192 NORTH AMERICAN FIELD CROPS 



again, it makes a difference whether the writer or the reader is thinking of small-area or large- 

 area enterprises. There is a tendency for the large-area man, or the man who lives in one of the 

 great homogeneous agricultural regions, to think that his farming establishes the norm by which 

 all other farming shall be judged. The best individual farming is not necessarily to be found in 

 the so-called best farming regions ; but it is easier and safer to generalize from the large-area regions. 



These remarks suggest the proper purpose or value of a book on agriculture: such a book is 

 valuable for its suggestion and its guidance rather than for its dictum. The failure of the old-time 

 " book farming " was quite as much the fault of the reader as of the book. The reader who has called 

 himself the " practical farmer " has usually wanted recipes. If one were writing a book for a single 

 township, he probably could give something like positive directions. The writers in these volumes have 

 given their best information and advice ; but beyond that point they cannot assume responsibility. 



In this volume the special crop articles state the Latin name of the species of plants involved, with 

 synonymous or equivalent names immediately following in parentheses. The name of the natural family 

 follows : this indicates the plant's relationships. The abbreviated words following the Latin binomials 

 indicate the author of the binomial : Linn., signifies Linnaeus; Willd., Willdenow; Trin., Trinius; DC, Be 

 Candolle, the elder; ADC, Alphonse De Candolle. These and others are authors who originally described 

 the plants or who gave them their proper places and standing in the classification of human knowledge. 

 The botanical history of many of the plants is traced more fully in the other Cyclopedia. These tech- 

 nical records suggest to the student sources of information and means of tracing records and origins ; 

 and for the general reader they will not lessen the value of the advice that follows them. 



So far as practicable, the subjects are arranged here in alphabetical order. In some cases whole 

 crop groups are treated together, and in other cases only single species are so handled. This may 

 lead to some confusion as to the place in which a given plant is discussed, but the index will set 

 the reader right. As much space has been given to each subject as seemed to be necessary to 

 present it adequately ; therefore, the lengths of the articles may bear little relation to the economic 

 importance of the crops they discuss. 



Literature. 



References to the literature of agronomical knowledge will be found in many appropriate places 

 in the first two volumes of this Cyclopedia. The writings on special crops or crop groups are 

 mentioned under those crops in the pages that follow. Some of the general American crop literature in 

 book form may be recorded here : Johnson, How Crops Grow and How Crops Feed, two notable and 

 standard works (the former went to a revised edition in 1890); Morrow and Hunt, Soils and Crops 

 of the Farm ; Hunt, The Cereals in America ; Saunders, The Leading Cereal Crops in Canada 

 (Report Experimental Farms, 1903); Brooks, Agriculture (Vol. II); Wilcox and Smith, Farmer's 

 Cyclopedia of Agriculture. Several recent text-books of agriculture give brief discussions on the 

 growing of various crops. The reader should keep himself in touch with current discussions ' and 

 progress by means of the agricultiiral press and the various kinds of government publications. 



ALFALFA or LUCERNE. Medieago sativa, Linn. Asia, and was in use centuries before the Christian 



Leguminosm. Figs. 271-282. era. It spread successively from Media (Persia), to 



Bv /. M Westaate Greece (Persian War, about 480 B.C.), Italy (first 



■' ' ' " ' century A.D.), Spain (Saracean Invasion, eighth 



A deep-rooted, long-lived, perennial forage plant, century A. D.), Mexico and South America (Spanish 



Stems 1 to 4 feet high, numerous from a crown ; Invasion, sixteenth century). 



leaves numerous, pinnate ; leaflets 3, obovate-oblong. Alfalfa was introduced into California from 



prominently toothed near apex; flowers purple, Chile (1854) and has spread over the irrigated 



rarely white, clover-shaped, in oblong, compact regions of the West. It came from Mexico to Texas 



racemes (Fig. 271); stamens 10, united into a tube in the early part of the nineteenth century. Its 



around the single pistil, one of them on the upper production has been extended more recently to the 



side partly free ; pods slightly pubescent, coiled in non-irrigated parts of the Great Plains region. It 



2 or 3 spirals (Pig. 278) ; seeds several, kidney- was introduced into New York from Europe as 



shaped, one-twelfth inch long. Alfalfa is a staple early as 1791. Its culture in the East has been 



forage plant of the agricultural districts of southern confined to comparatively limited areas. Several 



Europe, southwestern Asia, South America and sections of the South are proving to be adapted 



western United States. It is native to southwestern to its growth. It has been grown, experimentally 



