ALFALFA, 



A Correspondent, Mr. C. P. Nosworthy, writes as follows : — 



" I am glad to see that in Bulletin No. 41 you are advocating the cultivation of Alfalfa, and am 

 only surprised that it has not been introduced before, for it is a most wonderful forage. It would be the 

 very thing for Vere and other dry parishes. 



Before I came to Jamaica 25 years ago I spent some time in the Argentine provinces, not far from 

 Cordova, amongst a colony of Scotchmen who are amongst the best Farmers. 



It was a vast prairie very like Vere but no Trees and ten or twenty times larger, subject to extreme 

 drought but Wells required to be only ten or twelve feet deep to get a supply of water. 



Every Farmer cultivated two or three acres of Alfalfa, just in the same way that you recommend, and 

 while all the grass perished, Alfalfa was the only thing that kept the stock alive or had any nourishment. 

 It gave continual cuttings of three or four feet high and three or four times a year, requiring no iiTigation 

 and lasting 30 or 40 years, sending down enormous tap roots. It is a forage plant that nearly all Spaniards 

 grow." 



He also sends the following extracts from a Califomian Newspaper : — 



" Of forage plants California farmers will be able to, and undoubtedly will, make a showing imique in 

 many features. While other sections than this produce Alfalfa, it is to be doubted whether any can 

 make a more remarkable showing in the growth of that plant. Exhibits have been prepared showing the 

 product of eight consecutive cuttings from the same field in one season and aggregating a growth of forty 

 feet or more yielding at the rate of two or thi-ee tons to the acre at each cutting. Facts will be presented 

 showing that a single acre of this extraordinaiy grass will keep from three to four head of horses or cows 

 the year round, and from fifteen to twenty head of sheep or hogs. The wild grasses will not be neglected 

 either, and alfileria and burr clover will be shown, with their peculiar qualities of self-curing into the most 

 nutritious hay." .... 



" One of the great incentives and aids to the cattle industry, and one that has practically worked a 

 revolution in the old methods, is found in the cultivation of Alfalfa. Less than twenty years a go 

 the occurrence of a dry se;ison and the con sequontly limited amount of natural grasses necessitated in 

 many cases the cutting of trees by wliolesale in order that the starving animals might prolong their lives 

 by browsing upon the leaves and twigs. Even this poor resoit, however, failed and thousands perished 

 from starvation. This led to experiment being made in the cultivation of forage plants of various kinds, 

 and finally Alfalfa was hit upon as the best adapted to this climate and admirably fitted for stock of all 

 kinds. liarge areas were planted and great stacks of hay put up each season, to be fed out during the 

 winter months or at times when the natural grasses were short. Range cattle from other parts of the 

 State and from adjacent States and Territories, after reaching the limit of growth possible on wild feed, 

 are brought to these Alfiilfa regions jiiifl a few weeks' feeding ou a mixture of hay and fresh grass puts 

 them in good condition for the market." 



FERNS : SYNOPTICAL LIST.— XVIII. 



Synoptical List, with description, of the Ferns and Fern- Allies of Jamaica hy G. S. Jenman, Superin- 

 tendent Botanical Gardens, Demerara, (continued from Bulletin No. 42.) 



Tribe VII. Lomariece. 



Sori marginal, medial or subcostal, linear or oblong, inmning transverse with the veins ; involucres 

 exteriorly attached, iuflexed or involute, free on the innerside, membranous or coriaceous, permanent or 

 deciduous ; fertile and sterile fronds uniform or distinct and different in form. 



18. Lomaria. — Fronds of two kinds, sori marginal. 



19. Blechmmi — Fronds of one kind, sori nearer the midrib than margin. 



This tribe is rei)resented in all situations from the lowest to the highest altitudes. 



Genus XVIII. Lnmnria. Willd. Sori marginal, linear and continuous, filling when mature the 

 whole s])ace between the margin and midrib of the contracted pinna) ; involucres the same shape, con- 

 tinuous, iuflexed or involute, the opposite valves connivent at first on the back of the costae, at length 

 open ; receptacles formed of the transverse luiion of the otherwise free veins ; fi'onds dimorphous, pinnate, 

 coriaceous. The members of this genus ai-e homogeneous in character of leaf, though they vary much in 

 habit of growth. Most have creeping root stocks, some occupying trees, others the groimd, one has a 

 large stout iqiright trunk, and one, not represented in Jamaica, is twining, as in one species of the next 

 genus, Bleclimtm. They are confined in range to the cool moimtain regions. At first sight the line of 

 sori seems as much costal as marginal, but close examination reveals the receptacle as really marginal, 

 though the matured sporangia fill the entire dish on each side the costae. 



a. Rootstock freely repent ; fronds essentially or fully pinnate ; pinnae broadly adnate. — Epiphytal. 



b. Veins immersed, depressed beneath. 



1. L. onocleoides, Spreng. 



2. L. attitnuatn, Willd. 

 hh. Veins raised on both sides. 



■\. L. F/'cii, Jemn. 



««. llootstock elongated, erect or decumbent ; fionds essentially or fully pinnate ; pinnae fuUy ad- 

 nate. — Terrestrial. 



4. L. L' Jlerminieri, Bory. 



5. L. Plumieri, Dcsv. 



aaa. Rootstock stout, erect or decumbent ; fronds pinnate ; pinnaD free at the'base. — Terrestrial. 

 G. L. procera, Spreng. 

 7. L. Bory ana, Willd. 



