Valuable Alfalfa

Alfalfa bas spread by successive steps froni its probablo native home in the west Asian valleys to Greece, Rome, the Mediterrariean colonies, Mexico, South America, California and our western mouutain aud prairio states. As lucerno it was raised in New York many years ago without success, but its rernarkable popularity in the west has again attracted atteution to its merits, and its culture is rapidly extending. It has been grown at the New York station for several years and has yielded heavy orops of very nutritious fodder. Experimenta in feeding alfalfa to milk cows has given at this station very favorable rosults. In a bulletin from the New York station alfalfa is compared with corn as follows: Farm animáis of all kinds find the fresh material very palatable, as much so as corn, and it is ruuch richer in the nitrogenona, or muscle forming, matters thau is corn. It thus supplements the nitrogenous poor corn ration and snpplies the lacking ingrediënt in a highly relished form. As compared with the mature fresh corn fodder fed at the station, the alfalfa forage contains a little rcore moisture, ash, fiber and fat, much less staroh and similar compounds, but uearly 1 times as much of the mtrogenons protein, and of tbis protein about 77 per cent is in the form of easily digestible albuminoids. Alfalfa will furnish three or moro cuttings each year, and from fielda at the station frora 1 to 8 years old which have hardly attained their prime and on eoils not thonght to be best adapted to heavy growth the average yield ot green fodder from five crops of four cuttings each was over 17 tons per acre. This yield and ita food value as compared with high average yields of other prominent forage cropa of the farm are graphicalJy shown in the cut here reproduced from the bulletin quoted. The blocks at the left represent by theil ■width the comparativo relations between tbe total erop yields, theshaded portions show the relativo amounts of digestible matter in the yields, and the black areas are proportionate to the quantitie of digestible protein. The Kiding Plow. What has the ridiug pjow accomplished? This questiou is answered as follows by a contributor to tho low Homestcad: It has made things ecsier for the driver, but harder for the team. I have t-vco riding plows, both good, but I flnd that it is about as fatiguing for threa horses to draw either of these plows ag it ïs for two horses to draw a common liand plow of tho same size at the same (lepth. The ridiug plow is the plow for boys, old men, lazy men and cripples. It eau bo set by meaus of its levers so (;s to ruu at thedesireddepth, then anybody who eau manage a team eau plow nnd do fuirly good work and a reasonable aniount of it, bnt it is done at the expense of au extra horso and harness and with' threo times the cost for a plow, I have no word of disparagement for tho riding plow, because it has corae to stay, and I fully nppreciato the ride when I am a littlo tired or footsore. Tho poiut I wish to mako is that the licling plow is the mere expensive, and this extra expenso briugs nothing but comfort to tbo driver. A good plowmau can turn just as good a furrow by hand fis he can by Nvheels and levers. The inventor should try and incdify tho ridiag plow so tbat it wilj rest tho horse as well as the man.