Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also alfalfa beard) a beard; whiskers.

1895		Kansas City Dly Jrnl (MO) 17 Jan. 3/1: He referred to Colonel Stowe who [...] had an alfalfa beard on his chin.
1900		J.I. Markey From Iowa to the Philippines 130: Brother Moulton is also out in full ‘alfalfa.’.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 135: Who can grow whiskers most like Jawn Shoebrush Kern? This beautiful patch of alfalfa is considered the most artistic chin decoration at large.
[1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 July 2nd sect. 11/7: One night a grass-whiskered old farmer from the York district came lumbering down the stairs of the Globe Hotel].
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 53: Sort of a cross between Father Time and Santa Claus, he looks like, with his bumper crop of white alfalfa.
1917		Albuquerue Morn. Jrnl (NM) 19 Sept. 8/4: I swear by my uncle’s alfalfa beard.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 5: alfalfa – whiskers.

2. the countryside (as opposed to the town/city).

1906		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 8 Dec. 10: Me back to the alfalfa.
1911		‘Sing Sing No. 57,700’ My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 21 May 7/5: The gentleman from the alfalfa is a winner and game to the backbone.
1937		‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XII:4 Dec. 320/2: These facetious names [for small towns] sometimes bear a resemblance: [...] ‘Center’ is popular, joined with ‘Alfalfa,’ ‘Sagebrush,’ ‘Pumpkin,’ ‘Hayseed,’ and ‘Skunk.’.

3. a bed [f. the mattress stuffing].

1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 48: Instead of sitting 8 Feet away from an Imported Orchestra at 2 A. M. [...] he began to prefer to take a 10-Grain Sleeping Powder and fall back in the Alfalfa.
1917		A. Baer At Wrestling 22 Dec. [synd. col.] When a guy is pouinding his ear in the old alfalfa.
1920		A. Baer ‘Bugs’ Baer 9 Dec. [synd. col.] Compelling us to pop out of the alfalfa at 6 a.m.

4. money.

1917		in R. Peyton At Track 136: I bites [...] Goldfinger’s alfalfa stack fer twenty-one iron men.
1943		Baker ‘Influence of American Sl. on Australia’ in AS XVIII:4 255: American alfalfa is Australian lucerne.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

5. tobacco.

1907		J. London Road 32: I might as well quit the game and get a job on an alfalfa farm somewhere.
1911		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 Days 80: He [...] felt for tobacco and papers. As he finished pouring the chopped alfalfa into the paper he glanced up.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1940		‘Smokers’ Sl.’ in AS XV:3 Oct. 335/2: Tobacco is [...] hay, alfalfa, corn-shucks, coffee, cabbage, or rope.

6. dried spinach or other dehydrated vegetables.

1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 513: I’ll take your estimate for all the alfalfa you can raise on it.
1920		(con. WWI) W.R. Skillman A.E.F. 169: Alfalfa. Hydrated vegetables [HDAS].
1950		Western Folklore IX 158: Alfalfa. Dried spinach .

7. nonsense, rubbish.

1937		C. Odets Golden Boy I v: All other remarks are just so much alfalfa.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Neat Strip’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 609: She requests Rube to kindly omit the alfalfa and give her a job.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 49: Knock off that daddy-mama alfalfa [...] It’s beginning to give me the meeyams!

8. (US black) marijuana.

1995

L. Stavsky et al. A2Z.