VARIETIES 5 



sand lucerne {Medicago falcata). Neitlier of them 

 have much agricultural value, though the yellow is 

 sometimes recommended for planting in very light and 

 sandy calcareous soils. It is more easily killed by 

 excess of water, but is said to endure cold. It is 

 probably less valuable than any other species of clover 

 as a forage plant. Alfalfa seed is sometimes adulterated 

 with the seeds of one or the other of the less valuable 

 forms. These plants, however, are so rarely cultivated 

 in the United States that there is little danger of such 

 adulteration being pradliced. 



The western alfalfa grows taller than the eastern 

 lucerne, and is said to withstand drouth and freezing 

 better. This is probably because it has been so long 

 subjedl to the peculiar soil and climatic conditions of 

 the arid regions of Chili, California, and Colorado, 

 and become well acclimated. Alfalfa in the West is 

 rarely destroyed by winter freezing, although the 

 temperature in certain regions in which it is largely 

 grown is as low in winter as in the Eastern and New 

 England states. In this latter sedtion the plants fre- 

 quently fail to survive the second season on account 

 of the freezing of the roots. 



During the past few years the United States 

 Department of Agriculture has been introducing an 

 alfalfa found on the elevated table-lands of Asia. The 

 botanical difference is expressed by Russian authorities 

 as Medicago sativa Turkestanica. It is supposed, com- 

 ing from the region it does, to be more hardy than 

 our common alfalfa, and in a measure is gratifying its 

 promoters. It will be further mentioned under the 

 separate heading of " Turkestan Alfalfa." 



