24 
ALFALFA 
THE CELEBRATED ALFALFA PLANT AND ROOT. 
The plant represented in this plate grew in rich, loose soil, with a heavy clay subsoil and an abundant 
supply of water, the water level ranging from 4 to 8 feet from the surface at different seasons of thei year. 
The diameter at the top was 18 inches, and the number of stems 360. The plate shows how these crowns 
gather soil around them, for the length of the underground stems is seen to bei several inches, and this rep¬ 
resents the accumulation of nearly this much material about it. 
This is one of the largest plants that I have yet found. The specimen, as photographed, was dug April 
30, 1896.— Dr. Headden, in Bulletin No. 35 “Alfalfa.” 
this region. Beekeeping is in a very un¬ 
developed state, and thousands of pounds 
of nectar remain ungathered every year. 
In south-central Nebraska, central Kansas, 
and western Oklahoma there were 1,850,- 
000 acres of alfalfa, the densest area in 
