296 



Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



of animals must be supplied with hay in our long cold 

 winters. 



Hay is made in New York State from grasses and clover. Suppose 

 we could find some plant that would yield twice as much hay as 

 clover yields and be more than twice as nutritious, — you can readily 

 see how valuable such a plant would be to the State. It would be 

 better than a gift of millions of dollars. Such a plant is alfalfa. 



Now that you know something about alfalfa in a general way, 

 we want you to know how the plant looks and how it grows. It is 

 not very well known even among farmers, but its cultivation is in- 

 creasing every year. You will 

 probably know where there are 

 fields of it. Sometimes it grows 

 along roadsides as a weed. Last 

 spring Uncle John offered to 

 send a small packet of alfalfa 

 seeds to any Junior Naturalist 

 who wrote for it. He sent about 

 5,000 packets. But if you do 

 not know the plant or cannot 

 find it, write at once to Uncle 

 John and he will send you some by 

 mail from the University farm. 



Now let us see how many 

 school children in New York 

 State will know what alfalfa is between now 

 and Thanksgiving time. When writing to 

 Uncle Jolm about alfalfa, try to answer as 

 many of the following questions as possible 

 from your own observation: 



1. Does the plant remind you of any other 

 plant that you ever saw? Of what? 



2. How does it grow, — straight up or spread- 

 ing out on the ground? 



3. How many stalks come from one root? 



4. What are the leaves like? Mark out the shape with a 

 pencil. 



5. What are the flowers like? Do you loiow any other flowers of 

 similar shape? What is the color? 



6. If possible, dig around a plant and describe how the root looks. 

 Does it branch into many fibres, as grass roots or corn roots do? 



il.^ 



3. What leaf is this? 

 Is it enlarged? 



