The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1911-01-12
ALFALFA J SHOWS
A WAY OUT
Increased Cost Of Living
Has No Terrors for Man
Who Raises It.

st. Paul, Dec. 10, l0lO.-Professor d. f.
Willard, Development Agent of the
Northern Pacific Ry., sat down to a sur.
prise banquet in Billings, Montana, the
other day.
From Soup to Nuts" alfalfa was
strong on the bill of fare. Alfalfa feed
chicken, with alfalfa dressing had the
corn feed product painting for wind.
Alfalfa bread, cakes and cookies brought
the blush of shame to the kinds that
Mother used to Make" Alfalfa tea,
daintily brewed made the guests smack
their lips and empty the urn in a hurry.
Here is Professor Willard's report of the
"sumptuous repast":
1t was the writer's good fortune to be
guest at luncheon given by the Com
mercial Club of an enterprising city
located in the midst of one of the great
est alfalfa growing districts of the
MISUNDERSTANDING, Montana-on the
menu of which was printed in conspicu-
Gus type the words Alfalfa is King
and the luncheon was in real fact din
ner of alfalfa" There was 0aast spring
chicken--aifalfa fed, with alfalfa dress.
ing. That the chicken was good all can
truthfully vouch whoO partook of it.
That the fowls were alfalfa fed the
writer is not inclined - doubt, for he
knows that alfalfa is good and prac-
tical feed for poultry, and he has the
word of reliable men that these birds
were fed and fattened on alfalfa. There
was alfalfa bread-actual loaves and
slices of fresh, sweet and palatable bread.
resembling somewhat in color bread
made from ordinary graham or whole
wheat flour, having a pleasing nutty
flavor, and the statement is made on
good authority that but slight amount
of wheat -four was admixed to give a
hinder effect, rendering the texture a
little more elastic and less crumbly.
There were cakes and cookies, having
much the color and texture of common
brown cookies, good, sweet and eatable,
and made entirely from alfalfa flour, as
vouched by the chef who originated the
recipes and prepared the luncheon. There
were alfalfa biscuits, light in texture,
delicate and palatable, made with a
eight admixture of wheat -four. Finally
there was alfalfa tea-the actual fluid
brewed from the leaves of the alfalfa
plant. One was not compelled to drink
this if one did not wish tot was
explained by the host that it was not
claimed to be a substitute for any other
beverage for human use, though it has
been demonstrated that it has great
value as stock food and would prob
ably have for human use. But it was
introduced into the luncheon merely to
show what could be done. and to exem-
plify what use could be made of it as
a commercial stock food.
It is no joke. Alfalfa leaves when
ground and baked in the ordinary way
make palatablc article of food and, if
we may believe the analysis of the chem
list, nourishing article of diet. If it
had not been frankly announced. few.
if any, of the fifty or more guests would
ever have suspected that they were eat
ing hay, and no one could have found
any valid ground for complaining that
his dinner was not good or that it did
not "set well" on his stomach.
The honor of originating "alfalfa
flour" belongs to DR.. w. X. Sudduth. of
Billings, :, enthusiastic grower of
alfalfa, and the honor of being the orig
inator of alfalfa bread and cakes. so far
as the writer has been able to learn,
belongs to MIR. Charles Mullemer, Chef
of the Grand Hotel, Billings.
DR.. Sudduth has been for years prac-
tical grower and feeder of alfalfe. So
far as the writer knows he is the orig
inator of "alfalfa tea" as stock food.
The Doctor stated that he had found
the proposition highly profitable one
for growing pigs. The following fig'res
are quoted from memory, but they an
be verified by anyone interested by
addressing DR.. w. x. Sudduth, Billings,
Montana. He stated that he fed, exclu-
sively, alfalfa tea, with q sufficient admix-
ture Of bran or shorts to make thin
mash or soup, to growing pigs, from the
time they were weaned till they were
seven months old, at which age they
weighed 1856 pounds each, and he further
stated that the total cost Of producing
the porkers was about $500 per cwt.
The profit of such q scheme of stock
feeding needs no argument. The .tea''
was brewed by simply boiling in large
yats and drawing of the liquid.
In IN informal toast at Che luncheon
referred to, the writer stated that he had
never viewed with alarm the cry that
the human race is rapidly approaching
IN era Of food shortage due to the ex-
Aaustion; Of the resources Of the soil,
but that when he saw such demonstra-
SSO0 VI WA1SV Ssku Uc VV00 IN tuS YIep0INs
ton of human food from one Of the
greatest staple crops of the Northwest,
and tasted the products, his optimism
received = great uplift, and if the
luncheon to which we had been 10 gen.
eFously served was an earnest of future
possibilities, he could gee, no reason fo1
pessimistic forebodings lest the worlds
supply Of food should become exhausted
The increased cost Of living Is ques.
ton that has forced itself upon. public
attention with an insistence ssusG Il
nearly, If not quite, Irresistible !, Now
far supply and demand control tAS Gle.
ments Of cost IN our daily food account
b Q question that economists must deal
with, but even . layman can see that
Il there is an increase In population
without q corresponding increase In food
production, BY and by there must come
. time Of actual scarcity in; the food
supply The writer 10 not one Of those