of which it is the capital, is situated on the right bank oi the Potomac, six miles southwest of Washington, D. C. The tidal waters of the Chesapeake, flowing up the Potomac, afford a good and roomy harbor, the river here being a mile wide. It has a number of institutions of learning, among them Potomac, Mt. Vernon and St. Mary's Academies, the Washington High School, and the Theological Seminary and High School of the Diocese of Virginia (Episcopal). The town has several buildings of historic interest, among them being Christ Church where Washington worshipped; the Carlyle House, Braddock's headquarters in 1755; the school of which the first teacher was Washington; the old Town Hall, the first story of which was used by the fire brigade of which Washington was a member, etc. Alexandria has many factories, mills, machine shops and other industries. Population, 15,329.
Alexandrian Library, probably the largest collection of books ever gathered before the invention of printing. It was founded by Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II, of Egypt, and contained books in all languages. It was housed in two buildings, the Museum and the Serapeum. The number of volumes was said to be seven hundred thousand, but this would not amount to as much as a modern library of printed books of the same number, because at that time all books were written, and each part of a book was called a volume. Thus the Iliad, which now makes one volume, was then twenty-four volumes. Students came to this library from all parts of the world to study. When Julius Caesar besieged Alexandria, a large part of the library was burned. Mark Antony, however, presented a new collection to Cleopatra from Pergamus, and the library went on increasing for four centuries, till the Serapeum was destroyed by command of the Emperor Theodosius. The library was again re-established, but was burned a second time, about 640 A. D., when the Arabs conquered the city. The story is told that the Arab caliph, Omar, when asked to preserve the library, said: "If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran, they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed." So they were used to heat the four thousand baths of the city, and such was their number that six month were barely sufficient to use up the precious fuel.
Alexiev, Admiral E. S. Born in Russia in 1844, and educated for the navy. During the Chino-Japanese War in 1897, he was the chief of the eastern fleet; later he was the chief of the Black Sea fleet. In August, 1903, he was appointed viceroy of the Far East with supreme command of the land and naval forces. When the Russo-Japanese War broke out and the Russians met reverses, Alexiev was superseded in command both of the army and navy, and left in charge of the civil administration only. He has been severely censured for either being ignorant of the state of affairs in Japan prior to the war or for concealing his knowledge of the situation from the czar, Nicholas II. Alexiev belongs to the reactionary faction in the Russian government.
Alfalfa, from an Arabic word meaning "the best fodder," the Medicago saliva of botanists, is a forage plant belonging to the botanical family Leguminosæ, of which all clovers, beans and peas are examples. It is known by many other names, of which the most common is lucerne; it is a perennial, with powers of indefinite reproduction from one seeding, and fields of it are claimed to have been continuously productive without reseeding for from one to two hundred years or more. It is a smooth, upright, branching plant, with leaves three parted, arranged alternately, and netted-veined, and produces many stems from one seed or root. Its flowers are purple, and appear in clusters on the stems and branches; its seed-pods are coiled spirally, each containing several seeds, which are kidney-shaped and olive green or bright egg-yellow in color.
Alfalfa is native to Asia, and was familiar to the Egyptians, Medes and Persians, Greeks and the Romans, who distributed it over large portions of southern Europe. Early in the history of the western continent the Spaniards carried alfalfa to South America. It was introduced probably about, 1853 into the United States, in northern California, but attracted no great attention until more recent years. It is the richest forage plant known, and doubtless destined to come into general use in most of the states. In fact it is already grown successfully in greater or less areas in every state in the Union, whereas a few years ago its profitable production was thought possible only in the irrigated valleys of the west, being deemed adapted only to certain conditions found in the so-called semi-arid section; but it is now produced under greatly varying conditions of soils, climate and altitude, and this adaptability gives its growing a wide range. There are but two soil conditions that seem reliably against the successful growth of alfalfa: one is a soil generally wet, the other is too much soil acidity. The latter may be remedied by applications of lime, the other requires drainage. Alfalfa is exceedingly rich in protein, the property in which corn and most other crops are deficient, and hence its hay serves admirably to balance the feeding ration, saving the purchase of high-priced feeds, such as bran, for instance, which, pound for pound, it approximates in value. Its great value to the husbandmen may be further appreciated by the fact that
