EFFECT ON LAND VALUES
Only a few years ago alfalfa hay was not named in the market reports. Now it is conspicuous in the lists of hays. Then there were thousands of sandy acres in Kansas and Nebraska being held at from $2 to $5 per acre that now, seeded to alfalfa, are selling at from $30 to $75 per acre. Then, cultivated farms in those districts could be rented for $1 per acre; now, seeded one-half to alfalfa, they rent for $3 to $5 and more per acre. In the South cotton lands rent for $5, and alfalfa lands at $15 per acre. Land in the Yellowstone valley was worth, wild, $1.50 per acre; now, under irrigation and seeded half to alfalfa and half to wheat it commands $100 per acre. A few years ago labor commanded in those districts that now raise alfalfa about $1 a day; since then, during alfalfa harvest, hundreds of men have been imported there and paid $2 or $2.50 per day. Then farmers were poor and trade was dull; now, a farmer who owns eighty acres well set in alfalfa, harvests about 300 tons of hay worth from $5 to $12 per ton and has the proceeds available for added comforts, improvements and luxuries.
A few years ago it was thought that America was approaching a crisis in the matter of beef and pork and mutton production because of the rapid diminishing of the free public ranges by the forest reserves, irrigation projects, and the like. It was insisted that the farmers could not nearly sustain the meat supply. Possibly they cannot, but alfalfa is doing wonders in helping to solve the problem of cheap meat production. Millions of sheep and thousands of cattle are being fattened annually on the alfalfa of California, Montana, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, and in some portions where a few years ago the sandy prairies gave but a scant subsistence to scrawny range cattle.
ENHANCES DAIRY INTERESTS
In parts of the East since the introduction of alfalfa, the number of dairy cows in many townships has trebled and the dairy product more than quadrupled. When two acres of alfalfa will carry ten dairy cows through a summer, the day and opportunity of the small dairyman are certainly at hand. When, as is the case, alfalfa increases the rental and selling value and consequently the taxable value of land; when it increases the demand for and price of labor; when it increases the fertility of the land for other crops that may follow; when it brings enlarged profits to the entire stock-raising and stock-fattening interests, and puts more money in circulation, it is inevitably to be considered a commercial factor.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Enemies of Alfalfa
The most notable enemies of alfalfa are weeds, insects, parasites, and animals. More failures to raise alfalfa are caused by weeds than by all other enemies combined. The cause of weeds in a field is usually poor farming. Clipping alfalfa early in May will kill many weeds. If the weeds grow up, clip again and do the same every time they threaten to become rampant. If they are kept from seeding, and do not in a large measure crowd out the alfalfa, good crops may be had from it the second season. If sowed in the fall, disking early in April may kill most of the weeds. It is folly to sow alfalfa on a foul field, as it is far less expensive to kill out the weeds beforehand. Disking and clipping will do much to destroy them, but if they secure a strong foothold the best thing to do is to plow up the field, plant it in corn, give it clean cultivation, and sow alfalfa again when the weeds have been exterminated.
DODDER
Dodder is an annoying enemy. It is a parasite, belonging to the morning-glory family, growing from its own small seed but attaching itself very soon to the alfalfa stalk. It then separates itself from its own root and thereafter lives on the juices of the alfalfa until it ripens its seeds or has killed the alfalfa. The wisest and safest thing to do is to sow only seed so thoroughly cleaned that there will be no dodder with it. If, later, it is found that any dodder seed escaped the cleaning operations and is growing, the grower should go through the field with a knife or sickle and a large basket or sack and cut out and burn every dodder vine and every plant to which dodder is attached. If so unfortunate as to have sown seed with a considerable mixture of dodder, clip the alfalfa early in May, let the clippings dry for two or three days or longer, and then burn on the field, watching carefully to have the fire touch every part. It will facilitate a complete burning to sprinkle parts not burning readily, with kerosene. If there is a poor stand of alfalfa, largely infested with dodder, safety lies in plowing it up and cultivating the field in corn or potatoes for two or three years.
