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Show CULTIVATION OF ALFALFA- EXTEKIENCE OF GOV. FURNAS. Governor Furnas has addressed a letter, of which the following is a copy, to tho land commissioner of the B. fc M. R. R. on the cultivation of alfalfa: BROWNViLLK, Neb., May 4, 1875. In compliance with your request, I give you "what I know" in relation to the alfalfa grass plant I have cultivated it fur a number of years in this state, a portion of the time as an ornamental border plant, and aUo as a forage crop. It is perfectly hardy, continues green longer in the tad, and comes'earlier in spring, than any Other grass. Last fall it was green and fresh until Christmas, and after. At present writing it is from four to six inches high really could be cut for soiling purposes. Sjme seed sown last year, dry and unfavorable as was the season, shows roots this spring, thirty ( six inches straight down into the soil! Its treatment as a crop is somewhat more ditlieult than other clovers the first season. The soil should be well subdued and thoroughly prepared, deeply sub soiled and mellowed. It will not, iu my opinion, succeed well on thin soils. But in permeable loam, f sand or gravel, it will luxuriate most extravagantly and give great satisfac-l satisfac-l tion. It ought to be sown early iu the t spring, and with oats or spring wheat, , in order to shade and protect the young plants which are quite fragile 1 the first eeason, or rather the first - part of it. Prof. Flint, m his boot --(.irasses and Forage Plants," says of the alfalfa, that it is of the "leguminous plants ot tho genus Medicayo; and I has been known and cultivated from timo immemorial; was brought trom Media to Greece in tho time ol Darius, about five hundred years before Christ, and ils cultivation afterward extended among the Romans, aud through them to the south o( France, where it has ever since continued to bo a favorite, favor-ite, forage plant." 1 first knew it under the name of "French clover," and as such it was cultivated as an ornamental orna-mental bonier plant, growing four or nTe feet high, with a beautiful flower. Prof. Flint's work was published in 1SG7. Of its durability, he says: "I have seen fine specimens of it when the seed was sown in 1S24. It seads down its top roots to an enormous depth in mellow soil, having been found thirteen feet in length." As to the effect upon the soil, he further says: "Notwithstanding the largo quantity quan-tity of succulent and nutritious forage it produces, its effect is to ameliorate and improve the soil, rather than exhaust ex-haust it. This apparent anomaly is explained by the fact that all leguminous, legumi-nous, broad-leaved plants derive a large proportion of their nutritive materials from the atmosphere, and that a vast quantity of roots is left to decay in the soil when at last broken up, while the luxuriant foliage seems to shade the soil and thus increase its . fertility. The grasa should be cut as soon as it begins to flower, and can be cut three or four times in one year. There is no grass perhaps, in cultivation, that yields as much nutritious food, either for toiling, Lay or pasture. I , have no hesitancy in advancing the 1 opinion that it is a most valuable ac-; ac-; quisition to our crop interests, and will, in a very short time, be with us, what it is now in California and Utah, ' of incalculable value. ' You have done a good work in distributing dis-tributing the scul this year, and ' should double your efforts in that ' direction another season. ! Very truly yours, liOHT. W. FfRNAS. |