For the Southern States. 05 
The following letter on “Alfalfa” or “Lucerne,” has been written 
by E. M. Hudson, Esq., a gentleman who is a close observer, and has 
given the subject a great deal of attention ; it will be found very in¬ 
structive. 
Villa Friedheim, 
Mobile County , Ala., September 7, ISIS. 
Mr. B. Frotscher, 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 ex¬ 
periments with Lucerne or Alfalfa, and my opinion of it as a forage 
plant of the South. 
I preface 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 I have a 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, 
1 sought the advice of the editor of the Journal of Progress, Professor 
Stellc, who informed me that, after attempting for several years to 
cultivate it, he had desisted. 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, 1 deter¬ 
mined to test the matter on a small scale at first. Having procured 
some seed 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 remained fresh, bloomed, and was cut two or three 
times. On the 1st of November I dug some of it to examine the habit 
of root-growth, and to my astonishment found it necessary to go 2*2 
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 1 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 winters have 
proved to me that the Alfalfa remains green throughout the winter in 
this latitude, 25 miles North of Mobile, and at an altitude of 400 feet 
above tide-water. Therefore I should prefer fall sowing which will 
give the first cutting from the 1st of March to the 1st of April follow¬ 
ing. This season my first cutting was made on the 1st of April ; and 
I have cut it since regularly every four or six weeks, according to the 
