Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-15
AS HUMAN FOOD
Alfalfa Meal Shown to Be Fair
ly Good Substitute for
Wheat Flour.
CHEAPER MORE NUTRITIOUS
Makes Excellent Bread, Biscuit, Pan
cakes and Pastry-NOt White,
but Emerald Green.

Alfalfa, which until comparatively
! recently was considered as feed for
cattle, horses and hogs only, has been
discovered to have value as food for
humans. The dry leaves are being
ground into meal and -four, mixed
with wheat -four and sold on the mar
ket as composition out of which
bread. biscuits. pancakes and pastry
are being made.
Time was, and it was not so very
long ago. when you met a man on the
| street and if you wanted to crack a
real funny joke you remarked. You
can do so and so, but you can't eat
hay" Make that remark today to an
Omaha (Neb) man and about six
| times out of ten he will tell you that
he is eating hay. In other words, at
the present time more than half Of
the families Of Omaha are eating hay.
This hay eating is not, confined to the
poor, but extends to the people who
are In comfortable circumstances, and
they all say they like it
How the Alfalfa Meal 10 Made.
To make the alfalfa meal and -four
the grass Is cut early In June and at
time when it is IN full bloom. 1t
is cured in the sun and, If possible,
without being wet by rain. When
thoroughly dry the leaves are stripped
from the stalks and these leaves mix
ed with wheat at q ratio OF one-fhird
alfalfa and two-thirds wheat and
ground into a coarse meal. This meal
is, used for cakes as well as for a
breakfast food. That desired for
bread and pastry is ground stu finer
and bolted and when, placed, upon the
market can be sold for abouti8o cents
per sack Of fifty pounds. whereas a
good grade Of wheat dour viii retail
at $1.50 to. $E75 per sack Of the same
weight
So far the only thing that can be re-
garded as Objectionable abouts the al
falfa meal or -four Is the color. In
stead OF being white # Is a bright
emerald green. This color remains
through thu cooking process. and a
plate OF hot.biscuits or a plate OF cakes
comes to the table as green as the
grass of tpe field.
Medicinal In q Way.
So far as it is nutritious the alfal-
IA product has the wheat and corn
badly beaten, and experiments show
that a man who eats alfalfa products
can work longer and harder, expert
encing less fatigue, than a man who
makes a meal out of meat. Then, too,
it is a medicine in way, as 1t acts
upon the nerves, and Omaha doctors
remedy for insomnia.
49, ell
to the consumer in another form. The
blossoms are gathered just at the time
when they are in full bloom. Like the
hay, they are dried without moisture,
and when bone dry they are ground to
a fine powder, which is a light blue
This powder is made into tablets and
constitutes a medicine that, while IL
will not cure all the ills, will play
havoc with insomnia, indigestion and
all manner of stomach difficulties.
Alfalfa is a crop that can be raised
on almost any kind of land, but it
thrives best where the soil is loose
and porous, with a subsoil that Is
of similar character. In other words,
it will not do as well nor can the best
results be obtained on clayey land or
land with a heavy and solid subsoil.
So far as investigat ton has been car
ried. the states of Nebraska, Kansas, |
Wyoming and Colorado have been the !
most successful in the cdlture of the |
plant.
In the states named alfalfa will pro-
duce three crops of hay per year and
will average one and one-half tons per |
acre per cutting. The first cutting is
early in June, the second four to six
weeks later and the third late in Au-
gust or early in September. 1t is cut |
and gathered the same as any other |
hay, costing about $3.50 per ton to put |
1t in the stack and 50 more per ton in !
the event it is baled for shipment to |
market On board the cars it is worth |
a good average of IS per ton. making |
the net profit per acre per year in the |
neighborhood of 500 Besides this,
after the last cutting. the stubble will |
furnish grazing for cattle, horses and |
hogs until winter and until the field |
is covered with snow.
While alfalfa will live and produce
q good crop for at least twenty years,
the best results are attained by rotat- |
ing with other crops. 1t is sowed and
cut three years. then plowed up and |
the ground planted to corn or sugar.
beets for couple of years, after which
it is again sowed to alfalfa.