The Cornell Reading Courses 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

 NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



Beverly T. Galloway, Dean 



COURSE FOR THE FARM, ROYAL GILKEY, Supervisor 



Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Ithaca, Xew York 



VOL. IV. No. 90 



JUNE 15, 191 5 



FARM CROPS SERIES 

 No. I revised 



ir.V 



■■'■is 



\ 



ALFALFA FOR NEW YORK 

 E. G. Montgomery 

 Alfalfa is one of the oldest cultivated plants of Asia and of southern 

 Europe. It was brought into Mexico 

 by the S])amards during the sixteenth 

 century. About 1854 it was introduced 

 into California, and its culture has de- 

 veloped rapidly since that time in all 

 States as far east as the Missouri River. 

 The plant has been cultivated con- 

 tinuously for more than one hundred 

 3^ears in the limestone region of New 

 York with considerable success. Al- 

 though alfalfa was grown in New York 

 State before its introduction into Cali- 

 fornia, the acreage of alfalfa in this 

 State has not shown much increase until 

 recently. According to the Twelfth 

 United States Census there were only 

 5582 acres of alfalfa in New York in 

 1899, against 455,000 acres in Colorado, 

 298,000 in California, and 267,000 in 

 Kansas. The Thirteenth Census, how- 

 ever, shows 35,343 acres in New York 

 in 1909, a sixfold increase in ten years, 

 as compared with 508,000 in Colorado, 

 484,000 in California, and 956,000 in 

 Kansas. 



Doubtless the reason for the slow Yig.ij^G.— One season's growth of alfalfa 

 development of alfalfa grovnng in New in New York; first, second, and third 

 York' and other Eastern States is lack '^^ ^^^^ 



of sufficient lime and of the bacteria necessary for cultivation of the crop 

 in practically all soils except those of certain restricted areas. This 



[1967] 



