120 CLOVERS 



tion which it contains. As a hay crop, it is greatly 

 prized. Even swine may be wintered in a large 

 measure on cured alfalfa hay. 



As a fertilizer, the value of alfalfa will be largely 

 dependent on the use that is made of the plants. 

 AVhen pastured or fed upon the farm, the fertility 

 resulting being put back upon the land, it ranks highly 

 as a producer of fertility. But this question is fur- 

 ther discussed on page 191. As a destroyer of weeds 

 much will depend upon the way in which it is grown. 

 This question also is discussed again. (See page 

 185.) 



Distribution. — It is thought that alfalfa is more 

 widely distributed over the earth's surface, fur- 

 nishes more food for live stock, and has been widely 

 cultivated for a longer period than any other legume. 

 It is grown over wide areas of Asia, Europe, North 

 and South America, and its cultivation is con- 

 stantly extending. It was grown on the irrigated 

 plains of Babylon long before the days of Nebuchad- 

 nezzar. It was the principal fodder used in the 

 stables of the kings of Persia. From Persia, it is 

 thought, it was brought to Greece about 470 b. c, 

 and that its cultivation in Italy began at least two 

 centuries before the Christian era. Several Roman 

 writers, as Virgil, Columella and Varro, mention it. 

 From Italy it was introduced into Spain and from 

 Spain it was doubtless carried by missionaries of the 

 Roman Catholic Church to Mexico and the South 

 American States which lie west of the Andes, as 

 Peru and Chili. In the arid and semi-arid regions 

 of the Andes, the conditions were found so favorable 



