New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-01-28
KANSAS CAN TEACH US A
LESSON

The following extract from let
ter written by Charles Roos on his
return to Kansas after his recent
visit here strikes a note of optimism
and contains a suggestion which Min
nesota farmers will be following
within the next few years and the
results without doubt will be of
enormous value to the state:
After leaving New Ulm I met up
with some agriculturists going from
Mankato to st. Paul and learned
that they were experimenting with
alfalfa. Some told how they had
planted few acres, others how they
had raised it for a number of years.
just where they got their seed and
everything else. All of this remind
ed me of the fact that about thirteen
year ago I used to hear similar talk
on trains in Kansas. They had lust
begun raising alfalfa; today it is one
OF the big crops. I believe the state
OF Kansas has very much over a mil
hon acres in alfalfa today. They
have from three to five cuttings and
the value Of the alfalfa hay pays a
big dividend on their land besides
being an advantage to the soil.''
f. ID. Coburn, Secretary of the
Kansas State Board Of Agriculture.
says:
Wherever grown alfalfa is the
handmaiden of prosperity, and those
who have known it longest and best
are those who esteem it most. Since
its advent it has sold more Kansas
and Nebraska land and at higher
prices than any other one growth,
commodity or influence. Raw lands.
with almost no sale and considered
a burden at SIS valuation, have been
quick sales at $40, $75 and sometimes
500 per acre when seeded to alfalfa.
Others, although not by any means
the best, have year after year paid
owners 10 to 40 per cent on valua-
tons Of 5000 and more per. acre. No
farms change hands less frequently
than those having alfalfa fields, be-
cause the owners know of no invest.
ment likely to pay SO well and fear
to name prices they may later regret.
"Those claiming it is not adapted
to their locality need to be reminded
OF what humiliating reflection it is
upon themselves and their land to-
admit that this hardy, well nighever-.
lasting perennial, prospecting nearly
everywhere else, cannot be grown on,
their own farms. The fact of having
tried it in a given locality once or
twice without success signifies little
as to its adaptability, as che sower
may have done none of the simplest
things needful to its prosperity: Such
a failure should serve to make the ex~.
perimenter more determined, and no
householder who has two acres of
ground and keeps a horse, cow, pig
or poultry should be dissatisfied with
out having part Of his ground in
for soiling, for hay or pas
ture.
"None but the best grade of seed
should be sown. There is no such
thing as "cheap" seed, for poor seed
can alone nullify all the sewers plans,
however perfect. Favorable condi-
lions for sowing mean a reasonably
fertile, well drained. lined and firm
ed soil, in good fifth, freed from weed
seeds, trash, clods and stones and
smoothed to resemble floor or gar
den surface as nearly as possible, for
if the sowing succeeds the ground in
the years that follow will be gone
over many times with mowers, rakes
and workmen, and a carefully eyened
surface will prove worth many times
more than the COST"