188 



ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



stoloniferous. The seed is very scarce and high in price. 

 It is sometimes grown from cuttings planted several feet 



apart. 



178. Johnson Grass (Sorghum 

 halepense) is one of the best hay 

 grasses of the South. It has one 

 very serious objection: it is a 

 bad weed in cultivated land. 

 For this reason, some of the 

 states have laws against sowing 

 it. It now seems that there are 

 methods by which it can be 

 successfully eradicated. If these 

 methods prove practical, it will 

 become a popular crop rather 

 than a weed. 



179. Alfalfa (Mediccmo saliva). 

 Alfalfa, or lucerne, is probably the oldest hay plant now 

 grown. It came from Media to Greece, 490 B. C. The 

 genus name refers to the origin in Media. 



How long it was grown in Media no one 

 knows. It has been grown in New York 

 for one-hundred years. But its effective 

 introduction into the United States was 

 from Chili to California, about 50 years 

 ago. Its distribution has been particularly 

 rapid during the past 25 years. 



180. Value of Alfalfa. The table on next 

 page shows the total number of acres of different kinds 

 of hay and total yields, in 1899, according to the 

 Twelfth Census: 



FIG. 95. Orchard grass 



FIG. 96. 

 Alfalfa blossoms 



