which it may be
grown there is revolutionizing the production of live stock on the
ranges, as it is providing food for them in winter, which is fast
removing, and will probably soon entirely remove, the element of hazard
from live stock dependent on the range pastures for support in that
season. The dairy and swine industries in those valleys must largely
depend upon it. Fruit orchards must ultimately grow on buried alfalfa
meadows, and the rotation of all crops in the same will be largely
dependent upon the growing of alfalfa. Next in adaptation to the
mountain States are, it is thought, certain soils that lie between the
Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, especially such as are in proximity
to rivers, or are underlaid with sheet water not far distant from the
surface. But an unusually large proportion of the upland soil in these
States, from Central Minnesota southward, have high adaptation for the
growth of this plant. Particularly is this true of the soils of Nebraska
and Kansas and of considerable portions of Missouri, Arkansas and
Louisiana.

In States east of the Mississippi, the adaptation is not so general, and
is more dependent on soil conditions than on those that are climatic. In
nearly all of the river bottoms of these States it will grow with more
or less success. On nearly all upland soils it will also grow well,
where the subsoil furnishes naturally good drainage. For the exception,
see page 132. But in no State east of the Mississippi, is such a
proportion of the area so highly adapted to growing alfalfa as in many
of the States west of that river. In other States areas are found in
which alfalfa will produce excellent crops, but usually these do not
embrace the larger portion of the entire area in any State. In a
considerable number of the States such areas are more or less limited,
and usually they are distributed variously in the different States; that
is, they do not lie side by side. The favorite soil conditions in these
are a good loam, preferably more or less sandy and resting upon a porous
subsoil.

A more exact idea will be given of relative adaptation in various States
in what is now submitted. In California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New
Mexico, alfalfa is now grown chiefly by the aid of irrigation, and all
of these States have highest adaptation for its growth. In some parts of
California 6 to 10 tons of cured hay are obtained in one year, with
pasture in winter additional. In Utah, goo