While the average yield per hive elsewhere varies from fifteen to thirty pounds, the average in the alfalfa-growing territory is far higher. Thus the financial returns of alfalfa may be greatly increased and in some instances doubled by having, say, two colonies of bees for each acre. Or if only a part of the alfalfa raisers in a neighborhood keep bees, this ratio could be doubled or trebled by those who do. Unlike other trespassers on neighbors’ fields the bees do the neighbors a distinct favor, by fertilizing their alfalfa. _CHAPTER XVII._ Alfalfa and Poultry BETTER THAN MEDICINE At first it might seem that too much was claimed for alfalfa if written of as a specially valuable adjunct in poultry raising. The poultry industry of the United States is making wonderful advances, and the volume of its returns is enormous; the figures are well-nigh incredible. One of the handicaps is disease. Poultry men are a unit in saying that where alfalfa in any form can be supplied to poultry disease is almost unknown. Fowls like it green, and whether allowed the run of the field or it is given to them daily they eat it greedily and thrive. 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 EGG FERTILITY 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 the 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.