CUI/TURE. 41 



qualifications for this work. He was for five years connected 

 with the Colorado Experiment Station, and during these five 

 years made alfalfa under irrigation a matter of special study 

 -and experiment. He has kindly consented to give the reader 

 the benefit of his knowledge and experience. In the follow- 

 ing pages he so completely covers the ground that the reader 

 in this district, whether in Nebraska or the states further 

 West, who carefully studies and follows his instructions, can 

 scarcely be said to be experimenting with the plant: 



The subject of alfalfa culture in the United States has received great 

 impetus within the last fifteen or twenty years because of its peculiar 

 adaptation to culture in the more arid regions, and the excellent results 

 obtained. The plant itself is not a modern one, but has been cultivated 

 for several centuries. It is perennial, and when once successfully estab- 

 lished in a soil, will remain and grow vigorously for years. In this 

 respect it is quite unlike its congener the red clover, which usually 

 lasts but two, or at most three years without reseeding. On this account 

 the alfalfa is, therefore, of special value. 



The plant has been known by the Spanish name, alfafa, rather than 

 by its French name, lucern, because it has come to us by the way of 

 South America and California, where, with a fepanish speaking popula- 

 tion, it would naturally be called by its Spanish name. Its botanical 

 name i& Medicago sativa, and it is supposed to have been raised by the 

 ancient Greeks and Romans to some extent, as long ago as the Christian 

 era. Indeed the name Medicago, applying to the genus, is derived from 

 the Greek word signifying forage or forage plant. Other persons have 

 supposed that the name was derived from the Province of Media, where 

 it was supposed to have been cultivated in early times. Some of the 

 Roman writers have metntioned it in their writings. In its introduction 

 into America, it seems first to have found its way into the countries of 

 South America, where there is little rainfall and where irrigation has 

 been practiced to some extent. From these countries and especially Chili, 

 it has found its way into some parts of Mexico, and also into Southern 

 California, from which place it has spread into the states and territories 

 lying to the eastward and reaching as far as the Missouri river. Agricul- 

 ture in these regions on account of the physical conditions occasioned by 

 lack of rainfall, must be carried on almost exclusively by means of irri- 

 gation, and whi^e* varied crops could be grown successfully, it was with 

 difficulty that good stands of gra^s or the ordinary clover could be ob- 

 tained under this system. In alfalfa, then, those farmers seemed to have 

 secured the plant with all the conditions necessary to supply them with 

 forage. They found that it was a plant easily raised, provided proper 

 care were used to put the soil in proper condition, that it grew thrifty, 

 that it maintained its hold upon the fields, was strong and did not kill 

 easily by winter exposure. They found that a given area would produce 

 a much larger cutting of forage of good quality, than one set of grasses or 

 ordinary clover. Although they were liable to be prejudiced against it 

 because of th^ prevailing systems in the East, they soon found that al- 

 falfa was valuable in flesh producing compounds, and that animals soon 

 learned to love it and thrived upon it. They also found that it was an 

 excellent milk producer, and that when fed to sheep it produced a good 

 quality of wool. All of these things combined to induce farmers of this 

 ^region to forego their former experiences, and to learn, as it were, the 

 .new agriculture, with alfalfa as the forage plant as the basis. 



