Alfalfa in Kansas. 



175 



For the introduction of alfalfa into medieval and modern agriculture 

 the Arabs, or Moors, are largely responsible. Their invasions in the 

 seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era brought northern Africa 

 and Spain under their control. 



Whether they knew alfalfa originally in Arabia, having obtained it 

 from the Persians, or came into contact with it for the first time in 

 Africa, is not known. At all events, the name which they gave it, 

 alfagfacah, which means the "best fodder," is the name which the Arabs 



FIG. 152. France and Germany. Into whose rich regions alfalfa came on its way 

 through Europe. 



carried into Spain with the plant itself, and from this name comes our 

 word alfalfa. From Spain alfalfa appears to have reached France, and 

 from France to have entered Germany in the fifteenth century. From 

 Italy the plant probaUly also crept into southern Europe, under the name 

 lucerne, the origin of which is uncertain. Lucerne, or some modification 

 of the word, is the name of alfalfa in most of the countries of Europe, 

 and has come into use in a few localities in the United States, as, for 

 example, in Utah and central New York. 



