Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-01-04
Joe Rainey Tells Of
Alfalfa Raising West
Of the MissouriRiver
Philip. 8. D.. Dec 81. 1915

Philip, s. D.. Dec. 81, 1915.
Nj. =. J. Cory,
Watertown, 8. D.,
FTtand Cory:
have Just read, with much inter-
est, the substance of Colonel Lee Sto-
vers remarks at the banquet given
in WATERFOWL, to various members
elect OF the state Legislature, also
yeua editorial comment in the issue of
The News of December 18th.
That the state agricultural college
should take the advanced step sug-
gested by the colonel would be to
the material advancement Of the
state. How far such a propaganda
san get is another question.
But the colonel asks to be shown"
regarding the effect of the distribu-
ton Of alfalfa seed a few years ago
by Professor Hansen after his return
from the Siberian wilds- That is my
purpose in writing you.
A number Of varieties were brought
into the country by Prof. Hansen in
1910. Several varieties were distrfb-
Hted through the ounce-packabe meth
cd to the farmers of the state. Con-
siderable seed was also planted by
him at Bookings and the plants, after
they had obtained a growth Of a few
ronnthc xJny>n t,.o ,,cn1op{o - ~ 49,
western portion of the state. Most
OF these tr~ansplanted patches, through
i~nattention on the part of the farm
ers who We're placed in care, and in
the drought of 1911, failed to sur
vive. A few OF them did survive and
in the past two seasons have been
able to give a good account of them
selves.
Over in the Sansarc country, in
northwestern Stanley county, there
are many fields of the Cossack vari-
ETY., which is one of the varieties I'M
ported in 1910 by Prof. Hansen. Hen
~ Il Jeffries, who is a member of
the present legislature, has some 400
acres OF Cossack, from which he
threshed $4,000 pounds of seed this
season
G. N. Smith, of Sansarc, drove into
Fort Pierre one day recently with a
fourehorse team pulling a load lof
Cossack seed for which he received
$1,000. The load contained eighty
bushels and was sold at fifty cents a
pound. Sixty bushels Of this was
raised on twenty acres, and the same
acreage had given a previous crop
during the season of twenty-five tons
of alfalfa hay.
A half mile south of Philip. on the
farm until recently owned by r. E.,
Morrison, a well known old timer of
this section, is a thirty-1ve acre tract
OF Cossack alfalfa, two years old, and
a remarkable producer of hay and
seed.
A. r. Mills and another farmer
named Morgan, both living les Wall
i'm Pennington county sold Cossackl
to the Salzer Seed Co, at La
Crosse, Wis, in November. Mr.. Mills,
for the seed from 40 acres, was paid
$1,000. Mr.. Morgan sold the seed
from 10 acres for $1,000. Not many
farmers in Codington county have bet
ter MISUNDERSTANDING" artcts.
Prof. Hansen brought the plants to|
the west side OF the river for trans
planting. because this is the seed pro-
section OF the state. Alfalfa
seed is making the farmers Of Haakon
and adjoining counties independent.
The Cossack. variety has proven it's
and already there is a larger
acreage OF it in this section than there
is Of Grimm alfalfa, which proved its
commercial worth some years ago.
II the state, in its expenditure of al
$4,000 appropriation in 1909 to make
possible Prof. Hansen,s Siberian trip
gains nothing more than the success
OF the Cossack alfalfa (and that much
has been achieved, 1t win be repaid
many times over in the wealth 1t has
brought to the people.
Sincerely yours.
-. % Rainey.
Pub. Philip Review.