(55) 



may be mown early the succeeding spring, and so meet any 

 scarcity of provender. 



ALFALFA: LUCERNE (Medicago Sativa.) 



This is, beyond doubt, the oldest cultivated grass known, 

 having been introduced into Greece from Media 500 B. C., 

 and the Romans, finding its qualities good, cultivated it ex- 

 tensively, and by them it was carried into France when 

 Caesar reduced Gaul. It is emphatically a child of the sun, 

 and revels in a heat that would destroy any other species of 

 clover. But cold and moisture are hurtful to it. On the 

 rich, sandy lands of the South it is invaluable, and will 

 grow luxuriantly, making enormous yields of hay. Its nu- 

 tritive constituents are almost identical with red clover, but 

 it has one property not possessed by the latter, and that is, 

 it is perennial. It, does not stool as freely as red clover, 

 and therefore must be sown rather thicker. It will con- 

 tinue to furnish green pasturage later than red clover. 



It does not grow well 0n any soil that has a hard pan, 

 nor on thin soils. To secure a stand, the ground must be 

 in a thorough state of tilth, well pulverized and mellow. 

 A want of attention to this requisite has caused many to be 

 disappointed in the result. But in well prepared, rich, 

 gravelly or sandy loam, it succeeds remarkably, sending 

 down its long tap-roots many feet into the subsoil, pumping 

 up moisture from below, and thus will thrive when all 

 other plants are drooping. In this respect it is far superior 

 to clover. For the latter, a suitable surface soil is of equal 

 importance with the subsoil, but for Lucerne a suitable sub- 

 soil is absolutely necessary, as the roots are not fibrous, only 

 rootlets shooting off from the main tap-root. This tap-root 

 grows to be as large as a carrot. This enormous quantity 

 of roots permeating the ground to the depth of several feet, 



