The Miracle Crop for Dry Soils
Industrial agent R.C. Judson reports that experimental alfalfa strains are thriving in the arid soils of the Walla Walla region.
Colonel R. C. Judson, industrial agent of the O. R. N. Co., gets satisfactory reports from his 'dry land alfalfa.' Last spring Colonel Judson sent out a large number of packets containing a new species of alfalfa seed to livestock growers and farmers. In all, 87 small plats of ground were sown with the seed, and in each case, the alfalfa has thrived luxuriantly. Near the Dalles is a 20-acre tract of the alfalfa, the ground of which gets so dry that heretofore all vegetation has turned brown. But already the owner has mowed off 34 tons, and will yet cut another crop this year.
“I think we are justified in concluding that we have a species of alfalfa that will grow in the dryest of soils.”
Agricultural innovation in the Walla Walla valley has long been driven by the search for drought-resistant crops. This 1903 experiment reflects the eternal quest of Pacific Northwest farmers to turn arid landscape into productive acreage.
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