The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-10

main ditch and the land is flooded The amount of land covered. of course, de- bends on the elevation of the lateral and the amount of drop the water has. After the land is covered by about two inches of water the head gates of the main ditch are closed and the water is allowed to soak into the ground. As soon as all the water has been thor oughly absorbed, the "laterals" are again filled and the thirsty ground flooded once more.
 The number of times this flooding process must be repeated depends en- tirely upon whether 1t is a wet or dry spring. If nature is kind-as a rule she Is not out in that land of sage bush and alkali-and sends the ever welcome rain, the ground need only be flooded a couple of times. otherwise the 'laterals" make frequent calls on the main ditch Once crop is started 1t is not necessary to seed again. All that is required is to blow and to furnish the all important water.
 While water Is the sine qua non of alfalfa raising, the soil and temperature have great deal to do with the qual- fty and quantity of the crop. For in- stance, fin the rather bleak Montana, the man who gets two good cuttings year Is lucky, while in California three and four cuttings is the rule, and frequent ly six can be had. Very frequently re- gions naturally the most barren and arid are, when once the magic stream of water is brought into play, the most fertile and productive. There is Ne vada, the home of the Great American Desert, and the synonym for barren ness and aridity; throw water over it's desert stretches and 1t produces on the average BOA tons an acre. What is still more strange is that the first state in the Union for yield per acre Is Utah. The yield per acre there is 8. .54 tons
 The value of alfalfa is finally being realized by the Eastern farmer, and in the last few years 1t has been experi- mented with on a large scale east of the Mississippi. Only this fall the Government has been sending an Al falfa and Corn Speciar' train through the Southern States. On the special were many eminent experts on the growing of alfalfa. who, at the different stations, gave good practical lectures to the farmers on how to grow this very valuable forage food.
 At present the Eastern farmer is in a very receptive mood because, for the last five or six years, the clover crop has been very poor, due to a mysterious malady called. for lack of better name, the "clover sickness" Govern ment experts have been trying hard to discover the cause of this clover sick ness, and they now think that it comes from planting the seed too early in the spring, while the frost is still in the ground. When planted at that time a certain fungus adheres to the seed and causes all the trouble. The remedy they say is to plant the seed in August. However, even if the clover should re- gain it's pristine strength as a crop. 1t is a matter of doubt whether or not all falfa hasn't taken its place among the hay growers of the East Alfalfa's chief attraction to Eastern farmers is that it can he fed to dairy cows, to the exclusion of all other foods, and they will do very well. as well indeed as if fed on bran and other grains. This substitution of alfalfa for a grain diet will result in cheapening, to con siderable degree, the price of dairy products Another reason why alfalfa should be popular is that as pasture for hogs 1t is uhequalled. As fattener of hogs 1t is almost equal to corn and far less expensive. The most prosper ous ranch owners in the Southwest to-