3793 
grained shriveled seed side by side on similar soil for hay. In the latter 
part of June he reports that the large grain is at least three inches 
taller than the other, and is also rank and green, while the other seems 
to be withering and dying. 
STARCH FROM THE BUCKEYE.—A large factory near Paris is making 
starch exclusively from horse-chestnuts, the yield being fully 16 per 
cent. With this nut the buckeye is closely allied, the constituents of 
the fruit being essentially the same. It is proposed, in view of this 
fact, by progressive Californians, to enter upon the business of rearing 
buckeye-trees for starch-making purposes. 
ALFALFA, (Medicago sativa.)—The success of the Department distri- 
bution of this clover in the milder climates has been invariable. In 
name it is interchangeably Alfalfa, Lucerne, and Chilian. An additional 
importation of seed is expected from Chili during the season, and its 
distribution, for experimental purposes, will be undertaken in the fall 
of the present year. The Messrs. Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., of Paris, 
France, through whom the supply is purchased by the Department, say: 
Botanically we consider Lucerne and Chilian clover the same variety, but it seems te 
have a little changed during its cultivation in a more temperate climate and grown less 
productive, less hardy, and more tender than the old stock—at least with us in France. 
In this connection may be quoted an article on the value of Alfalfa 
and the methods of its cultivation in California, from the Kern County 
Courier : 
The roots are not of the fibrous and woody nature of the other grasses. Hogs feed 
upon them with the greatest avidity, and often follow them down to the depth of two 
feet or more, although this by no means destroys their vitality. It would be an un- 
profitable grass in any of the Northern or Middle States, and would not be likely, to do 
well anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains unless in the extreme Southern and Gulf 
States. Its peculiar home seems to be in a warm, dry climate, where the ground never 
freezes, and frosts rarely, if ever, occur. It does best in a well-drained and friable al- 
luvial soil, with a penetrable subsoil of an argillaceous nature. In this climate it may 
be mown six times, or oftener, each year, and be depastured during the winter, or for a 
period of three months. When young it is extremely delicate, and Should be sown in 
connection with barley or wheat. When this is removed it will generally be found to 
have attained the height of two inches, and thereafter the surface requires to be kept 
moist by irrigation, as the roots have little penetration, and the young plants would 
otherwise soon wither on exposure to the sun. The second year it is able to take care 
of itself, and the fourth it arrives at full bearing. The roots then ramify so widely and 
reach to such a depth that it is able to bid defiance to drought. It does not begin to 
fail in productiveness in less than five years. When this occurs it may often be re- 
stored to its original vitality by plowing and a thorough pulverizing of tho surface ; 
the portion of the roots remaining below the reach of the plow will put forth fresh 
shoots and the field be soon again carpeted with verdure. When itis desirable to ex- 
terminate it altogether, with the view of re-seeding or planting some other crop, it can 
only be done by flooding the field with water and allowing it to stand for several days. 
When this grass is generally cultivated in the warmer climates the northern and 
more temperate regions of this continent will lose their present reputed superiority in 
stock-raising. They have hitherto retained it because no species of grass known would 
retain its vitality during the long hot summers of the semi-tropical and tropical cli- 
mates. Alfalfa has this desirable peculiarity, joined to more than twice the produc- 
tiveness of any northern grass. 
BLACK-LEG IN CATTLE.—The disease known as the black-leg is pre. 
vailing to some extent among the calves in Vernon County, Missouri- 
A farmer reports that he has lost twenty-six out of eighty head of cattle 
with a disease in the back or kidneys.. They have good use of fore-legs, 
but no control over their hips, followed by rigidness in the joints. 
nay suffering from the disease refuse to eat, and all attacked have 
ied. , 
