my experl-
ment, and my advice to all ranchers who can
get wafer with which to irrigate is to plant al
falfa."-RiveIside Reflex.