The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-02-23
ALFALFA
Value of Mellette County's Alfalfa
Crop in 1922 was $ll5,99G00.

ful crops that can be successfully
grown by the Mellettc county farmer.
Mellette county was organized and
opened to the white settler in April,
1912 A considerable portion OF tie
county consisted of lands allotted to
the Indians, and that which remained
was taken up by the white homestead
ers that came from nearly every state
in the Unicn, in 1912 or since, and at
this date practically all of the land
in this county has been filed on, and
nearly all OF it has been proved up.
Like any other new country that Is
thrown open to settlement, gOod
percentage Of the homesteaders who
came and filed en- the land had no in
tent N Of staying and improvin-- their
new possessions, but III most cases
broke out ten acres, built an oNlO
shack, stayed their allotted fourteen
months, made commutation proof,
placed plaster on their land and bied
themselves hence. However, not all
did this. There were those who came
to this county with a determination to
make it their permanent home, to
build real homes, to stick it through,
and these who have applied them
selves in the right way have won, and
we venture to say that their winnings
today will total larger sum than the
winnings of those who originally came
here only for a temporary stay. 1t
was several years before those that
did stay could map out real program
of proceedure-there were those who
told the newcomers that this was not
farming country; that it was good
grazing and cattle country, and that
was all it was really fit for. But
there were few Of the newcomers
who did not believe these stories and
they began the cultivation of the soil
with considerable success. More land
was brought under cultivation each
year, and it has now become pretty
generally accepted that Mellette coun-
ty is one of the best farming counties
in the state.
One OF the most profitable crops
the Mellette county farmer can grow
is alfalfa. Although the county is
only about eleven years old, yet today,
according to the figures gathered by
the deputy county assessors last
spring, the county has an alfalfaAcrc-
age of 1851 acres and OF this acreage
2,145 acres are in the eastern half OF
the county and 1886 acres are in the
western half of the county. This
acreage will no doubt be greatly IN
creased during the coming spring.
Last fall the county agent and the
Mellette County Farm Bureau sent
out a number of questionnaires to the
farmers of Mellette county to ascer-
tain, if possible, just how much alfalfa
seed was produced in the county last
year. While the response was fairly
satisfactory, yet it is hardly possible
that all of the alfalfa seed raised in
the county was reported, and yet the
figures the Farm Bureau obtained
show that the alfalfa growers of Mel
lette county in the year 1922 produced
l,OO6 bushels of alfalfa seed. Alfalfa
seed is worth from ten to twenty d IL
lars bushel on the market, depending
on variety and quality of the seed,
but figuring only ten dollars bushel
for this seed, the alfalfa seed produc-
tion in Melette county added $lO,O6O
to the wealth produced by the Mel
lette county farmers during the past
wear. If so minded the Mellette cOun-
ty alfalfa grower could, during the
present year, double this production
of seed two or three times, as not one
of the seed producers allow all OF
their acreage to go to seed. The vari-
eties of alfalfa grown in this county
are Grimm, Cossack and the common
variety. Besides the seed grown every
producer harvested from one to two
crops of hay from his fields, of per-
haps one and half tons per acre at
each cutting, or total hay productio On
of 1888 tons, and this at $40 pei
ton would represent additional wealth
of $1O5, $4,000. making Grand total
of wealth produced by the alfalfa
acreage in this county of $1l5,99O.OO
or a general average for the entire al
falfa acreage in this county of nearly
$4,000 per acre. aBut when one consid-
ers that the hay that was harvested on
this land was consumed on the farms
and that it was used to produce more
wealth in the form of beef, milk and
pork, the real value of this alfalfa
acrca 70 would be increased consider