{"product_id":"2940016970165","title":"The book of alfalfa; history, cultivation and merits. Its uses as a forage and fertilizer","description":"This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...Many farmers say emphatically that the hens lay more and larger eggs when allowed alfalfa in any form. Its nitrogen contributes to the albumen of the eggs and to the growth of the young chickens. MAY INFLUENCE EGO FEKTULTTY Scientific tests of feeding alfalfa to poultry have not been made, but, no doubt, will be in the near future. If it is found that the eggs are larger when the hens are given alfalfa, it may also be found that the percentage of fertility is greater. For years the complaint has been made by farmers and poultrymen that there are too many infertile eggs. The financial losses are great if a fourth or third of the eggs used for incubation prove infertile. It would seem that the same elements that contribute to the growth of the hatched chicken should also add to the vitality of the embryo, increasing the percentage of fertility and adding to the vigor of tl.e newly hatched chick AIDS IN PREPARING FOR MARKET The growth of young chickens is greatly aided by alfalfa. One man reports an experiment with five hundred capons, hatched early in March, that averaged in December nearly eight pounds and sold in the city market at nineteen cents per pound. They were given the run of a patch of alfalfa for a time and ate little other feed. Later they were put in the yards and fed with alfalfa cut into short lengths, with a little grain; still later alfalfa meal was added, with a little wheat. Then, finally, alfalfa hay was cut and steamed and added to the ration. The cost of maintenance and fattening must have been small compared with the large returns. This item is from the Harper, Kansas, Sentinel: A subscriber tells us that the mites and chicken lice were completely driven out of his barn and hen house, as soon as he had alfalfa hay put in his barn and u...","brand":"New York, O. Judd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47071718310128,"sku":"2940016970165","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016970165","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}