The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-01
$f0O.OOO A YEAR
MADE ON ONE FARM FROM AL
 FALFA. &H N
R. B. Smith of Texas, Beginning With Five, Now Has Fnrm ContaininE a
 1,4O0 Acres-DevelOps FOd-
 w der Tint Needs No Re- w sS planting.

| | Mir. Smith has developed from prac- | ticing lawyer to the greatest alfalfa 1 grower in the world in a period or
 thirteen years. He began his first ex-
 pertinent of planting alfalfa in 1894. At
 that time there was little known Of
 this plant in Texas. He sowed nse acres with the seed It thrived so we'll l that he met with a difficult problem in keeping it cut. It was new thing to l him and afforded him an opportunity | to begin the study of that particular ! branch of agriculture with closeness ! of application that in few years
 caused him to be known the country | over as an authority upon the subject | of alfalfa growing.
 The growing and harvesting of the | crop were not the only things to be l studied and investigated. He conduct | ed long series of experiments of the best methods of feeding and fattening
 stock upon it. He made many new dis l coveries which have been of the great | est value in utilizing the product and | his income from the hogs and other | live stock which feed upon 1t amounts | to many thousands of dollars annually l in addition to the enormous sum which the alfalfa crop directly brings him. When the first five acres enlightened MT. Smith as to the possibilities of al- | falfa he began to increase the acreage l year by year. Even when he reached l the point when he had 100 acres in the l feed stuff he was looked upon as the king of alfalfa growers in the South west That was several years ago, and since then there are many farms in the country which have a large acreage of had increased his acreage to 1000 acres,
 and his income for that year was $7S,- 900. Since then 400 more acres have been added, MT. Smith has placed no limit upon the acreage that he may
 ultimately reach. He has a big farm, and there are several hundred acres still available for alfalfa. It has the call over all other crops.
 The marvellous thing about MT. | Smiths alfalfa farm is that 1t is a dry | land proposition. The crop is grown | without irrigation. Practically all of l the other alfalfa that is grown in the | Southwest is by means of irrigation. By the cultivating methods used by MT.
 Smith he Is able to obtain as many cut 1 tings and as large yield as usually ob- | tain upon the Irrigated farms. The
 old theory that alfalfa will thive only
 upon bottom lands is disproved by Mr.
 Smith. It is growing in the valley and
 upon the hills upon his farm. The | highest hills in this part of Texas are
 in this 1.40o acre alfalfa field. The al-
 falfa which grows upon their summits
 Is equal to that which grows in the val leys. The plant enriches the soil mar
 velously. and after the first planting
 it Is not long until the most barren
 spots are thickfy carpeted. One of the
 hills in the big alfalfa field is called
 Mount Nebo, and from its summit every
 part of the l.400 acres can be plainly
 seen.
 ITO me this is the most enticing em-
 thence I ever beheld. not even except
 ing the magnificent mountain scenery of Colorado or of the Shenandoah val | ley of Virginia" Mir. Smith said. Here
 I have looked down upon 1,500 head of | hogs, not one of which ever died of
 cholera. I have taken those same pork | CTS from that alfalfa pasture at six months. and after topping them for ten | or fifteen days on corn. sold them at 6
 cents per pound. each porker weighing | from 225 to 250 pounds. The hogs
 make their growth from alfalfa alone feeding through the dense mass of it. | almost hidden from view. They dis | dain all other feed, and answer the call | for grain with scornful grunts, or go
 bounding over the purple. heath with
 their tails curled in ringlets over their | backs.
 Tn this same pasture I have looked | down upon 500 head of cattle and 200 | head of horses, all lazily feeding, grow | ing sleek and fat My keenest delight l is in watching the herd of Angora | goats cutting their antics. leaping over fence too frolicsome to be confined, and nobody caring where they went. They like nothing better than alfalfa, forgetting even to bark the fruit trees. They leap into the alfalfa field when hungry. Four years ago I put thirty
 Angoras on the farm, and notwith-
 standing that we have been eating one
 or two each week since then, such is
 their fecundity that the herd has in creased n than nlI cious, healthy, juicy meat"
 The first seasons cutting of alfalfa | on MT. Smiths farm takes place in
 April. The last cutting usually is made
 in December. The lowest number of cuttings in a year is four and some seasons it is five or six. The yield for each cutting is never less than one ton per acre. The price per ton is never | below $10 a ton, and it will average l about s15 a ton.
 | In addition to the income derived
 through pasturage and its sale for
 forage one crop of seed is harvested. | The yield of seed is on a low average
 three bushels an acre. It sells for 10
 cents pound, and at sixty pounds to
 the bushel one acre will bring a rev.
 enue of SIS.
 It requires but little calculation to
 show that at an average yield of four | tons per acre, and at ah average price | oi $Ao tonI tne l,4OV acres bring Tn
 an annual revenue of $S4,000 from the
 sale of the forage crop, while the seed | crop at $lS an acre shows an addition
 al revenue of $25,200, or a total of $lO9,2OO No calculation is made of | the amount of money received from the
 sale of the hundreds of head of hogs.
 cattle and other live stock that are
 fattened upon the alfalfa pasture. | MT. Smith says that as a pasture
 and as forage plant alfalfa is with
 out rival. It is a leguminous plant
 which draws free nitrogen from the ' air, not only for it's own supply, but
 nils the soil with 1t until scientists
 say. one years growth leaves the soil
 enriched by about $15 an acre. In
 other words. it would require the ex- penditure of that much for fertilizers
 to put the soil in the condition that
 the alfalfa makes it in one year.
 MT. Smith has tried the experiment
 of blowing up a small acreage of al
 falfa and planting the ground in wheat
 and other crops. He says that he found
 the soil greatly enriched and honey
 combed with canelike holes, ready to
 receive and hold moisture and in fine
 condition for the reception of the roots
 Of other plants and trees. The wheat
 which he planted upon the alfalfa
 ground attracted wide attention for it's
 green color and persistent growth.
 Occasionally there are spots of al-
 falfa which are struck with the rot.
 MT. Smith has found a remedy for this
 disease. It is to blow up such afflict- ed spots and plant them in sorghum
 or wheat. The clements which attack