ALFALFA 



(^Medicago sativa) 



HISTORY 



Ai<FAi,PA, or lucerne, has been cultivated since civ- 

 ilization, and was familiar to the Egyptians, Medes, 

 and Persians. It is said to have grown spontaneously 

 in the high dry regions of southern and central Asia, 

 and is mentioned in connedtion with Persia, Asia 

 Minor, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and Cashmere. At 

 the time of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, about 

 450 B.C., alfalfa became known in that country, and 

 preceding the Christian era was prominent in Roman 

 agriculture. The Romans esteemed it highly as for- 

 age for the horses of their armies, and its cultivation 

 has been maintained in Italy to the present time. 

 From Italy it was introduced into Spain and southern 

 France, and was carried to Mexico during the Spanish 

 invasion. When the Spaniard turned his attention to 

 the lands of the Incas, alfalfa found its way to the 

 western coast of South America, where, escaped from 

 cultivation, it is said to be yet found growing wild over 

 large areas. There, in the semi-arid regions of the 

 Andes, it no doubt received a great strengthening of 

 its already strong tendency to survive in a scorching 

 sun upon a parched earth. From Chili it reached 

 California in 1854, and there, mainly under irrigation, 

 flourishes to-day as perhaps in no other place in the 

 world. It rapidly spread eastward, and is now grown 

 largely throughout the humid as well as the arid and 



