Show ALFALFA The Portland Or chamber of commerce bulletin has an article from Prof James Dryden formerly of the Utah Agricultural college and now of the Oregon Agricultural college He discusses alfalfa in Ore Ore- gon He says there is a period in the summer there when the pastures dry up and the cows can hardly subsist on the pasture fields He thinks what is needed in the valley is a forage crop that will utilize utilize utilize util util- ize the soil and lish fUl food during the tho dry season He recommends alfalfa and tells of the wonders that were wrought in western Nebraska and Kansas and other places and what he says Bays in the main is ia all ll 1 ht but we fear that in the Willamette valley Talley alf alf alfalfa al- al f falfa willbe a 8 failure unless special soils are arc selected i in which to plant it Through eight or nine months of the year ear an immense amount of rain falls in the Willamette Willamette Wil Wil- j lamette valley alley and where there is li little drainage We Ye WeI I would expect alfalfa would kill out because of the sour water in the soil in the winter This we know v would be true if there was a clay subsoil and so so if any v-any any farmers up there have gravelly patches on their land they had better sow the alfalfa in tho the gravel because it will go to almost any depth for water and will grow under almost all conditions except when smothered by too much stagnant water By the wn way we e do not think alfalfa is a good goodpasture goodpasture goodpasture pasture for cattle and horses It will do if no bettel better bet bet- tel iter can be had but for horses and cattle alfalfa is superior hay not a superior pasture It is a great pasture for pigs however pigs revel ravel in it and a n pig Vill vill winter through very well on alfalfa straight i if he has as no other food Of course for restoring soil if alfalfa will grow i it is vastly better than timothy because it draws the nitrogen from the air or supplies the bacilli which draws the nitrogen we do n not t recall which exactly way ay it is the is-the the scientists will do that for anybody anybody- b but lut t wo we know that to plant worn out soil to alfalfa and ind to scratch it over with a harrow every spring i will ill restore worn out soil faster than any other plant There is another trick about alfalfa When i it it ought to to be raked in big bunches a n few I f hours later In that way it will cure especially in inthe the dry diy air of this basin and great be as green in inI inthe I 2 the winter as it was in the field l i. i It is a great plant We Weare are not certain it is no nor not r the the second great plant t in America for foo food for anim ani ani- m mate mah ls The rhe first of course is orn corn We Ve have sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times thought that corn Lorn was an afterthought that tha when the Creator provided the tho earth with wheat anc and f barley and oats and nd rye and the vegetables that tha then there was a thought that there ought to fo be a plant that would have hll all the good properties of or a all others for both man and beast and and thou then corn conI was wa wasi i- i invented t I. I All the wonders onders of corn al are arc e not found out yet ct r t S Some odd thirty commercial p are arc manu manu- r h t t it from corn and cornstalks but the field fields is s not exhausted And then thell the gift of making real corn orn bread pread and serving it hot in the morning seems to o be bo limited to a few old darky women in the south northern northern people cannot cannot catch on It is a n gift by itself much like writing poetry and painting pictures natures it is a natural talent and it holds its preeminence preeminence prominence pre pre- eminence in the south as pumpkin pie pic docs does in the north over a limited area of the north for to make pumpkin pie in its full golden glory is another gift and nd it is so wonderful that only a few are arc endowed with the art of making it exactly right |