B. P. I.— 508. 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED DURING THE 

 PERIOD FROM JANUARY I TO MARCH 31, 1909: 

 INVENTORY NO. 18; NOS. 21130 TO 25191. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



The eighteenth inventory, including' 701 numbers, comprises the 

 period between January 1 and March 31, 1909, and contains the col- 

 lections of only one agricultural explorer, Prof. N. E. Hansen, of 

 South Dakota, whose eight months 7 trip into central Asia was made 

 primarily to secure sufficiently large quantities of the seed of three 

 wild Medicagos to enable extensive experiments to be carried out in 

 the Northwest in testing their hardiness. 



These three species, which Professor Hansen believes are going to 

 prove valuable additions to the forage-crop resources of the North- 

 west, are as follows: No. 24451, Medicago ruthenica, from Charonte, 

 Mongolia, an arm of the Gobi Desert, where the temperature drops 

 to the freezing point of mercury at times when there is little snow 

 on the ground and where in summer the temperature goes above 

 100° F. This species is a wild forage plant growing in the sandy 

 region of eastern Siberia and may be of value either as a cultivated 

 plant like alfalfa or, if allowed to run wild on the ranges, may become 

 a valuable hardy forage legume. No. 24452, Medicago falcata , from 

 Obb, in the Tomsk Province, a long-lived legume of the open steppes, 

 is upright enough to be mown by a mowing machine; will withstand 

 extremes of drought and cold, and is so promising in its own home 

 as to have attracted the attention of the Russian agricultural experi- 

 menters as worthy of domestication and also as being of distinct 

 value as a wild pasture plant in western Siberia. Professor Hansen 

 emphasizes its value for all regions in this country where the common 

 alfalfa is often winterkilled, but does not maintain tha£ in regions 

 where any of the true alfalfa strains can be grown successfully it is 

 likely to prove superior. No. 24457, Medicago platycarpa, from 

 Chylim, in the Tomsk Province, is a wild legume found in timber 

 clearings and along the edges of forests of central Siberia. This is 

 not a drought-resistant form, but perhaps rather a moist-region 

 plant worthy of trial in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Owing 

 to the immense value of any plant which may take the place of 

 alfalfa in regions where this remarkable crop can not be grown, these 

 new Siberian alfalfas are receiving the special attention of the forage- 



162 7 



