134 



RICHARD FROTSCHER'S ALMANAC AND GARIXEN MANUAL 



Transplanting Forks, (Steel) , $0 35 



(Malleable Iron) 20c and 25 



English Bill or Briar Hooks - 1 25 



Lang's Hand Weeder 25 



Toy Spades 40 



Toy Shovels. 50 



Fork Handles 15 



Hoe Handles 10c and 20 



Rake Handles 15 



Spade and Shovel Handles .... 20 



Trowbridge's Grafting Wax per lb. 40c. ; per i lb. 15 



Scotch Whetstones , 20 



American Indian Pond Whetstone 10 



American Berea Whetstone 10 



Darby Creek Whetstone 10 



French Whetstone 15 



Hammer and Anvil for beating French Scythes 1 50 



Raffia, (for tying) per j lb. 10c : per lb., 30 



Having received many enquiries on 

 lowing letter, written by E. M. Hudson. 

 srive information thereon : 



Mr. R. Frotschek, New Orleans, La. 



Dear Sir :— Your letter of the 3d inst. 

 has just reached me, and I cheerfully 

 comply with your request to give you 

 the results of my experiments with 

 Lucerne or Alfalfa, and my opinion of it 

 as a forage plant for the South. 



I preface my statement with the ob- 

 servation that my experiments have 

 been conducted on a naturally poor, 

 piney woods soil (which would be class- 

 ed as a sandy soil, varying in depth 

 from six inches to one foot. But I have 

 good red clay sub-soil, which enables 

 the soil to retain the fertilizers applied 

 to it, thus rendering 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 in- 

 formed me that, after attempting 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 culture of Alfalfa, I reprint the fol- 

 , Esq., a close observer on the subject, to 



Villa Friedheim, 



Mobile County, Ala., September 7th, 1878. 



the matter on a small scale at first. 

 Having procured, some seeds in March, 

 1876, I planted them on a border in my 

 garden, 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 re- 

 mained fresh, bloomed, and was cut two 

 or three times. On the Ist of Novem- 

 ber I dug some of it to examine the 

 habit of root-growth, and to my aston- 

 ishment found it necessary to go 22 

 inches below the surface to reach any- 

 thing like the end of the top roots. At 

 once it vv'as 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 



