The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-14

| | existence possible, may be reckoned the | universal beneficence of grass" said Senator John J. Ingalls,. Alfalfa, which came as an antidote for booms and. drought in the Middle West. must be | reckoned equally as lavish in beneflcence as grass. It Is the cornerstone upon which is being built the unfailing pros- perity of the Western farmer. With it's 1 never-failing four and five crops a year; its tonnage greater than that of any other forage plant; it's wonderful fatten- ing qualities for cattle and swine; its value as feed for bees and poultry; its perennity. covering a quarter of cen- tury; It's ability to withstand drought and hot winds because of its roots which pore down until they find water, 1t Is the wonder of Western agriculture.
 Tn less productive regions of Western Kansas and Nebraska. Eastern Colo raoo. Wyoming and Arizona, land formerly thought to be suitable only TOT grazing has been given an agricutu- rai value by reason of the large alfalfa yields Already in many of the "short grass counties of Western Kansas and Neeraska thousands of acres are being raised and fed to cattle, sheep and hogs with large profit Many who have looked upon irrigation as the only means of put ting such lands on a paying basis now say alfalfa is the way out"
 The rapid increase of alfalfa cultiva- ton is probably unequaled by any other product of the soil. In less than half a century, and for the most part in the last decade, it has become a factor in agriculture and has been largely respon- sible for the upbpilding of the extensive dairy industry in the Middle West. In many localities the profits realized by turning alfalfa into beef and pork would read almost like the startling stories that came out of the Klondike a few years ago. Alfalfa butter Is shipped to New York by the train load; alfalfa-fed chick ems and turkeys fill cars that go to Bos- ton; the best chops on the breakfast table of the Philadelphian are alfalfa-fed.
 Nothing New-Fangled About It.
 At first farmers were disposed to look upon alfalfa as they had learned to look upon new-fangled patent" windmills and lightning rods-a thing to be avoided. The general belief was that 1t was a new and untried product but in reality 1t is older than the Christian era It was grown In Greece as early as 450 B. c. Cincin- natus, the patrician farmer, may have been blowing for alfalfa, in the fields across the Fiber, when he was called upon to don his toga and become Dictator. The horses of the Roman army were fed upon it and it is still cultivated in Italy. The Latin races at first had. monopoly on the cultivation of 1t. From Italy 1t was introduced into Spain, then Southern France. The Spaniards carried itEto South America and to Mexico. It was grown in many of the Northern countries of Europe and was known in New York in 1920, but 1t did not gain a foothold in the United States until 1854, when it was introduced from ChtH tn Calif0rpia then its march eastward across the coun- | try has been steady, until 1t is now grown, more or less extensively, In every State and Territory in the Union.
 Alfllfa has been the text of agriculturA al | revivals. It has been preached and | taught at the Farmers Grange meetings and at the agricultural colleges. Captain J. Ii. Churchill of Dodge City, Kansas, was given the title of "The Alfalfa King because of his untiring efforts in spread ing the gospel of the new forage plant. He had been a sailor on the Atlantic seaboard and his experience as a farmer had been of a few years, yet he was one of the first to discover the adaptabillty of alfalfa to Kansas soil and to champion its cause among farmers with years of ex- l perience. He owns a ranch of 1000 acres and an extensive dairy. and his alfalfa fed milch cows furnish the milk and cream used on a large part of the Santa | Fe dinning-car and eating house system, | When he was recently elected President of the Kansas State B1rd of Agriculture 1 vices to farming interests of his State, Kansas had nearly 100000 acres of alfalfa, an increase of 35c000 acres in a dozen years
 Some Alfala Statistics.
 It was not until the taking of the cen H. kH--AI- | niZed alfalfa. This census gives the total
 acreage as 2.094G11 and the tonnage of the | product as 5,522,671. The tonnage per acrt | for all States ranged from 10 to 34, the | lowest being Rhode Island, where but
 two acres were raised, and tEe greatest
 being in Washington where 35.166 acres
 were grown. The general average was 2.5 per acre.
 The census gave Colorado first place
 with 5.237 acres, California second with | 29S.S9S acres Utah third with 268, ,229 acres
 Kansas fourth with 267,37S acres Idaho | fifth with 160,029 acres, Nebraska sixth
 with 115,142 acres. Nevada seventh with 9S,73 acres. Wyoming eighth with 74.6SS | acres Montana ninth with 6S959 acres | the compiling of the census the acreage | has been greatly enlarged and in 1903 il | is safe to say that Kansas will have
 40o,00 acres. In Nebraska the acre .;e has been increased annually by 10000 to | 12.000 acres, and in Colorado the demand for the hay as a winter feed for cattle and sheep has been an incentive for the
 sowing of many thousands of acres each | year.
 As a feed for the dairy COW 1t has no
 superior. Dairymen in the West say that
 Tn the future the alfalfa-fed COW will set
 the price for butter for the entire coun.
 try. The quality of butter produced from
 1t is superior. Herds of cattle cannot be
 turned into the field to graze, as there is
 danger of what the farmers call "bloat, ''
 and cattle. after eating the green. rank l growth too freely have died in a few hours. It can be safely fed from the
 stack. The stock and dairy men have
 talked for years of the much-sought- after
 'balanced ration Alfalfa solves the | problem. for stock will eat just enough
 of 1t along with grain Analyses of bran and alfalfa have shown that they have a composition nearly the same. Horses j pastured on the fields in the spring and summer and fed the hay in the winter | keep in the best of -ondition. Htf;s thrive in the fields and experiments have l shown a ton of the hay to make S6S | pounds of pork. Lambs can be fattened | for the market in less time and with ] greater profit on alfalfa than on any l other feed. It is an excellent feed for
 beef cattle and adds weight quickly and i chCaplY.
 At Kearney. the center of the indus | try in Nebraska. H. D. Watson. one of the recognized authorities on the sub | Ject, owns an alfalfa farm of 2,500 acres
 where the plant grows as rank as weeds.