Show DRY FARM ALFALFA expected to do much towards benefiting crops in west roots of plant go deeply into soil improving its 16 texture and giving it greater capacity to absorb I 1 and hold water prof A M ton ten eyck superintendent of tho the fort hays branch experiment station in a recent address delivered before the western kansas farmers conference spoke at length on drouth resi resisting sting crops in speaking of alfalfa he said the second great crop of central and western kansas and also in some sections of nebraska oklahoma and texas is alfalfa to be sure the crop is most successfully grown in those counties in kansas which have sufficient chent rainfall to produce good cor corn n crops and in fact these two crops corn and alfalfa fit well together both in their relation to the soil and as a combination feed for stock of all kinds wherever it thrives well there is no other crop grown which will produce so much forage of so BO high feeding value as alfalfa throughout Through olit central kansas four cuttings of hay are usually harvested each season and a total yield of four tons per acre in a season is considered only a fair crop As yet alfalfa is not grown extensively in the western counties of the state except in localities where irrigation is practiced but the crop is gradually creeping up the river valleys and into the creek boi bottoms toms each year pushing its area of successful culture a little farther west and it has even succeeded on the uplands in many of the counties where it was not thought possible to grow it a few years ago the method of planting the crop in rows and then cultivating promises to make this crop a safe and profitable one in those semiarid semi arid regions where the soil is suitable to alfalfa growth alfalfa starts slowly and it is rather difficult especially in the more unfavorable locations to get a stand but when the plants are once established they are extremely hardy surviving drouth and aid hot winds more successfully than almost any other crop during periods of extreme drouth alfalfa does not grow much sometimes only one cutting is produced in a season on the uplands in western kansas but the plant through its deep and extensive root system is able to get a sufficient supply of water to r sustain life and when rain comes it revives and grows anew at the kansas station alfalfa roots have been traced to a depth of over nine feet while at the colorado experiment peri ment station dr W wy P headden has washed out the roots of an old alfalfa plant to the depth of nearly twelve feet various reports have been made without good authority of finding alfalfa roots at even greater depths it is without doubt one of the deepest rooting plants grown on the farm I 1 believe that alfalfa will do more for western agriculture in the next 50 years than all the other crops which farmers may be able to grow in this region the soil of western kan sas and of much of the western plains is usually rich in the mineral elements af pf plant food but as stated before it Is often lacking in humus which be comes especially noticeable if the land has been farmed continuously to wheat for a few years by growing alfalfa it is possible to increase the supply of humus in the soil and the roots of the plants penetrating deep into the subsoil disintegrate and deepen the soil and altogether greatly greata IF improve its texture giving it greater capacity to absorb and hold water the beneficial off effect act on the soil of growing alfalfa is only incidental to the rapid introduction of the crop throughout the west the great value of tho crop as a moneymaker money maker to is the main factor which Is introducing it into the agri 1 culture of the central west wheres alfalfa can he be successfully marketed market edli or fed no other crop grown in them the west will yield so great a net profit per acre in a series of years |