Circular No. 35.— (Agros. 08.) 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



DIVISION OF AGROSTOLOGY. 



[Grass and Forage Plant Investigations.] 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Agrostology, 

 Washington, D. C, April 9, 1900. 



Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith and recommend for publication as 



a circular of this Division the information now in hand relative to the Turkestan 



alfalfa, imported and distributed by you in 1898 and 1899. 



Respectfully, 



F. Lamson-Scribner, 



Hon. James Wilson, Agrostologist. 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



TURKESTAX ALFALFA. 



{Medicago sativa var. Turkestanica. ) 



This variety of alfalfa v^as secured from Russian Turkestan by- 

 Prof. N. E. Hansen while engaged as special agent of this Depart- 

 ment in 1898. The localities from which the seed was collected rep- 

 resent a wide range of climatic conditions, as follows : Inventory No. 

 469, from the Turkestan Agricultural Society, Turkestan ; 079, from 

 Bokhara; 991 and 1101, from Tashkend; 999, from Uralsk Agricul- 

 tural School; 1150 and 1151, from Djarkent; 1109, from Merke; 1295, 

 from Samarkand — all in Turkestan, and 1159, from Kopal, Siberia. 



THE CLIMATE OF TURKESTAN.^ 



Russian Turkestan is about two-fifths as large as the United States, 

 with a population of 3,000,000, and yet for the most part it is a vast 

 tract of country consisting of either steppes or marshlands. A con- 

 siderable portion of the country is not adapted to settled agriculture ; 

 so that the inhabitants are mainly employed in cattle raising. The 

 climate of Turkestan, far removed as it is from the ocean and closed 

 in on nearly every side by wide stretches of dry land, is not unlike 

 that of many of our interior States. The summers are very hot, 

 cloudless, dry and long, lasting from five to five and one-half months ; 

 the autumns and springs are mild and rainy, and the winters usually 



' The Industries of Russia, 3 ; 444, 1893. 



