The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-03-10

w eho ooWh pOSIcSS IIldG d1-
falfa growing has made in Mime
sofa, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin
Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. In
1920, over 90 per cent of the al
falfa acreage in the United States
was west of the line drawn down
along the western border of the
two Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oklahoma and Texas.
In 1912, the state of Illinois
put on vigorous alfalfa campaign
hoping to get million acres of
alfalfa in few years, yet, in 1920,
they had less than 10000 acres af-
ter eight years of consistent eff
fort. In the same year, 1912,
quite a vigorous campaign was
started in Minnesota for alfalfa
on every farm" yet, in 1920, our
state only had 45,410 a.r.s Of
alfalfa. In 1912, a state campaign
was put on in Iowa to get alfalfa
on every farm, yet in 1920, the !,
only had 172,043 acres IF alfalfa.
What does all this mean? I
have enough confidence in The
ability of the farmers of these won
derful agricultural states 10 be-
Heve that the most of them pre-
pared their seeded properly, in
noculated their seed, put lime on
their soil where they needed lime
and firmed down their seedbed at
seeding time, but tn. one thing
that they couldn't control was that
spring action brought alb, ut by an
early thaw and freezing back
which killed thousa Ids and thous-
ands of acres of alfalfa.
In view of the above facts, let
Us seriously and sincerely take up
this problem of Increasing the
acreage of this most profitable of
all crops, the most needed of all
crops and the one crop that is abb
solutely essential to run our dairy
farms economically; TO make our
Fork raising most profitable and
Our swine more healthy; to make
it possible for us to winter Cur
beef cattle, our shee3 and all grow
ing stock profitably and keep them
growing and at the sar,c time. IL
crease our soil fe ctilltly for perm
anent, profitable agriculture.
Let US look into the origin of
common alfalfa. 1t was brought
into this country from Chile in
1854. The Spaniards brought the
original seed stock when they in
vaded Mexico and the western
hemisphere several hundred years
ago, and for many centuries, this
alfalfa was growing and repro
ducing itself on soils in southern
Asia and Europe that were easily
penetrated and in sections where
there was a mild, uniform climate.
Quite naturally this common al
falfa was well adapted to the
western or drier sections of the
United States.
The fact that common alfalfa
was adapted only to the western
states is proved conclusively by
the fact that 80 per cent of the al
falfa| is raised in those western
states.
I don't think for a minute that
the farmers in the middle west and
eastern sections of the United
States (where they have about 80
per cent of the livestock of our
nation) wouldn't be growing this
most profitable crop if they had a
variety that was adapted to their
conditions. The sooner seed COM
panies, seed dealers and prospec-
tive growers stick strictly to the
facts and to past experiences, the
sooner will we have this acre of
alfalfa per cow.
There is only one other variety
that can even he compared with
Grimm as to it's being adapted to
Minnesota conditions, both soil and
climate that's Cossack. Cos
sack has stood up under all the
tests that it has been put to in Min
nesota and the Dakotas during the
past 20 years. We have several
fields in this state 10 to ID years
old that were properly cared for
and are in just as good stand to-
day, in fact better, than when they
were one or two years old.
Grimm has all the indications of
being a straight cross between the