REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XXXI 



relation to foreign and American clover seed. Bermuda grass is one 

 of the most valuable grasses known in the Southern States. It has 

 been very difficult, however, to get a good stand from seed, and South- 

 ern farmers in starting a field of this grass have been compelled to go 

 through the laborious process of setting out roots. Tested Bermuda 

 grass seed sent out from the Department last j^ear was reported a 

 failure by experimenters in the South. Seed showing the same test 

 was sowed on the flats under varying conditions, and a remarkable 

 stand has been secured. It appears from this year's trials that for 

 good results the seed of Bermuda grass must be sowed at such a sea- 

 son as to insure surface moisture for a period of several weeks during 

 the time of germination and early growth. This points to the prac- 

 tice of fall or winter sowing in the Southern States. If further 

 experimentation shall confirm this preliminary conclusion, the result 

 will be a large saving to Southern farmers and a wide extension of the 

 use of this valuable grass. 



On the subject of red clover seed there has been an active contro 

 versy in Europe, particularly on the Continent. In some years this 

 seed is exported in enormous quantities from the United States, the 

 value of the export in a single year having reached the sum of nearly 

 15,000,000. Upon the allegation that American clover seed contained 

 a large percentage of weed seeds a careful investigation of this point 

 was made, which showed that such a position was untenable. This is 

 now conceded by man}" of the European seed-control stations. Next 

 the allegation was made that the American clovers produced a crop 

 different and inferior in character from that of the European clover. 

 On this point different seed-control stations of Europe have taken 

 opposite sides. The Department has also interested itself in the sub- 

 ject, and last year secured many authentic samples of European-grown 

 and American-grown clover seed. The comparative tests of these on 

 the Potomac Flats strongly indicate that, whatever may be the ulti- 

 mate result of the European investigation in regard to the relative 

 merits of red clovers for cultivation on that Continent, so far as the 

 clover-growing parts of the United States are concerned. American 

 seeds are decidedly the more valuable. This is likely to have an 

 important bearing on the clover-seed market in years of shortage of 

 the American crop, when clover seed is sometimes imported from 

 abroad. 



SECTION OF SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION. 



The Section of Seed and Plant Introduction was instituted to bring 

 into this country for experimental purposes any foreign seeds and 

 plants which might give promise of increasing the value and variet}'^ 

 of our agricultural resources. So far, its work has been eminently 

 satisfactory, and, in the fuller development of its results, there is 



