AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



15 



ALF 



Ale'tris. Colic-root. Star-grass. From aletron, 

 meal ; referring to the powdery appearance of 

 the whole plant. Nat. Ord. Hamodoracece,. 



There are but two species included in this 

 genus, both natives of the United States, and 

 pretty generally distributed. A. farinosa is 

 highly esteemed for its medicinal properties, 

 and is a very pretty plant for the border. It 

 is a herbaceous perennial, the leaves growing 

 in a close tuft, from which arises a flower-stem 

 from one to three feet high, terminating in a 

 spiked raceme of small, white, oblong, bell- 

 shaped flowers. Propagated by division or by 

 seeds. 



Aleuri'tss. From the Greek word, signifying 

 flour, all the parts of the plant seeming to be 

 dusted with it. Nat. Ord. Euphorbiacece. 



A. triloba is a handsome evergreen tree, with 

 small white clustered flowers. It is a native of 

 the Moluccas and the Southern Pacific Islands, 

 andis commonly cultivated in tropical countries 

 for the sake of its nuts, which, when dried, 

 are stuck on a reed and used as candles, and 

 as an article of food in New Georgia. It is of 

 easy culture, and is propagated freely by cut- 

 tings. 



Aleurito'pteris. A genus of Ferns, now joined 

 with Cheilanthes. 



Alfalfa or Lucerne (Medicago Sativa). Though 

 this has been a favorite forage plant in some 

 parts of the Old World for hundreds of years, 

 it is not surprising that in a country so wide- 

 spread and diversified as the United States, a 

 crop that is so valued in some localities is un- 

 known in others. 



The great value of Alfalfa is in its enormous 

 yield of sweet and nutritious forage, which is 

 highly relished by stock either when green or 

 cured into hay. It will grow and yield abun- 

 dantly in hot, dry sections, and on poor, light 

 and sandy land, where no grasses can 

 be grown, for it sends its roots down to 

 enormous depths, they having been found in 

 sandy soil 13 feet long ; consequently it con- 

 sumes food, moisture, and the leach of fer- 

 tilizers from depths entirely beyond the action 

 of drought or heat, and which have been for 

 years beyond the reach of ordinary plants. 



Alfalfa greatly enriches the soil even more 

 than ordinary Clovers, as it derives a very 

 large portion of nutritive material from the 

 atmosphere. It aerates the land to a great 

 depth, and a large portion of its great fleshy 

 roots, equalling small carrots in size, annually 

 decay from the outside and keep growing 

 larger from the center, and are constantly 

 increasing the fertility of the ground. 



Alfalfa is not considered perfectly hai'dy in 

 our more Northern States, yet experiments 

 made by some of our Northern Agricultural 

 Experimental Stations prove it of more value 

 North than previously supposed. 



The soil best suited for the growth of Alfalfa 

 is that which is deep and sandy ; hence the 

 soil of Florida and many other portions of the 

 cotton belt is eminently fitted for its culture. 

 When Alfalfa is to be grown on a large scale, 

 to get at the best results, the ground chosen 

 should be high and level, or if not high, such 

 as is entirely free from under water. Drainage 

 must be as nearly perfect as possible either 

 naturally or artificially. This in fact is a 

 primary necessity for every crop unless it be 

 such as is aquatic or sub-aquatic. 



ALF 



Deep plowing, thorough harrowing and level- 

 ing with that valuable implement, the "smooth- 

 ing harrow," to get a smooth and level surface, 

 are the next operations. This should be done 

 in the Southern States from 1st to 20th 

 October or at such season in the fall as 

 would be soon enough to ensure a growth 

 of four or five inches before the season of 

 growth stops. Draw out lines on the prepared 

 land twenty inches apart (if for horse culture, 

 but if for hand culture fourteen inches), 

 and two or three inches deep. These lines 

 are best made by what market gardeners call 

 a "marker," which is made by nailing six 

 tooth-shaped pickets six or eight inches long 

 at the required distance apart to a three by 

 four inch joist, to which a handle is attached 

 which makes the marker or drag. The first 

 tooth is set against a garden line drawn tight 

 across the field, the marker is dragged back- 

 wards by the workman, each tooth marking a 

 line ; thns the six teeth mark six lines, if the 

 line is set each time ; but it is best to place 

 the end tooth of the marker in a line already 

 made, so that in this way only five lines are 

 marked at once, but it is quicker to do this 

 than move the line. The lines being marked 

 out, the seed is sown by hand or by seed-drill, 

 at the rate of eight to twelve pounds per acre. 

 After sowing and this rule applies to all seeds 

 if sown by hand the seed must be trodden in 

 by walking on the lines, so as to press the 

 seed down into the drills. After treading in, 

 the ground must be levelled by raking with 

 a wooden or steel rake along the lines length- 

 ways not across. That done, it would be ad- 

 vantageous to use a roller over the land so as 

 to smooth the surface and further firm the 

 seed, but this is not indispensable. When 

 seeds are drilled in by machine, the wheel 

 presses down the soil on the seed, so that 

 treading in with the feet is not necessary. 

 After the seeds germinate so as to show the 

 rows, which will be in from two to four weeks, 

 according to the weather, the ground must be 

 hoed between, and this is best done by some 

 light wheel-hoe, if by hand, such as the 

 "Planet, Jr." On light sandy soil, such as in 

 Florida, a man could with ease run over two 

 or three acres per day. The labor entailed 

 in this method of sowing Alfalfa in drills is 

 somewhat greater than when sown broadcast 

 in the usual way of grasses and clover, but 

 there is no question that it is by far the best 

 and most profitable plan, for it must be remem- 

 bered that the plant is a hardy perennial, and is 

 good for a crop for eight to ten years. More- 

 over, the sowing in drills admits of the crop 

 being easily fertilized, if it is found necessary to 

 do so ; as all that is necessary is to sow bone 

 dust, superphosphates, or other concentrated 

 fertilizer between the rows, and then stir it into 

 the soil by the use of the wheel-hoe. Because 

 Alfalfa flourishes on poor and worn out lands, 

 it should not be thought unadapted to good 

 soils. In the latter, its yield almost exceeds 

 belief. At the New Jersey State farm, seed of 

 it sown, April 28th, in drills, and the plants 

 cultivated, had grown forty inches tall, 

 when cut on July 7th, 70 days from sow- 

 ing, yielding (green) 7%, tons per acre ; the 

 second cutting made on August 18th,. yielded 

 (green) 8%, tons per acre ; the third cutting 

 was made September 27th, and yielded (green) 

 4^ tons per acre; a total of 20 tons of green 



