The Democratic advocate., 1907-07-19
ALFALFA AND MARYLAND.
Mr. @. A Councilman's Profits As
Tip To State Farmers.

Mr. @. A. Councilman's Profits AS
Tip To State Farmers.
Mayby alfalfa did defeat Bryan, and
again maybe it didn't.
Mr.. Charles A. Councilman, styled cal
falfa king or ''alfalfa crank, " just as you
look at it, has demonstrated one thing con
vely-alfalfa can be grown successfully
in Maryland and that it is an absolute and
and sure moneymaker.
A trip to Mr.. Councilman farm in the
Worthington valley, just 10 miles from the
city and at the head of Park Heights ave-
nue., is wonderfully instructive, and interest
is increased by the fact that here at least
is an agricultural establishment run on
modern lines which makes money. Mr.
Coucilman, as a director of the Maryland
Agricultural College, has wide acquaint-
ance with men who labor in the United
States Agricultural Department. Every
time they want field demonstration of
some new plant the seed is shipped to the
man who knows how to show the careful
attention the experiment needs.
Besides raising baby milk that has gain
ed wide fame, in Baltimore, Mr.. Council
man has an asparagus bed that combines
three features Of modern farming. How
to get nitrogen into the earth without buy
ing it in the form of fertilizer is the hobby
of the place and the aim of every modern
farmer. So Mr.. Councilman, with a
French seeding asparagus plant, sows cow
peas in the same patch, and then plants
apples, too. These three work for each
other as triumph of nature, and the
air gives up that precious Of most precious
fertilizers, nitrogen, in abundant quantities.
But it is to alfalfa that the chief atten-
tion Of this diversified plantation, mile
each way big, is given. The farmer has
arguments enough to force a Southern
Marylander to say tobacco isn't what it S
cracked up to be and to make man on
the Patuxent turn to it as he would to
gold mine proposition. Moreover, large
number of these same arguments strike
hard, and it surely seems that the pleasing
counties, advocated even by the Tobacco
Growers association, should be headed, at
least as an experiment.
Mr.. Councilman has 12O acres in alfalfa.
He cuts three times year. He gets two
and half or three tons an acre. He could
get $50 ton for it if it were cut into
chicken food, but he prefers to put most
of it into milk, and does. In addition, he
has hundred or so of hogs that get turned
into the alfalfa fields after the cutters have
gone. They also get feelings of this same
wonderfullyproductive plant in the ''veldt, "
or hilly, wooded portion, of the farm,
which they share with the other stock
colts, heifers and cows-which are retired
for rest and the simple life every now and
then.
There are 80 cows in the model COW
barn on the place. They get alfalfa for
breakfast, dinner and supper and TOR
snacks between meals. They like it and
stay right at the feed, day after day,
varying it only by short trips to the big
blue grass pasture, with the trout stream
in it, for exercise and dessert, as it were.
But their silky hides are stuffed full of
alfalfa every day and they reward the owner
well.
The herd is composed of Guernsey and
grade Guernseys, and are brought in from
the pasture twice day to be MIXED and
handed some green alfalfa The produc-
tion sheet in big manufacturing establish
ment is no more carefully kept than is that
in the barn. Every cows production is
weighed. The yield is carefully figured
out and the cost of each COW and her main
tenance is charged against. To her credit
is placed the number of pounds of milk
she gives. At the end of IL months she
must have credit of 700 gallons or she is
sold and replaced.
This is an example of how business on
a farm is systematized. No wonder Mr..
Councilman knows to penny what his
farm costs, or what his profits were last
year. And as another example of his
thoroughness, take walk with him about
the place, or rather ride, for it's long
Journey. He talks alfalfa morning, noon
and night and on excursions. It is related
of him that when on steamboat excursion
telling farmers about crops he was asleep
when the boat was tied up in storm.
Needing him for amusement of certain
other men who sat at table, he was visit
ed and rudely awakened. erich in ira
dition but poor in plant food" came from
his lips in continuation Of the informal
lecture he had been giving, with the chosen
plant as the text, before the nap.
Speaking of texts, "Alfalfa and its rela-
ton to the human race is favorite.
He says the Spartans held that pass be-
cause they drank milk from herds fed on
alfalfa They didn't need commissaries in
in those days, says he, and they didn't
have to worry about any base of supplies
the country was full of alfalfa, and all they
had to do was to lead the herds to it. Be
that as it may, he finds it good ration fol-
every kind of animal on the place, and
grows it so abundantly and cheaply he says
he can't see why other Marylanders don
do it, too.
To get to the Bryan topic he says Kan
sas and Nebraska and other States have
solved the problem Of raising and fattening
cattle on the ranch by the introduction Of
alfalfa. He points out that a prosperou:
people would not give their votes to Bryan.
And, talking of cattle, he asks where the
coast-fed export cattle are. Like many
Others, he remembers when Eastern farm
ers used to make big money feeding uI
export steers. Now there is little, if any
of this done. And he follows it up will
an inquiry as to why Maryland farmers
can't raise the stock Maryland uses; il
other words, get clear of the Beef Trust
by producing the meat we eat.
On his biggest alfalfa field the other da,