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Lucerne and Trefoil Seed. 



[may, 



LUCERNE AND TREFOIL SEED. 



Lucerne {Medicago sativa), also called alfalfa or purple medick, 

 was known and esteemed as a forage crop in Eastern and 

 Southern Europe many years before the beginning of the 

 Christian era. It was introduced from Persia into Greece and 

 Italy, and the cultivation of this useful fodder plant spread 

 throughout Southern Europe into Spain, and thence into France. 

 It was long supposed by various authorities that the name 

 " lucerne " was derived from the town of Lucerne, in Switzer- 

 land, but it is now believed that this is not so, and in the opinion 



Fig. I. — Lucerne Seed {Medicago sativa) (magnified six diameters). 



of some the name is rather a corruption of the old Spanish term 

 user das, which gives rise to the name laouzerdo used in the 

 South of France, and from this the name of lucerne is derived. 

 The other name, " alfalfa," is of Arabian origin, and by this 

 name the plant was commonly known in Spain, and was thus 

 introduced by the Spaniards into South America. 



Lucerne is an erect-growing, branching, deep-rooted perennial, 

 and was first cultivated as a field crop in this country about the 

 year 1760. In the warmer, dryer districts of England, and in 

 soils suited to its growth, lucerne takes high rank as a soiling 

 crop, but even under such circumstances it has been insuffi- 

 ciently appreciated, doubtless owing to its somewhat peculiar 

 demands upon soil and climate. 



