. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 196 ALFALFA ALFALFA 69,200, and twenty-five counties had more than 10,000 acres each. The aforetime theory that alfalfa would not thrive without irrigation, or unless planted on soils that were proved to be adapted to the growth of corn or cottonwood trees, has been found to be entirely fallacious, and, instead, alfalfa is growing with more or less prosperity on much of the wide diversity of soils the western half of the continent affords, however unpromising their appearance, whether river " bottom " land or the high plateaus 60
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. 196 ALFALFA ALFALFA 69,200, and twenty-five counties had more than 10,000 acres each. The aforetime theory that alfalfa would not thrive without irrigation, or unless planted on soils that were proved to be adapted to the growth of corn or cottonwood trees, has been found to be entirely fallacious, and, instead, alfalfa is growing with more or less prosperity on much of the wide diversity of soils the western half of the continent affords, however unpromising their appearance, whether river " bottom " land or the high plateaus 60 to 100 feet above available water, gravel, desert sand or richest mold. In fact, in many places sup- posedly least encouraging, and even on rough lands far removed from any accessible water-supply, it grows with a persistence that almost tempts one to class it as a weed. Owing to its yields of sev- eral profitable cuttings in a season, its unusual protein content, extreme palatability to live-stock of nearly every class, and its longevity, aside from its nitrogen-gathering qualities, the extent and penetration of its root-system and the soil-improv- many parts of the Central West, by seeding to alfalfa, lands have been doubled and trebled in value, and in numerous instances its being planted. ^.^*^A h I I ji".^^^ Fig. 281. stacking alfalfa in tlie West with the alfalfa-stacker. ing effect as fertilizer and renovator, it is rated as either the hand by far the most desirable forage plant in cultiva- tion. In California and elsewhere it has produced in a season, under the most favorable conditions, when irrigated, six to nine cuttings, and in Okla- homa, without irrigation, has yielded nine cuttings, averaging one and one-half tons per acre of cured hay. The hay is a large factor in live-stock-rais- ing, and it is coming to be shipped extensively in bales to distant markets, even so remote as Hawaii, Alaska, and vari- ous transoceanic points. Mills are established in vari- o
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