Pot No. 2.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from infected alfalfa soil. Pot No. 3.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from alfalfa root tubercles. Pot No. 4.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from infected Sweet clover soil. Pot No. 5.--Inoculated with bacteria obtained from Sweet clover root tubercles. The results indicate that the same effect is produced upon the growth of the alfalfa by the nitrogen-gathering bacteria obtained from Sweet clover as by those from the older alfalfa, and seem to prove that infected Sweet clover soil can be used for the inoculation of alfalfa fields. Investigations have shown that 100 pounds of thoroughly infected soil to the acre is sufficient to produce a satisfactory inoculation within one year from the time it is applied. _CHAPTER XXII._ Alfalfa as a Commercial Factor EFFECT ON LAND VALUES Only a few years ago alfalfa hay was not named in the market reports. Now it is conspicuous in the lists of hays. Then there were thousands of sandy acres in Kansas and Nebraska being held at from $2 to $5 per acre that now, seeded to alfalfa, are selling at from $30 to $75 per acre. Then, cultivated farms in those districts could be rented for $1 per acre; now, seeded one-half to alfalfa, they rent for $3 to $5 and more per acre. In the South cotton lands rent for $5, and alfalfa lands at $15 per acre. Land in the Yellowstone valley was worth, wild, $1.50 per acre; now, under irrigation and seeded half to alfalfa and half to wheat it commands $100 per acre. A few years ago labor commanded in those districts that now raise alfalfa about $1 a day; since then, during alfalfa harvest, hundreds of men have been imported there and paid $2 or $2.50 per day. Then farmers were poor and trade was dull; now, a farmer who owns eighty acres well set in alfalfa, harvests about 300 tons of hay worth from $5 to $12 per ton and has the proceeds available for added comforts, improvements and luxuries. A few years ago it was thought that America was approaching a crisis in the matter of beef and pork and mutton production because of the rapid diminishing of the free public ranges by the forest reserves, irrigation projects, and the like. It was insisted that the farmers could not nearly sustain the meat supply. Possibly they cannot, but alfalfa is doing wonders in helping to solve the problem of cheap meat production. Millions of sheep and thousands of cattle are being fattened annually on the alfalfa of California, Montana, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, and in some portions where a few years ago the sandy prairies gave but a scant subsistence to scrawny range cattle. ENHANCES DAIRY INTERESTS