HISTORY. : 73 
In New York alfalfa has been grown continuously 
for over a century. The following notes on the early 
history of alfalfa in New York, by F. E. Dawley, 
are of value and interest: 
From 1791 to 1800, Mr. Robert Livingstone, of Jefferson county, 
New York, conducted some experiments, many of which were 
successful, and from investigations made in the vicinity of Le- 
Raysville, in that county, I feel certain that there are still grow- 
ing wild there alfalfa plants which are descended from his orig- 
inal plantings. Following these experiments, the next that I am 
able to get any authentic record of are those made about 1812 
in Onondago county by Sterling Lamson and Moses Dewitt, and 
in Jefferson county by Ezra L’Hommedieu. About four miles 
west of Cedarvale, in this county, a few scattered plants have 
been growing for years on a side-hill, which I believe came from 
the seeding made by Mr. Lamson, as I can get no record of its 
having been planted in that vicinity until within the past ten 
years, and these scattering plants have been known there for at 
least forty years. In a diary kept by this man in 1815, the state- 
ment is made about alfalfa, that it grew so coarse that the ani- 
mais would not eat it dry and that it was very dangerous in 
pastures because of producing bloat. In 1851 a cask of alfalfa 
seed was distributed among members of the American Institute 
and many patches were grown in New York, New Jersey and 
Connecticut. 
In 1865 in this section there was great interest in bee-keeping. 
A man by the name of Rosenkranz traveled all over the country 
selling rights for using the Langstroth bee hive and giving in- 
struction in bee-keeping. He had traveled extensively on the 
Pacific coast and had become greatly interested in alfalfa as a 
bee-food. Among the bee-keepers in this section who were in- 
duced to try alfalfa were my father, Wm. Dawley, James Patter- 
son, Charles Phillips, William A. House, who lived on the farm 
which I now own, and many others. In the western part of the 
state those who tried alfalfa were not very successful, although 
Mr. Phillips had a remarkably good stand at one time. I be- 
lieve that all of them sowed it too thinly and that the proper 
bacteria were not present in sufficient quantities to make it a 
success. One of these experimenters sent to California for a 
bag of seed, which was shipped to him in the hull, being very 
dusty and foul. From this lot of seed, however, sent about 1870, 
on the farm which I now own can be traced, I think, the origin 
of successful alfalfa growing here. 
