The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-08-25
ALFALFA, THE PROTEIN FORAGE PLANT.
BY W. ]. sPILLMAN, AGRICULTURIsT, U. S. DEPART
MENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON.

L
MENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON.
Alfalfa is probably the oldes
known cultivated forage plant
Thousands of years ago it covered
the plains of Babylon and formed the
subsistence of the herds. 1t is pro-
bable that Xerxes fed his horses or
this crop. From Babylonia gradual
ly spread to North Africe and South.
ern Europe, and was brought by the
Spaniards to the American continent.
From Chile and Mexico it worked its
way up the Pacific Coast, and was
found growing around the Spanish
monasteries by the gold seekers who
went to California in '4o and so.
From the Pacific Coast it has gradu-
ally worked its way eastward until
now it is grown more or less in near
ly every State in the Union, though
it is an important crop in only few
localities east of the Mississippi
River. 1t is constantly growing in
Importance and the area devoted to
it in the Eastern States is rapidly in
creasing. 1t seems probable that
within the next ten or fifteen years
alfalfa may become one of the most
/ important crops, both in the cotton
belt and in the region of timothy and
clover. 1t is usually called by its
Arabian name of alfalfa. In few
localities in the United States it is
known as lucerne, by which name it
is known in France and England.
The only section where this latter
name is widely used in this country
is in Utah and adjacent parts of Wyo-
ming and Idaho, but even there it is
frequently called alfalfa.
Alfalfa is decidedly the richest
forage of any of the forage plants or
dinarily grown in this country.
When feeding it great deal less
grain is necessary than with any
other roughage. AS already stated,
it makes a very good feed without
any grain for most kinds of stock.
Alfalfa hay is so rich that care must
be used in feeding it to horses. Cen
orally speaking, it is better to feed
some other hay or straw with it (when
used for horses) in order to avoid di-
gestive troubles. On account of the
large amount of nitrogen it contains
pure alfalfa hay sometimes causes
more or less trouble with the kidneys
in horses, particularly when they have
not been used to this feed for some
time. That it is good feed for
horses, however, cannot be question
ed. In some parts of the State of
Washington, as we'll as in practically
all of the irrigated sections of the
West, great many farm horses are
fed nothing else, and the hay is so
rich that they are able to do a good
deal of hard work without serious in
Jury when thus fed. Under any con-
ditions where alfalfa hay is available
for horses the grain can be reduced
one-half.
While it is somewhat dangerous to
allow cattle to pasture on alfalfa be-
cause of its tendency to cause bloat,
alfalfa hay is undoubtedly the best
hay for cattle we know of. In many
parts of the West steers are fattened
on alfalfa hay alone. They cannot
be finished as perfectly in this way
as they could be with some grain,
but they can be put into condition to
sell very we'll on the Western mar
kets. Dairy cows can be fed very
satisfactorily all winter on an ex-
elusive ration of alfalfa hay. They
will not give as much milk when
thus fed as if they had, say, a half
ration of grain, but frequently the
milk is produced at a greater profit
when feeding alfalfa alone than when
feeding grain with it. At Moneta,
CAL, the writer has seen dairy herds
that were fed alfalfa hay in the win
ter and green alfalfa cut and carried
to them in the summer, year in and
year out, with no other feed. In
this connection the experience of
Mr.. Charles A. Councilman, who
maintains large herd of dairy cows
near Baltimore, Md, is of interest.
He has eighty acres of good alfalfa
on his farm. For silage he grows
corn and cowpeas planted together.
In winter time his cows are fed on
this corn and cowpea silage and al
falfa hay without any grain. The
results are highly satisfactory and
very nearly as good as they formerly
were when Mr.. Councilman's grain
bill was over So, 900 year.
Under ordinary conditions alfalfa
yields larger crops of hay than any
other hay crop grown in this coun-
try, unless we except sorghum,
which, however, makes hay of very
inferior quality when compared with
alfalfa. Even in the northern tier of
States alfalfa yields two or three
crops of hay year. In central lati-
tudes four crops are usually cut, in
northern Louisiana FIVE or six, while
in some parts of southern Texas, in
a good year, alfalfa may be cut nine
times. With tine soil in fair condi-
ton the yield of hay in the South is
about one ton per cutting. In the
North it is usually more than this.
Under good conditions farmer may
fairly expect a yield of four or five
tons per acre of the best hay, and
yields mitch larger than this have
been harvested.
Alfalfa being legume and very
deep rooted has favorable effect on
the fertility of the soil. After an al
falfa crop has grown several years
on field, when it is plowed up and
planted to corn or other grain, the
yield of grain is usually very much
greater than it was on the same land
before the alfalfa was sown. The
length of time an alfalfa field will
live depends on so many local con-
ditions that no definite time can be
stated. When it is not bothered by