LESSON FOR THE FARM 



Published semi-monthly throughout the year by the New York State College of 

 Agriculture at Cornell University. Entered as second-class matter October 13, 

 191 1, at the post office at Ithaca, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of July 16, 1894 



L. H. Bailey, Director 

 Course for the Farm, Royal Gilkey, Supervisor 



VOL. I. No. 20 



ITHACA, N.Y. 

 JULY 15, 1912 



FARM CROPS SERIES No. i 



Alfalfa is one of 

 southern Europe. 

 It was brought into 

 Mexico by the 

 Spaniards during 

 the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. About 1854 

 it was introduced 

 into California and 

 its culture has 

 developed rapidly 

 since that time in 

 all States as far 

 east as the Missouri 

 River. The plant 

 has been cultivated 

 continuously for 

 more than one hun- 

 dred years in the 

 limestone region of 

 New York, with 

 considerable suc- 



ALFALFA FOR NEW YORK 



E. G. Montgomery 

 the oldest cultivated plants of Asia and of 



NEBR. AGR. EXPT. STA. 



Fig. 235. — Alfalfa plant 



cess; nevertheless, according to the Twelfth United States Census there 

 were only 5,582 acres producing alfalfa in New York in 1899, against 



[1569] 



