CHAPTER XLI 

 ALFALFA 



ALFALFA is at present the most important cultivated forage crop 

 in the west half of the United States. As a leguminous crop, it has 

 about the same relation to the western half of the United States 

 that red clover does north of the Ohio Eiver and the cow pea crop 

 south of the Ohio River. While its culture is increasing in the 

 eastern half of the United States, it is doubtful whether it will ever 

 attain an extensive culture. 



Origin and History. Alfalfa is probably the oldest cultivated 

 forage crop. Its culture seems to have originated in Persia and Asia 

 Minor. Wild forms similar to the cultivated variety are found 

 growing in this region. Here it was cultivated at least five hundred 

 years B.C. and not long afterwards introduced into Greece during one 

 of the early Persian invasions. It seems to have reached the Roman 

 Empire about the beginning of the Christian era, and slowly spread 

 from there northward through Europe, reaching England early in the 

 seventeenth century. It was early introduced into North America 

 and South America. It is mentioned occasionally in the early his- 

 tory of the colonies, and has been in continuous culture about Syra- 

 cuse, New York, for at least a hundred years. Its agricultural 

 history in the United States, however, really begins with its introduc- 

 tion into southern California from South America in 1854. The 

 culture of alfalfa spread eastward, especially in the irrigated dis- 

 tricts. The crop had a very rapid development in Kansas and 

 Nebraska (Fig. 168) during the decade from 1890 to 1900. This 

 was probably due to the fact that the native prairie hay had largely 

 disappeared by that time, and no other cultivated forage plant was 

 found to succeed so well as alfalfa. Since 1900, considerable effort 

 has been made to spread its culture east of the Missouri River, but 

 here it must come into competition with timothy and clover, which 

 are easier to grow and better adapted to rotation. Also, the soils are 

 not naturally well suited for alfalfa culture without special treat- 

 ment and inoculation. Its development has therefore been slow, 

 but in time will probably attain a more important place. 

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