LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 199 



adapted to those regions in the southern states where it can 

 be grown, both on account of the length of the growing season 

 and because pastures of all kinds are less successful there. 



231. History. Alfalfa has probably been used for hay longer 

 than any other cultivated plant. The ancient Greeks and 

 Romans used it, and it is the only forage crop now extensively 

 grown in America which was cultivated by them, except millet. 

 It was imported into Greece from Media during the war with 

 the Persians about 476 B. C. It was introduced into North 

 America under the name of lucerne by the first colonists. It 

 was tried over and over again in New England and the Atlantic 

 states during the 150 years which elapsed prior to the Revolu- 

 tion. While it has been grown in Onandaga County, New York, 

 since 1812, probably continuously, alfalfa did not attract much 

 attention until introduced into California from the western 

 coast of South America about the middle of the last century. 

 In 1873 Henry Miller introduced some seed directly from Chile 

 and sowed it upon his ranch in the San Joaquin Valley. Sub- 

 sequently the firm of Miller and Lux grazed over 100,000 head 

 of cattle and more than that number of sheep on alfalfa pasture 

 in the summer and fed them alfalfa hay in the winter. From 

 this object lesson of the great value of alfalfa has spread the 

 present culture of it in the United States. 



II. SAND LUCERNE 



232. SAND LUCERNE (Medicago media Pers.) closely resembles alfalfa in 

 appearance, habit of growth, and nutritive qualities. (196) It may be 

 distinguished from alfalfa by its more spreading habit, by its flowers ranging 

 from purple to lemon-yellow with many intermediate shades, and by its pods, 

 which are in about three-fourths of one coil instead of two to four coils as 

 in alfalfa. The seeds are about four-fifths the size of alfalfa seeds. The 

 Michigan Station reports that sand lucerne is able to withstand the severe 

 winters of the Michigan climate, while alfalfa is easily killed. On a dry, 

 sandy plat of soil the average yield during four years at the Michigan Station 

 was at the rate of over five tons of cured hay per acre. 1 Three and four 



* Michigan Sta. Bui. No. 198 (1902), p. ISO. 



