ALFALFA 217 



According to the Su i ki # M IS, written by Zen Fan > B& in 

 the beginning of the sixth century, "the mu-su (alfalfa) gardens of 

 Can K'ien are situated in what is now Lo-yafi; mu-su was originally 

 a vegetable in the land of the Hu, and K'ien was the first to obtain it 

 in the Western Countries." A work, Kiu Vi ki i)l ftfe IB, 1 says that east 

 of the capital there were mu-su gardens, in which there were three 

 pestles driven by water-power. 



The Si kin tsa ki ffi M H IB 2 states, "In the Lo-yu gardens H& j$ la 

 (in the capital C'an-nan) there are rose-bushes SC?6 ftf (Rosa rugosa), 

 which grow spontaneously. At the foot of these, there is abundance 

 of mu-su, called also hwaifun H $& C embracing the wind'), sometimes 

 kwanfun jfe l& ('brilliant wind'). 3 The people of Mou-lin j$c HI 4 style 

 the plant lien-Si ts'ao 31 1 ^ ('herb with connected branches')." 5 



The Lo yan k*ie Ian ki & Bi flfl H IB, a record of the Buddhist 

 monasteries in the capital Lo-yan, written by Yan Huan-Si tlf |f *L in 

 A.D. 547 or shortly afterwards, says that "Huan-wu M. B is situated 

 north-east of the Ta-hia Gate ^C JE P*J ; now it is called Kwan-fun 

 Garden jfc R M, producing mu-su." Kwan-fun , as shown by the Si kin 

 tsa ki, is a synonyme of mu-su. 



K'ou Tsun-i, in his Pen ts*ao yen i? written in A.D. 1116, notes that 

 alfalfa is abundant in Sen-si, being used for feeding cattle and horses, 

 and is also consumed by the population, but it should not be eaten in 

 large quantity. Under the Mongols, the cultivation of alfalfa was 

 much encouraged, especially in order to avert the danger of famines; 7 

 and gardens were maintained to raise alfalfa for the feeding of horses. 8 

 According to Li Si-6en (latter part of the sixteenth century), 9 it was in 

 his time a common, wild plant in the fields everywhere, but was culti- 

 vated in en-si and Kan-su. He apparently means, however, Medicago 

 denticulata, which is a wild species and a native of China. FORBES 



1 T'ai p*in yii Ian, Ch. 824, p. 9. 



2 That is, Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital (C'an-nan in Sen-si), 

 written by Wu Kun ^| J) of the sixth century A.D. 



8 The explanation given for these names is thus: the wind constantly whistles 

 in these gardens, and the sunlight lends brilliancy to the flowers. 



4 Ancient name for the present district of Hin-p'in | zp in the prefecture of 

 Si-nan, Sen-si. 



6 T'ai p'ifi yu Ian, Ch. 996, p. 4 b. 



6 Ch. 19, p. 3 (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 



7 Yuan Si, Ch. 93, p. 5 b. 



8 Ibid., Ch. 91, p. 6 b. 



9 Pen ts*ao kan mu, Ch. 28, p. 3 b. 



