MEDIC. Me lieu go species. Leguminosm. Figs. 67E\ 679.
The one great medic is alfalfa. This plant, once thowtht to be adapted only to semi-arid regions, is now grown extensively in many parts of the humid East, where it is specially valuable to dairymen. In recent years. eastern dairymen have depended on nitrogenous by-products to balance home-grown rations, which consist largely of corn silage and timothy hay. Alfalfa is adapted to saving a part of this expenditure, as is shown by the following table based on analyses and digestion experiments of American Experiment Stations : While alfalfa hay, on account of its bulky char acter, can only be a partial substitute for concen trates from grains or manufactured nitrogenous by-products, it may also on account of its produc tiveness, where successfully grown, be a profitable substitute for other hay crops. Since it is perennial it reduces the labor and care for a given area of land to the minimum.
The medics are plants of the genus Medicago, some fifty in number, some of which are grown for forage. With the exception of alfalfa, which is licclicago saliva, the species are of very secondary agricultural value, and are practically unknown to the farming people of this coun try. Medicago is closely allied to Trifolium (the clovers),from which it is distinguished chiefly by the twisted or coiled pods [see Fig. 274, in the Alfalfa arti cle]. With the exception of one shrubby species, the medics are herbs, annual or perennial, mostly with clover-like habit, rather small leaves of three leaflets, and flow ers purple or yellow in small heads, short spikes or racemes. They are native in Europe, Africa and Asia. Several species have been tried at experiment stations and more or less recommended for special purposes.
S.eds of some species are used as adulterants in other seeds [see page 141]. The best known medic (aside from alfalfa) in this country is the hop or black medic Wed icagn Fig. 675), which looks like a small-headed yellow-flowered creeping clover. It is now a weed in many parts of the country, although not particularly troublesome. It
is said to afford good forage and has been recom mended for special places now and then, but it appears to be of little value as compared with several other plants that thrive under similar conditions. It is an an ti') al wiry pubescent plant, lying close to the ground. Medici! go media is the Sand lucern men tioned on page 193.
A medic that has recently received attention is Snail clover (.lIcilica go turbinata, Fig. 679). It is native in south western Spain, introduced into California as a winter forage plant. The seed starts as soon as the fall rains come, and the plant grows vigorously through the winter and spring. The heavy crop of seeds is ma tured in early summer, after which the plant shrivels up. It volunteers from year to year, so that direct seeding is not necessary after the crop is es tablished. The pods, which are large and smooth, lie on the ground after the plant has withered, and are easily gath ered. If they are allowed to remain, the seeds will germi nate the following fall. The plant gives promise as a for age plant because of its heavy growth ; and its heavy seed production and ready germi nation may make it valuable as a cover-crop and green manure. It thrives on moist land but is somewhat drought resistant. It shows liability to frost injury in some local ities.
Bur-clover is a name applied to two medics, Medicago denliculata and N. maculata. The former is a weed on the Pacific coast, but furnishes much forage in dry summer pas tures. The spotted clover, or southern bur -clover, 11. niaculala, is recom mended for the South, par ticularly for winter pas ture in the sandy soils of the pine-woods regions. Various other medics are mentioned in experiment station and other litera ture, but they are not of sufficient importance to warrant discussion here. The economically import ant species in this country at present, aside from alfalfa, are IL denticulata and IL maeulata.