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LUCERNE, PURPLE MEDICK

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 98 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LUCERNE, See also:PURPLE MEDICK Or See also:ALFALFA, known botanically as Medicago saliva, a plant of the natural See also:order See also:Leguminosae. In See also:England it is still commonly called " lucerne," but in See also:America " alfalfa," an Arabic See also:term (" the best See also:fodder "), which, owing to its increasing cultivation in the western hemisphere, has come into widening usage since the introduction of the plant by the Spaniards. It is an erect perennial See also:herb with a branched hollow See also:stem 1 to 2 ft. high, trifoliolate leaves, See also:short dense racemes of small yellow, See also:blue or purple See also:flowers, and downy pods coiled two or three times in a loose See also:spiral. It has a characteristic See also:long tap-See also:root, often extending 15 ft. or more into the See also:soil. It is a native of the eastern Mediterranean region, but was introduced into See also:Italy in the 1st See also:century A.D., and has become more widely naturalized in See also:Europe; it occurs See also:wild in hedges and See also:fields in See also:Britain, where it was first cultivated about 165o. It seems to have been taken from See also:Spain to See also:Mexico and See also:South America in the 16th century, but the See also:extension of its cultivation in the Western States of the See also:American See also:Union practically See also:dates from the See also:middle of the 19th century, and in See also:Argentina its development as a See also:staple See also:crop is more See also:recent. It is much cultivated as a See also:forage crop in See also:France and other parts of the See also:continent of Europe, but has not come into such See also:general use in Britain, where, however, it is frequently met with in small patches in districts where the soil is very See also:light, with a dry subsoil. Its thick tap-roots penetrate very deeply into the soil; and, if a See also:good See also:cover is once obtained, the See also:plants will yield abundant cut- tings of herbage for eight or ten years, provided they are properly See also:top-dressed and kept See also:free from perennial weeds. The See also:time to cut it is, as with See also:clover and See also:sainfoin, when it is in See also:early flowtr. In the See also:United States alfalfa has become the staple leguminous forage crop throughout the western See also:half of the See also:country. Some See also:idea of the increase in its cultivation may be obtained from the figures for See also:Kansas, where in 1891 alfalfa was cultivated over 34,384 acres, while in 1907 the number was 743,050. The progress of See also:irrigation has been an important See also:factor in many districts.

The plant requires a well-drained soil (deep and permeable as possible), See also:

rich in See also:lime and reasonably free from weeds. See, for See also:practical directions as to cultivation, Farmers' Bulletin 339 of the U.S. See also:Department of See also:Agriculture, by J. M. Westgate (See also:Washington, See also:December 1908).

End of Article: LUCERNE, PURPLE MEDICK

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