Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1911-02-18
OF INTEREST TO FARMERS.
Alfalfa, the Hope Of the Cheyenne Val.
lev Farmer.

ley Farmer.
What will the country between the
Black Hills and the Cheyenne river be.
come noted for in the futurep Alfalfa.
As surely as cotton grows is the staple
of the Yazoo bayous; and corn has made
Nebraska famous; and Minnesota wheat
is a household word; 80 surely will
the Black Hills alfalfa become known
wherever this wonderful grass is grown.
Why is this SO? Because the condi-
tions of soil and climate in this region
are peculiarly adapted to the perfect de-
velopment of pure, hardy, healthy alfal-
ia seed. The time is not far distant
when the whole country will look to the
Black Hills for alfalfa seed. Its free
dom from weed seed is between 80 and
100 per cent pure. 1t is not inoculated
With the diseases that make seed from
other regions menace to the farmers
who buy them. When this important
fact properly percolates into the cram
iums of the land owners of this country,
there will be several hundred men as
enthusiastic on this subject as Mark Rich.
1t has been several years since Mark
talked for fifteen minutes, without men
tioning alfalfa.
Alfalfa growing is one of the prettiest
jobs gentleman ever had. One does
not have to live near a market, as a
wheat farmer must live. Think of
product that is worth Is cents pound,
that is not harmed by winters cold or
summers heat, and that only requires
sacking to prepare it for market. That
means that man hauling a load of al
falfa to market has as much value on his
wagon as his neighbor would have on
ten wagons loaded with wheat. You
can haul that sort of load one hun
dred miles with profit. So, if you are
going into the alfalfa business, you will
not be obliged to locate near railroad
station.
The marketing of the seed is not any
prettier than harvesting. If you are
raising wheat, all of your expense must
be met out of the money you get for your
grain. The straw is commonly figured
as waste, and is frequently burned, in
order to get it out of the way. You
don't figure alfalfa straw that way-to
the contrary, you figure that the straw
and fall growth will pay all of the op-
Grating expenses. And it will do that
very thing. What other waste in all
agriculture, will pay operating ex-
penses?
But the bugbear of the farmer, with
nearly anything he can raise, is the de-
terioration of his soil. The grains are
especially hard on the soil. Everything
that pays well gets back on you by drain
ing the fertility of your soil-everything
but alfalfa. 1t pays to grow alfalfa mere
ly to resuscitate the soil. Your hogs,
cattle, horses, sheep, poultry love al
falfa and fatten on it; your soil loves it
too, and fattens on it.
Alfalfa hay will solve the problem oi
caring for stock in this country, now that
the great ranges are fenced up. 1t will
be difficult for great many ranchers te
get profit from stock that must make
its living on the native grasses, but uni
versal alfalfa culture will give enough
feed for the reasonable needs of the av.
erage farm stock. The possibilities o
alfalfa culture have only just beer
glimpsed by few men like Mark Rich
If you could make a map of the ares
adapted to alfalfa, and if that map woult
cover your kitchen floor, you could rep
T resent the actual alfalfa area by scatter
ing small handful of peas over tn,
floor. To realize all the alfalfa possibil
! tiles you would have to 60 ahead ant
cover the floor with peas. The day i
coming when the available alfalfa lanC
will be producing the grass-the foo
will be covered with peas.-E. Thickstul
[ in Buffalogap Gazette.