ALEXANDRIA 



- 179 



ALFALFA 



throughout the year as far as Alexandria. The 

 town was founded in 1819, received its city 

 charter in 1882 and was named for Alexander 

 Fulton, on whose property the first settlement 

 was made. The commission form of govern- 

 ment has been in operation since 1913. The 

 area of the city is two and a quarter square 

 miles. 



tndria is located in the heart of one of 

 the greatest yellow pine timber belts in the 

 world; forests extend on all sides for a dis- 

 r.-nice of seventy-five miles, and the lumber 

 industry has largely contributed to the growth 

 <>f the city. About 1,500 people are engaged 

 in this industry, and the output is valued at 

 several millions of dollars annually. Other 

 enterprises are iron foundries, railroad shops 

 and cotton-seed products, and the cultivation 

 of agricultural products is extensive. A num- 

 ber of Belgian and Bohemian farmers have 

 ssfully raised rice, cotton, cane, alfalfa, 

 vegetables ,and grains, and these are among 

 the chief shipments. Among the public build- 

 ings worthy of note are the Federal building, 

 which cost $100,000; a $90,000 city hall, a $120,- 

 000 courthouse, a $125,000 high school, a bank 

 building costing $125,000, and a $1,000,000 hotel. 

 Besides these is a Carnegie library and a hos- 

 pital. A business college, Roman Catholic and 

 Baptist colleges and a high school serve the 

 educational interests. 



The city was almost totally destroyed by 

 fire in 1864, and its subsequent development 

 was due to the construction of the Texas and 

 Pacific Railway to this point in 1882. 



ALEXANDRIA, VA., a quaint old city of 

 historic mtu.-t in Alexandria County, on the 

 northeastern border of the state and on the 

 Potomac River, six miles south of Washington, 

 D. C. It is a port of entry and a railroad 

 center of importance, on the lines of the Penn- 

 sylvania; Atlantic Coast Line; Southern; Sea- 

 board Air Line; Baltimore & Ohio, and Chesa- 

 peake <k Ohio. Electric lines operate north 

 and south from the city. In 1914 the popula- 

 tion was 15,670, an increase of 341 since 1910. 

 The area is a little more than one square D 



Although tin city is located 100 miles from 

 the month of the Potomac River, it has an 

 il< nt harbor a mile wide, which admits the 

 largest vessels. Through its water and railway 

 shipping facilities it controls a large, growing 

 trade, and it is a manufacturing center. There 

 are glass, shoe and broom factories, a thread 

 null, fertilizer plants, breweries, chemical 

 works :ml Mlk nulls. Educational advantages 



are offered by Mount Vernon and Saint Mary's 

 academies and the Theological Seminary and 

 High School of the Diocese of Virginia (Epis- 

 copal), in addition to the public schools. 



In Old Christ Church George Washington 

 and Robert E. Lee worshipped, and their re- 

 spective pews are objects of interest to visitors; 

 Marshall House, where Ellsworth, an officer in 

 McDowell's army, was shot after tearing down 

 the Confederate flag; the Town Hall; Carlyh- 

 House, General Braddock's headquarters in 

 1755, the Lord Fairfax House and a Confed- 

 erate monument are features of interest. Near- 

 by is Mount Vernon, the home of Washington. 



The first settlement was made here in 1695, 

 under the name of Belhaven. In 1749 the 

 town was organized, and it was incorporated 

 in 1779. Alexandria belonged to the territory 

 ceded to the United States for the nation's 

 capital by Virginia in 1789, but it again became 

 part of Virginia in 1847. In 1814, on the 

 approach of the British fleet, the inhabitants, 

 to prevent attack, paid the equivalent of 

 $100,000. It was occupied by Federal troops 

 during the War of Secession and from 1863 

 until the close of the war was the seat of what 

 is known as the Alexandria Government (see 

 VIRGINIA). 



ALEXANDRIAN, al ex an' dree an, AGE, 

 the name given to that period during which 

 the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, in 

 Egypt, was the center of Greek learning and 

 culture. It began under the Ptolemies and 

 lasted throughout their rule and into the time 

 of Roman supremacy, thus covering approxi- 

 mately the period from 300 B.C. to 600 A.D. 

 Ptolemy Soter founded the famous library of 

 Alexandria, and his son, Philadelphia, estab- 

 lished a sort of academy of sciences and arts 

 to which many scholars and men of genius were 

 attracted. Among the greatest of the men 

 who made Alexandria world famous 

 Euclid, the father of scientific geometry; Archi- 

 medes, great in physics and mechanics; Apol- 

 lonius of Perga, whose work on conic sections 

 -nil exists, and the astronomer and geographer 

 Ptolemy, whose system of astronomy was in 

 general use until the middle of the seventeenth 

 century. There were also several poets and 

 philosophers of note. 



ALFAL'FA, or LUCERNE, lusern', is a 

 clover-like plant, one of the most important 

 among the worlds forage, or fodder, crops 

 ever since it was named al-i th<> best 



crop," by the Persians more than twenty cen- 

 s ago. While it is one of the oldest crops 



