HISTORY, DESCRIPTION, VARIETIES AND HABITS 9 



more hairy. "It is thought very probable that by careful 

 selection hardiness can be bred into Arabian alfalfa so 

 that it will grow much farther north than it does at 

 present." 



AN OPINION FROM HEADQUARTERS 



As a latter day opinion or estimate of alfalfa from an 

 official who is presumed to speak as an authority, with- 

 out bias and knowing his subject, the words of W. J. 

 Spillman, agrostologist of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, should carry weight In an address 

 before the eleventh annual convention of the National 

 Hay Association, at St. Louis, in 1904, Professor Spill- 

 man said: 



''Alfalfa is the oldest plant known to man; it is the 

 most valuable forage plant ever discovered. It has not 

 been appreciated in the eastern part of the United States 

 until the last five years. We are now growing it success- 

 fully in every state in the Union, and I believe it is safe 

 to say in every agricultural county in the United States 

 it is being grown with success. Two weeks ago I 

 secured a picture of a field of alfalfa in South Carolina 

 that was sowed over sixty-nine years ago. It was still 

 in pretty good condition. I know of another field in 

 New York State sowed forty-five years ago, and one in 

 Minnesota that was sowed thirty-three years ago. All 

 over the West there are thousands of fields of alfalfa 

 that were sowed twenty-five years ago that are still yield- 

 ing large crops. In Wisconsin alfalfa yields three crops 

 of hay a year, and in Texas, four and five large crops. 

 In southern California, below sea-level, where they 



