ALFALFA. 
The perennial plant known and called alfalfa by the 
Spanish, and by the French, lucerne, has been grown ex¬ 
tensively and for many years in the Southwest under the 
name of Chilian, or California clover. 
Its botanical name, Medicago sativa, from the Greek, 
Medike , is derived from that language, meaning fodder 
plant. It was known by the Greeks and Romans 2,300 
years ago, and was used as a forage long before the 
Christian era. 
Columella, Virgil and Cato speak of it in their writ¬ 
ings. When the Roman Empire flourished it furnished 
food for the war horse. Grecian cattle cropped it upon the 
hillsides, and the Spanish cavalier fed his horse upon it. 
The Romans brought it from Media 470 B. C., hence its 
generic name. 
It was introduced into Mexico in the time of the Con¬ 
quest; thence into South America, and from Chili into 
California in 1854, where it has been grown more suc¬ 
cessfully and in greater quantities than elsewhere. It 
found its way into Colorado early in the sixties, having 
been raised for the first time in the State in the Platte val¬ 
ley, near Denver. 
It flourishes at all altitudes below 7,000 feet, and in all 
soils that will produce other good crops. Sandy and clay 
loams are best adapted to its habits. Soils underlaid with 
shale, or hard pan, are not conducive to its successful 
growth, inasmuch as the roots of the plant must penetrate 
the sub-soil until they find moisture. Where surface 
drainage is good, and the land not too wet or too alkaline. 
