88 
Europe and successfully cultivated in the 
South of France and Germany, it should be 
well adapted to our climate and therefore be 
worth cultivating. I would advise to give it 
a trial. 
In the Southern States Crimson Clover 
LETTER ON 
RICHARD FROTSCHER’S ALMANAC AND GARDEN MANUAL 
should be sown in the months of Octcber or 
November, however it can be sown as late as 
January and February with success, and will 
produce a fine crop yet. 
It will take from 8 to 10 pounds to sow an 
acre. 
““ALFALFA,”’ 
Having received many inquiries on the culture of Alfalfa, I reprint the following letter 
written by EK. M. Hupson, Esq., a close observer on the subject, to give information thereon. 
Mr. R. Frotscuer, New Orleans, La.: 
Dear Sir:—Your letter of the 3rd inst. has 
just reached me, and I cheerfully comply with 
your request to give you the results of my ex- 
periments with Lucerne or Alfalfa, and my 
opinion of it as a forage plant for the South. 
I preiace my statement with the observation 
that my experiments have been conducted on 
a naturally poor, piney woods soil (which 
would be classed as a sandy soil, varying in 
depth from six inches to one foot). But Ihave 
good red clay subsoil, which enables the soil 
to retain the fertilizers applied to it, thus ren- 
dering it susceptible of permanent enriching. 
Three years since, when my attention was 
first directed to Alfalfa, I sought the advice of 
the editor of the Journal of Progress, Professor 
Stelle, who informed me that, after attempt- 
ing for several years to cultivate it, he had de- 
sisted. He stated that the plant, at Citronelle, 
in this county, died out every summer, not 
being able to withstand the hot suns of our 
climate. Discouraged, but not dismayed, I 
determined to test the matter on a small scale 
at first. Having procured some seeds in March, 
1876, I planted them on a border in my gar- 
den, and gave neither manure nor work that 
season. ‘The early summer here that year was 
very dry; there was no rain whatever from the 
first of June to the 23d of July, and from the 
2d of August to the 15th of November not a 
drop of rain fell on my place. Yet, during 
all this time, my Alfalfa remained fresh, 
bloomed, and was cut two or three times. On 
the Ist of November I dug some of it to exam- 
ine the habit of root growth, and to my aston- 
ishment found it necessary to go twenty-two 
inches below the surface to reach anything 
like the end of the tap roots. At once it was 
apparent that the plant was, by its very habit 
of growth, adapted to hot and dry climates. 
It is indeed a ‘‘child of the sun.” 
Encouraged by this experiment, in which I 
purposely refrained from giving the Alfalfa 
any care beyond cutting it occasionally, last 
year I proceeded on a larger scale, planting 
both spring and fall, as I have done again this 
year, to ascertain the best season for putting 
in the seed. My experience teaches -that there 
is no preference to be given to spring sowings 
over those of autumn, provided only, there be 
enough moisture in the soil to make the seed 
germinate, which they do more quickly and 
more surely than the best turnips. Two win- 
ters have proved togne that the Alfalfa remains 
Vinita FRIEDHEIM, 
Mobile County, Ala., September 7th, 1878. 
green throughout the winter in this latitude, 
twenty-five miles north of Mobile, and at an 
altitude of 400 feet above tide-water. There- 
fore I should prefer fall sowing, which will 
give the first cutting from the Ist of March 
to the 1st of April following. This season my 
first cutting was made on the Ist of April; and 
| [have cut it since regularly every four or six 
weeks, according to the weather, to cure for 
hay. Meanwhile a portion has been cut al- 
most daily for feeding green, or soiling. Used 
in the latter way (for under no circumstances 
| must it ever be pastured), I am able to give 
my stock fresh, green food, fully four weeks 
_ before the native wild grasses commence to 
| put out. 
I deem it best to cut the day before 
_ what is fed green, in order to let it become 
| stance, from March to November, 
thoroughly wilted before using. After a large 
number of experiments with horses, mules, 
cattle and swine, I can aver that in no in- 
have I 
found a case when any of these animals would 
not give the preference to Alfalfa over every 
kind of grass (also soiled) known in this re- 
gion. And while Alfalfa makes a sweet and 
nutritious hay eagerly eaten by all kinds of 
stock, it is as a forage plant for soiling, which 
is available for at least nine months in the 
_ year, that Lesteem it so highly. The hay is 
— easily cured, if that which is cut in the fore- 
- noon is thrown into small cocks at noon, then 
_ spread out after the dew is off next morning, 
- sunned for an hour, and at once hauled into 
| the barn. 
By this method the leaves do not 
fall off, which is sure to be the caseif the 
Alfalfa is exposed to a day or two of hot sun- 
shine. 
It has been my habit to precede the Alfalfa 
_ with a clean crop—usually Ruta Bagas—after 
_ cotton seed hull ashes per acre. 
which I sow clay peas, to be turned in about 
the last of July. About the middle of Sep- 
tember or later I have the land plowed, the 
turn-plow being followed by a deep subsoil- 
plow or scooter. After this the land is fertil- 
ized and harrowed until it is thoroughly 
pulverized and all lumps broken up. The 
fertilizers employed by me are 500 lbs. fine 
bone-dust (phosphate of lime) and 1000 lbs. 
These ashes 
_ are very rich in potash and phosphates, con- 
taining nearly 45 per cent. of the phosphate 
of lime—the two articles best adapted to the 
wants of this plant. I sow all my Alfalfa with 
the Matthews’ Seed Drill, in rows 10 inches 
