Show Sheep Do Well onI on I I Alfalfa Pastures Experiments Result in the Acreage of the Popular Crop Being Doubled Dy fly W 0 G fe 10 Sh Shoop p riu ban Con College go of o Aget- Aget ot o Illinois Service Serice Ser v ice Alfalfa to which Illinois farmers are are turning as ns a substitute for corn cornand cornand and some of or their other surplus crops has lias proved In experiments to be one of the best pastures for forthe forthe forthe the sheep and lambs on farms of the state Even I with lamb valued at only 5 cents a pound alfalfa pasture brought a gross return oft of 24 t nn an acre In experiments conducted last year by the college The alfalfa maintained an average averige of ot seven ewes and twelve lambs an acre for days During the time the lambs were on pasture they gained g enough weight to equal ISO pounds I of lamb an IlD acre In addition the pasture maintained the ewes This Tills Is In n line with experiments which have been conducted at several sev sev- several several eral different experiment stations during the past few years and which show that an acre of alfalfa furnished more feed and produced more pounds or of lamb than any oth er crop Largely as a result of ot experiments experiments experiments I ments conducted by the College e ot of Agriculture alfalfa has become such a successful and popular crop cropIn cropIn In the state that the acreage of ot It has been tripled In the past 14 years In 1919 1319 only SS acres were grown while last year ear the total was acres It was the experiment station of ot the agricultural agricultural agricultural tural college which winch first discovered and demonstrated that the tite cause for f or the general failure of alfalfa In Illinois I was the Ule lack of ot suitable nodule bacteria In the soil soli Since then the tho Institution has followed up with numerous experiments es- es establishing es establishing superior varieties improved Im- Im Improved Im Improved proved cultural methods and profit profit- profitable a able ble utilization of ot the crop As a pasture tor for sheep and lambs alfalfa seems to be much less likely like like- likely likely ly to cause bloat If It the file sheep are placed on It and not removed remo This Is time the opposite of ot what Is s common common- commonly commonly commonly ly advised A satisfactory method to follow v se seems seems ms to be to let the sheep have a good fill of ot bluegrass or to feed them a large amount or of palatable roughage before they are turned on the alfalfa and then leave them on continuously Un- Un Under Under Un Under der this plan no cases of ot bloat have been reported In experimental work When alfalfa was pastured this way last year In the Illinois experiments expert expert- experiments ments It seemed to bo ho little If It any anymore more likely to cause bloat when wet than when dry |