New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 63 



vation of alfalfa, which Mr. W. P. Wheeler prepared and pub- 

 lished in Bulletin 80. 



" For those who are unacquainted with alfalfa a few general 

 facts concerning the plant may be briefly mentioned here to 

 advantage. Alfalfa {Medicago sativa), sometimes called lucerne, 

 although not generally grown in this part of the country, has 

 been cultivated for a long time. It was cultivated by the Egyp- 

 tians, Greeks and Romans, and in later centuries by the nations 

 of the warmer parts of Europe. It was early introduced into 

 South America and brought from there to Mexico and California. 



"Alfalfa being a leguminous plant like the clovers and able to 

 gather nitrogen that is not available to most plants, will, when 

 the crop is fed on the farm, enrich the soil in this necessary ele- 

 ment, and leave a field in improved condition when finally plowed 

 under. The long tap root with its numerous branches reaches 

 deep in the sub-soil (roots often reach to a depth of ten or twelve 

 feet — are said sometimes to extend over twenty feet) and is 

 often able to obtain plant food and water for the lack of which 

 surface-feeding plants may be suffering. The plant is a peren- 

 nial and when once well established will yield paying, crops for 

 an indefinite number of years if the field is not overrun with 

 grass or plantain. 



" Alfalfa grows well on widely varying kinds of top soil, but 

 the sub-soil must be open and porous. It does best on a warm 

 and friable soil with a loose or gravelly sub-soil. A dense clay 

 or hardpan sub-soil is most unfavorable. Although a rich soil 

 is of course the best and gives the largest crops, alfalfa some- 

 times does exceedingly well on poor gravelly soils. The plant 

 consumes much water but will not survive long in a saturated 

 or flooded soil, and too much water in the soil during winter is 

 fatal. If water stands for any considerable time within a few 

 feet of the surface the crop will be injured. Alfalfa, in the 

 West, seldom if ever winter kills on ground with a deep and 

 porous sub-soil. 



" The seed should not be sown unless the soil has received 

 careful and thorough preparation, for it is of the utmost im- 



