HISTORY. 73 



In New York alfalfa has been grown continuously 

 for over a century. The following notes on the early 

 history of alfalfa in New York, by F. E. Dawley, 

 are of value and interest : 



From 1791 to 1800, Mr. Robert Livingstone, of Jefferson county, 

 New York, conducted some experiments, many of which were 

 successful, and from investigations made in the vicinity of Le- 

 Raysville, in that county, I feel certain that there are still grow- 

 ing wild there alfalfa plants which are descended from his orig- 

 inal plantings. Following these experiments, the next that I am 

 able to get any authentic record of are those made about 1812 

 in Onondago county by Sterling Lamson and Moses Dewitt, and 

 in Jefferson county by Ezra L'Hommedieu. About four miles 

 west of Cedarvale, in this county,- a few scattered plants have 

 been growing for years on a side-hill, which I believe came from 

 the seeding made by Mr. Lamson, as I can get no record of its 

 having been planted in that vicinity until within the past ten 

 years, and these scattering plants have been known there for at 

 least forty years. In a diary kept by this man in 1815, the state- 

 ment is made about alfalfa, that it grew so coarse that the ani- 

 mals would not eat it dry and that it was very dangerous in 

 pastures because of producing bloat. In 1851 a cask of alfalfa 

 seed was distributed among members of the American Institute 

 and many patches were grown in New York, New Jersey and 

 Connecticut. 



In 1865 in this section there was great interest in bee-keeping. 

 A man by the name of Rosenkranz traveled all over the country 

 selling rights for using the Langstroth bee hive and giving in- 

 struction in bee-keeping. He had traveled extensively on the 

 Pacific coast and had become greatly interested in alfalfa as a 

 bee-food. Among the bee-keepers in this section who were in- 

 duced to try alfalfa were my father, Wm. Dawley, James Patter- 

 son, Charles Phillips, William A. House, who lived on the farm 

 which I now own, and many others. In the western part of the 

 state those who tried alfalfa were not very successful, although 

 Mr. Phillips had a remarkably good stand at one time. I be- 

 lieve that all of them sowed it too thinly and that the proper 

 bacteria were not present in sufficient quantities to make it a 

 success. One of these experimenters sent to California for a 

 bag of seed, which was shipped to him in the hull, being very 

 dusty and foul. From this lot of seed, however, sent about 1870, 

 on the farm which I now own can be traced, I think, the origin 

 of successful alfalfa growing here. 



