water in it only in.mediiitely after rains; it is a "dry branch" as 

 understood in Texas, About 100 different varieties of seeds were 

 received from tlie Division of Agrostology and tbey bave been carofnlly 

 tested, in many cases with satisfactory results. 



SALTBUSHES. 



Seeds of several varieties of saltbusbes were planted, but only a few 

 of them germinated. The plantings were made March 16 and April 18. 

 The seed of Nelson's saltbusb {Atriplex pahularis) came up, but only 

 a few plants were saved. Of iS'uttairs saltbush [Atriplex nvttaUii) 

 only a few vigorous plants were secured. About a dozen weak plants 

 of the shad scale [Atriplex canescens) came up, but they soon died. Of 

 all the varieties of saltbusbes that were tested the annual saltbush 

 from Australia [Atriplex holocarpa) gave the best result. The seeds 

 were planted March 16 and April 18. A number of vigorous plants 

 were secured, but most of them ^ere destroyed in one night by a 

 prairie dog that made its way into the grass garden through a woven ' 

 wire fence. The two plots of saltbush planted were on thin land. 

 The growth was not very vigorous, being only from 12 to 18 inches, but 

 the seed development was surprisingly great. As a drought-resisting ^ 

 plant too much can not be said in its favor. Seed formed and matured 

 in the long, hot, dry summer. Up to December 1 the bushes continued 

 green, but by December 15 the plants were nearly dead. On each of 

 the varieties except the shad scale there were many thousand seeds, 

 and although twice in July and August they were carefully stripped of 

 seed, the ground under each bush is now covered with hundreds of the 

 seeds that have ripened and fallen off". It is said that the saltbush 

 will mature several crops of seeds in a season, and this is not hard to 

 believe considering the results of the tests in the station garden this 

 year. It withstood the utmost extremes of drought. November 1, after | 

 four months of dry weather, with the hot winds which at that season * 

 prevail in this section and in all the western counties of Texas, when 

 nearly everything else in the grass garden Avas showing the effects of 

 the heat and the dry weather, the saltbush appeared nearly as vigorous 

 as it did during the wet weather. The saltbusbes are recommended 

 especially for the sections of Texas in which the soils are impregnated 

 with alkali. The annual saltbush is valuable; it is an excellent forage 

 plant for soibng sheep aud cattle, and horses will eat both the bush 

 and the seed. 



LEGUMES. 

 ALFALFA OR LtTCERN. 



Seeds of alfalfa [Medicar/o sativa) were sown in March, 1808, on the 

 freshly broken sod. A rather thiu stand was secured and when it had 

 grown to about 6 or 10 inches in height, the long dry spell began and 

 checked all further growth; indeed, it gradually dried up on its roots 

 until scarcely a stem of it was to be seen. The following fall and win- ^ 



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