The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1906-12-22


| But 1T was not along the line of
! geographical progress mentioned that
alfalfa came to us as an agricultural
/ conqueror. The word alfalfa is OF
Arabic origin. The plant was well
known and highly priced by the
Arabs, and when the Moors overran
! Spain they found it growing there,
| one of the many relics of Roman oc-
| cupation. 1t was not, however. an
| important product OF Spain at that
! time. Perhaps it never had been. At
any rate, the Moors gave it a new life
an dto the Spaniards a new name.
name that lived after the expulsion
of the Moors centuries afterward
1t was from Spain that we got alfalfa,
but in a curiously roundabout way.
1t was carried into Mexico by the
Spanish conquistadores, and thence
down the South American coast to
Chile. Here it found the soil and
climate best suited to its growth, and
here of ali the Spanish American
countries it reached its greatest per-
lection and greatest extent of cult
walton.
Up the Pacific Coast.
It's long jump from Chill to Cali
fornia, but that is the route by which
alfalfa reached the West 1t was in
troduced into that most Western
state about the year 1854 and made
rapid progress locally, but did not
cross the mountains until Brigham
Young heard of it, recognized its val
tie, and made it one of the greatest
factors nj the success of his colony.
1t was long years after that, though.
before alfalfa came into its own in
the Western states generally. 1t was
not until the successive drouths in
western Kansas and Nebraska and
eastern Colorado ruined the settlers
! in that semi-arid RECON and exploded
the theory that rainfall advanced with
soil cultivation, that farmers began
to look around for plants that would
grow and produce marketable crops
with less water than was required for
wheat and corn. Alfalfa, from the
nature of its growth, seemed to prom |
Use the best results, and it was expert |
mentally tried ir army places in the
semi-arid belt East of the Rockies. |
For a time it looked as though alfalfa |
had solved the problem, and many |
enthusiasts predicted that alfalfa |
afl
tillable land between the Missouri |
and the mountains. But that Was
mainly because the ensuing seasons
were especially favorable. Longer
experience proved that alfalfa was
not to be the salvation of the semi
arid and non-irrigable lands of the
West II was found that 1t not only
required water. but much water, and
while the extraordinary depths to
which its roots reached enabled it to
obtain moisture inaccessible to other
plants. and thereby retain a SEM
blance Of life under conditions which
would destroy corn and wheat, it !
could not be made a profitable crop
under such conditions. But these
experiments served to introduce al
falfa to lands more favored by nature,
lands capable OF irrigation or which
Law within the zone of sufficient an
nual rainfall. and here its wonderful
value was at once proven, and its cul
tivation spread with wonderful rap
idity. 1t soon became a common pro-
duct in central and eastern Kansas,
in Oklahoma and Texas and thence
Irrigation Best For 1t.
Alfalfa. however. reaches its great
est glory under irrigation and in the
semiarid but irrigable portions OF the
great Southwest it has done more
than any other plant to make the des-
ert- truly blossom Wherever there
| is an irrigation ditch and little or no
rainfall there alfalfa groks most lux
uriantly. for it loves water and sun
shine. But it must have its wcter in
regular doses. applied to the roots,
as it is under irrigation. A succession
OF heavy rams or protracted period
Of wet weather, such as often occurs
in most Eastern states, is very likely
10 kill the plant Indeed. flooding
the field is the most favored method
OF killing it when It's eradication IS
desired That IS why alfalfa will
never be as popular in the East as IN
the West. yet such is its value as for
age crop that its cultivation has al
ready extended to the Atlantic coast.
1t IS not difficult 10 understand why
alfalfa sho,lld have taken such
prominent place in the agriculture OF
the West Its virtues are so many
sidede it is indeed difficult to see how
:. L o..-or;ea XNb;fa II take