58 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



mineral fertilizers. It may be the uncertain weather 

 of British hay-making times has had a deterrent 

 effect to the alfalfa growers, though it would seem 

 more probable that the mere lack of knowledge of 

 the subject was the main factor responsible for the 

 fewness of alfalfa fields there. The writer has seen 

 as thrifty alfalfa in Kent as he has seen anywhere 

 in the world, and has marvelled at its small extent 

 till he was told that the entire crop was fed green to 

 the work horses. 



In America a number of men wrote enthusiastic- 

 ally of the lucerne plant. It is certain that George 

 Washington grew it at least to some extent, and 

 Thomas Jefferson, on a kindlier soil, grew it so well 

 that in one of his letters he mentions the joy that 

 contemplation of his fields of lucerne gave him. To- 

 day no alfalfa is grown on either of these farms, nor 

 in their neighborhood. Is it that eastern farms are 

 less fertile now, or is it that their owners are less 

 prudent, enterprising and careful? 



In New York Robert Livingstone wrote of it and 

 many men experimented with the plant, some with 

 success, some without. In few localities in the east- 

 ern states, however, did it gain a permanent foot- 

 hold. There were several reasons for that. One 

 principal reason was that alfalfa does not mature 

 seed along the Atlantic seaboard except during very 

 dry summers ; thus it was necessary to import fresh 

 seed from Europe constantly at considerable trouble 

 and expense. Then the plant's nature was not un- 

 derstood, its lime requirement was not known, much 



