ALFALFA IN ALABAMA. 



IJV J. F. DUGGAU. 



TJu' present bulletin combines the results of exi>eri- 

 nients made by this station and the experience of a num- 

 ber of farmers who have begun to grow alfalfa in differ- 

 ent parts of the State, as kindly furnished in correspond- 

 ence with the writer. This is intended as a preliminary 

 report. Extensive experiments on alfalfa in co-operation 

 with the United States Department of Agriculture were 

 undertaken by this station during the fall of 1903. It is 

 the expectation to present those results, and others, in a 

 future publication. 



Alfalfa, or lucern, {Mcdicngo sativa), belongs to the 

 family of plants that normally bear enlargements or tu- 

 bercles on their roots, through A\hich these plants are 

 able to take the introgen of the air. Alfalfa is a peren- 

 nial, living for many yeai*s without reseeding. Great 

 numbers of buds put out from the old root each year as 

 soon as the coldest portion of the winter is past. 



During the first few months of its life alfalfa may be 

 regarded as a tender plant, both as regards cold and 

 drought. After it has passed through its first summer, 

 alfalfa is extremely resistant both to cold and to drought. 



The name lucern, which also is properly applied to al- 

 falfa, has led some men, unfamiliar with alfalfa and ac- 

 quainted with sweet clover or melilotus, sometimes in- 

 correctly called lucern, to confuse the two plants. These 



