Rocky Ford enterprise., 1895-11-07
Alfalfa vs.. the Mortgage.

alfalfa first started in Nebraska twelve
years ago. 1t is worth coming all the
way from the Missouri river to see this
one green spot
Before describe these alfalfa farms
at Danbury, let me go back into the
country half way between Danbury
and lie banon, where left Sam Mes
ner on his farm. | met him first at
Lebanon, where he was loading a car
of fat cows for shipment to Omaha. l
saw these cows as got off the train
at lie ebanon, that they were unusually
fine looking. and Mr.. Mesner informed
me that they had not tasted grain,
either winter or summer, but had been
raised and fattened on alfalfa alone.
Twenty-three years ago, n young
man then, he lived at Fairbury. Every
body had the blues there then. There
was very light crop, almost total
failure in 1873 and 1874. Nearly every
body was discouraged All the people
were poor there then, and the farmers
placed but little value on that land
(now worth S35 to $40 an acre., just as
some people here place but little value
on this land now. Some of the farm
ers there who had borrowed $500 each
said to Sam as they went away; "You
can have that land just as it is for moth
ing if you want it. Itis no use to us"
But Sam was young then, unmarried,
and he didn't want land. He had heard
of the buffalo that were then plenty in
Red Willow county, and he longed to
get on strong horse, under big white
hat, and ride free and bold among the
buffalo on the plain. He came with
some other young men and took up his
temporary abode in small cabin
among the trees on the Beaver, near
where his present comfortable farm
dwelling now stands For several years
he lived much in the saddle, sleeping
at night wherever night found him, on
the soft, brown buffalo grass, giving no
thought to land, or home, or settled
conditions of life. Some of the boys
took up land, and they wanted Sam to
take some, but land here had no value
then, and SO far as he could see, never
would have. Some of the boys took up
land, built themselves little homes and
married wives. One by one these bold
riders settled down into quiet and civ
ilized life, and Sam, finding the long
rides across the plain to the mountains
and back lonesome without his old
mpanions, married and settled down
too
Up to 1890 the seasons were favora-
BILE and the crop conditions good. But
1890 was a dry year. There was a
scarcity of hay and roughness and
many farmers on the uplands sold their
stock for whatever they could get.
Mesner, who had made some progress
in alfalfa, had plenty of hay and could
buy and feed all the stock that came
his way. Here is where alfalfa hay
gave him big boost. He had u supply
of old hay on hand. 1t will fatten hogs
and cattle as well when it is one or two
years old as when it is new. The al
faifa farmer always keeps supply on
hand. SO that when his neigh bors are
short of feed and offer their young
stock for sale he can take them. He
made enough money that year to pay
off S3, 900 of debt that he had incurred
by the purchase of additional land. AL
fnlfa had served him SO well during the
dry year of 1890 that he enlarged his
fields in '91, '92 and '93. From Sep
tember, 1898, to September, 1894, he
sold from the farm Sc, 700 worth Of
hogs that had been brought to matur-
ity and fattened largely on alfalfa. He
sold that same year 81, 500 worth of fat
steers that had subsisted chiefly on al
falfa. He used this money to buy more
land. He now has GOO acres in this
farm. He showed me a carload of fat
hogs nearly ready for the market that
are now being fed a little corn to hard
en- them up and give them weight He
showed me 100 head of fine shoats in
the clover field, growing rapidly and
thriving without grain. He showed
me twenty-five fat steers that will be
ready to ship in thirty days. He
showed me 100 tons of alfalfa hay in
H. hat
yield another cutting yet this year.
Last year he cut twelve acres for seed,
from which he threshed 1O3 bushels,
which sold at S5 busheL He has a
good bank account and does not owe a
dollar.
Mesuer believes that alfalfa will rev
olutionize the stock industry all over
western Nebraska. He believes it will
inaugurate q new system of farm man
agement that will run more to hogs
and cattle, less to wheat and oats, and
stop the sale of 15-cent corn. He thinks
the corn and wheat raisers work toe
hard with their hands and not enough
with their brains 1t is not hard work
but good management. that makes g
farmer rich. He says that alfalfa will
not stay on a farm year after year anG
work side by side in harmony with q
mortgage Whenever alfalfa begins tc
get in its work, begins to put fat OF
cattle and hogs, the mortgage folds it.
tent like an Arab and silently steals
away. Now l have proven satisfac
torily. to myself at least, in my OBJ
servations here in the last ten days
that this is literally true. In all my
inquiry have not yet heard of single
alfalfa farmer who is not well-to-dc
and out of debt
! How could it be otherwise with the
phenomenal profits that have beer
realized from this clover in the last two
years? 1t may be true that these
enormous profits will never again bt
realized. l find men every day who
have no alfalfa of their own, men who
are always ready to prophesy evil tc
every new enterprise, repeating thi.
suggestion, that alfalfa will soon bt
overdone, that the seed will come dowr
in price to So a bushel and tina the hay
when it becomes plenty, will not sell
for more than SO or S4 ton. and some
of these men, when they speak of this
act as if they really wished that i,
might come true. But 1 say. let II
come true. and still it will be worth
more by the acre than any other crop
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