Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-12-17
ALFALFA FOR OREGON.
Is Proving Good Forage Crop for the
Milk Cow.

Corvallis.
There is a great deal of milk in the
ground that was not spilled and cried
over, but it is there nevertheless. AT
certain seasons of the year the Thous-
and Headed kale pulls the milk out of
mother earth and the COW pulls it out
of the kale and puts it in the bucket.
There is period, however, during the
summer when the cows go hungry and
the milk languishes in the ground be-
cause there is no green thing to pull It
out and coax the COW to fill the milk
bucket.
Western Oregon is one of the best
dairy sections of the union. With mild
open winters in which kale flourishes
and furnishes green succulent food, the
dairy business thrives all the year
around with the exception of a short
period during the summer. During
this period the land is out of commits
sion, the cows barely subsist on the
pasture fields and there is no profit to
the farmer. Forty-cent butter and a
scarcity of good fresh milk is the evil
dence of lack of green food.
What is needed in the valley is for
age crop that will utilize the soil and
furnish green food and pasture during
the dry season. Will alfalfa fill the
bill? If alfalfa could be raised extern
sively and successfully it would change
the face Of nature and add immensely
to the value of the farms in the Will
lamette valley. 1t would increase the
dairy products and the poultry pro-
ducts; it would cheaper the production
of pork and beef and mutton.
Alfalfa has been grown for two
thousands years in the Mediterranean
region. 1t has been grown successful
ly in arid parts of America for half
century. A gentleman travelling over
what was then regarded as land unfit
for settlement in Western Nebraska by
reason of its aridity discovered thrift
ty green alfalfa plant growing where
no other green thing could be found for
miles around. That was demonstra-
tion that satisfied the gentleman and
he purchased large tract of land for
trif1e. On the same land he has since
fed fifty thousand sheep in one season
on alfalfa. Alfalfa goes down into the
depths Of the soil for moisture and
through wireless communication with
the atmosphere brings down from above
food which feeds the plant and enriches
the soil.
Since 1891 the acreage of alfalfa in
Kansas has increased from 34,388 to
615, 900 in 1906. A recent bulletin
from that state says Of alfalfa 'The
steer feeders and mutton feeders of
Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska would
be lost without it.
At the Kansas station it is stated:
"a gain of 800 pounds of pork was
made from ton of alfalfa, and little
less than that amount of gain was
made from an acre Of alfalfa pasture"
Again, "We found that 100 pounds of
alfalfa hay saved SO pounds of corn"
Figuring on the basis of these expert
ments it is stated that with green al
falfa producing ten tons per acre co.
900 pounds) it would produce 1000
pounds of pork. which, at cents per
pound would be worth $50 per acre."
Director Burkett, of the Kansas sta
tion, says: "By promoting the sue
cessful production of alfalfa the sta
tion has not only extended the domin-
ion of an imperial forage crop, but in
SO doing has discharged its own entire
expense, and in addition has added mil
lions of dollars to the wealth of the
state
At the Ontario agricultural college
in ten years 80 cuttings, yielding over
5 tons an acre, were made. An exper-
iment showed this great soil enrich
ing qualities. Wheat grown after al
falfa yielded 61.5 bushels per acre and
after timothy sod 42.1 bushels. In the
two succeeding years the alfalfa sod
produced 302 bushels of barley and "a
bushels of corn, while the timothy sod
produced 1877 bushels barley and 17.9
bushels corn. The three crops on the
alfalfa sod were worth about 500 while
those on the timothy sod were worth
about $50.
At the Oregon Agricultural college
alfalfa has been growing successfully
for several years, and tests are being
made by the agronomists with different
Varieties W UeleTInlIle which Will suit
the conditions best in this state. The
station men are glad at all times to
answer questions in regard to its culti-
vation.
A few miles from Corvallis Mr.. w.
H. Hamlin cut this year 200 tons of al
falfa hay. 1t yielded about 215 tons
to the acre in two cuttings. Before
seeding to alfalfa the land had been
cropped out" In fourteen years
fourteen grain crops had been taken
from the land, and Mr.. Hamlin ex-
plains that on richer land the yield is
much heavier. He further explains
that the oldest stand yields the best,
showing that it takes several years on
certain classes of soil for the alfalfa to
make good growth.
1t looks as though an alfalfa cam
paign would be worth millions to this
state.