Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-06-22
ALFALFA A HUMAN FOOD.
Discovery Made That 1t Can Be
Successfully Used to Make
Bread, Etc.

food for cattle, horses and hogs
only, has been discovered to have
values as food for humans. The
dry leaves are being ground into
meal with wheat bour, and sold on
the market as a composition out of
which bread, biscuits, pancakes and
pastry are being made.
Time was, says the jefferson Bee,
and it was not so very long ago,
| when you met a man on the street
and If you wanted to crack 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 ex-
tends to the people who are in
comfortable circumstances, and they
all say they like it,
To make the alfalfa meal and
-four the grass is cut early in June
and at a 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 mixed with wheat
at ratio of one-third alfalfa and
two-thirds wheat and ground into
coarse meal. This meal is used
for cakes as we'll as for breakfast
food. That desired for bread and
pastry is ground still finer and
bolted and when placed upon the
market can be sold for about eighty
cents per sack of fifty pounds.
whereas a good grade of wheat
-four will retail at $3.50 to s1.75
per sack of the same weight.
So far the only thing that can be
regarded as Objectionable about the
alfalfa meal or flour is the color
Instead of being white it is a bright
emerald green. This color remains
through the cooking process, and a
plate of hot biscuits or a plate of
cakes comes to the table as green
as the grass of the field.
AS to it's nutrition the alfalfa
product has the wheat and corn
badly beaten, and experiments show
that a man who eats alfalfa pro-
ducts can work longer and harder,
experiencing less fatigue, than a
man who makes a meal out of meat.
Then, too. a medicine in a way, as
it acts upon the nerves. and Omaha
doctors have commenced prescrib-
| ing 1t as remedy for insomnia.
For nerves the alfalfa hay comes
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 fine
powder, which is a light blue. This
powder Is made into tablets and
constitutes medicine that, while it
will not cure all the ills, will play
havoc with insomnia, indigestion
and all manner of stomach difficult
ties.
Alfalfa is 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 obtain
ed on clayey land, or land with a
heavy and solid subsoil. So far
as investigation has been carried.
the states of Nebraska, Kansas,
Wyoming and Colorado have been
the most successful in the culture
of the plant.
In the states named alfalfa will
produce 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 August or early in
September. 1t is cut and gathered
the same as any other hay. While
alfalfa will live and produce 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