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Kansas State Board of Ayricultu 



Greek and Roman writers on botany and agriculture testify to the high 

 esteem in which alfalfa, or Medica, was held in ancient civilizations. 



Strabo, who died about A.D. 25, says of alfalfa: "The herb which 

 nourishes horses best we call the Median herb, from its abounding 

 natively there [in Media]." Several references are made to alfalfa by 

 other Greek writers. Pliny, the Roman writer on natural history, 

 ascribes the original spread of alfalfa to the Persian wars carried on by 

 Darius. 



FIG. 151. Spain. Into which the Moors introduced alfalfa in the early Middle Ages. 



The Roman agricultural writer, Columella, who lived in the first cen- 

 tury of the Christian era, says, in speaking of the various kinds of fodder : 

 "The best is herba Medica [our alfalfa], because when it is once sown it 

 lasts ten years; because it can be mowed regularly four times a year, 

 sometimes even six times; because it fertilizes the land; because all 

 emaciated stock fatten on it; because it is a remedy for sick cattle; be- 

 cause a jugerum [about three-fifths of an acre] suffices abundantly for 

 three horses for a whole year." 



