The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-04-21
W3E0T GaX fNe AIzXITA-

agricultural extension department, with h~eadquar-
tiers in Chicago, organized for worldwide teaching
of agriculture. After a period Of great work in
Illinois, and even greater work in Iowa, Profess
SCR Holden entered upcn the worlds work.
But first there was more work to do at home,
and Professor Holden was not long in deciding
where to turn first. He had long known that the
agricultural problem of the Northwest was the
One-crop system. Great tracts of land had been
seeded to wheat year after year until the soil
was becoming worn out-robbed of the elements
necessary for the growth of plant life. He de-
cided at once that the remedy was the growing of
alfalfa, that wonderful plant which is not only
n money-making crop in itself, but possesses the
magic power of putting nitrogen and organic mat
ter into the soil. Thereupon Professor Holden
organized the inland empire campaign, and, in CO.
operation with six great railroad systems of the
Northwest, started the campaign for alfalfa on
every farm.
While the agricultural demonstration train in
augurated by Professor Holden in Iowa was a
mighty step forward, he believed there was a still
better way of reaching the farmers. At last he
hit upon it; the automobile in conjunction with
the railroad train. The farmer could come to the
towns where the trains stopped, and thousands of
them did, but in many instances this meant a long
trip to and from the meeting places and perhaps
a whole days absence from work. The thing to
DC. then, was to go to the farmer, to meet him In
the fields, on his own threshold. 1t was planned,
therefore, that at every place where the alfalfa
special stopped automobiles should meet it and
whirl the speakers to prearranged meeting places:
In schoolhouses, churches, town halls, theaters,
barns, out in the open fields, by the roadside.
When a meeting was held in an alfalfa field
there was no question of its success, as many
good lessons were easily driven home by illus
trations from the growing crops. In the fields,
too, the lessons of incubation, use of lime, eradi-
cation of weeds and time of cutting, could all be
very plainly illustrated. To supplement this work
the speakers used huge charts which told some
interesting stories in a manner that was ~indlsput-
able. The big comparative figures shown on the
charts gave every farmer plenty of food for
thought. The results of various tests showed that
alfalfa, whether alone or in combination with
other feeds, was far and away the best food for
the production of pork, beef, dairy products and
eggs.
One of Professor Holdens strong points was
that alfalfa viii act as a land retainer. He de-
clared that once 1t is given a chance it will refuse
to be kept off of land that is now considered prac-
tically Valueless. Alfalfa is known to put back
into the soil what other crops take out. By a pc
culiar process, the nodules that form on the roots
of the plant extract nitrogen from the air and de-
post it in the soil. And nitrogen is what other
crops need.
The regular schedule of the alfalfa special in
cluded from six to eight stops q day, thus allow
ing for from 80 to 100 meetings, according to the
number Of SPEAKERS employed. After the daily
: stops 1t was beaded for some town where an eve