16 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst. 



The Turkestan alfalfa was sown side by side with alfalfa seed from a number 

 of different sources, as follows : Arizona, Colorado, California, Utah, and Kansas. 

 The seed from all sources was sown in rows in well-drained, medium loam. 

 The plants were hand cultivated and hand weeded to give them a good start. 

 The Turkestan variety proved among the least hardy. The plants were seriously 

 affected by a parasitic growth upon the leaves, which appeared to be a rust 

 which seriously weakened them, and at the end of the first winter nearly all 

 were dead. The seed which came from Kansas and Utah gave the best results. — 

 Wm. F. Brooks, Agriculturist. 



FLORIDA. 



State Experiment Station, Lake City. 



A portion of the Turkestan alfalfa seed was sown upon new ground, prepared 

 fur the purpose, but, either through unadaptation to our climate or the exceed- 

 ingly dry weather, it failed to germinate, so we did not succeed in securing any- 

 thing like a satisfactory stand. My impression from so slight a trial is that it 

 is not adapted to the dry soils of Florida, except where irrigation is possible. — 

 H. E. Stockbridge, Agriculturist. 



ILLINOIS. 



State Experiment Station, Urbana. 



The Turkestan alfalfa did not jjrove upon our grounds more hardy than other 

 varieties, and seemed unable to withstand the conditions. — A. D. Shamel, 

 Assistaiit in Agronomy. 



INDIANA. 



State Experiment Station, Lafayette. 



A small area, perhaps one-fortieth of an acre, was seeded to Turkestan alfalfa, 

 with seed obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, in 

 1898. I recall that my former assistant thought this made a better growth than 

 the home-grown alfalfa seed. By some oversight, however, he left no written 

 record concerning it. My present assistant tells me that it did not stand the 

 winter of 1898-99 as well as the home-growai seed, and that it did not conse- 

 quently make as large a growth in 1899. It also seemed to be more affected 

 with some leaf disease. This, however, is common to all alfalfa that we have 

 grown here, the second season. I think it due rather to the dry conditions and 

 the hardpan layer from one and one-half to three feet below the surface of the 

 soil. — W. C. Latta, Agriculturist. 



IOWA. 



State Experiment Station, Ames. \ 



In the spring of 1898 one-quarter of an acre was seeded with Turkestan alfalfa, 

 received from the Department of Agriculture. A similar area was seeded with 

 the common alfalfa, 20 pounds of seed per acre being used in each case. Both 

 crops flourished during the first season, and by fall the ground was completely 

 occupied with plants. In January and February of 1899 the weather was un- 

 usually severe, so much so that clover throughout the State was killed. Not a 

 solitary plant of the common alfalfa lived through the winter, and only about 

 one dozen survived on the Turkestan plot, a stand which we did not consider 

 sufficient to justify its in allowing it to remain. 



This experience would lead us to believe that the Turkestan is slightly more 

 hardy than the common variety, but not sufficiently so to withstand the severe 

 conditions which sometime prevail in this State.— James Atkinson, Assistant 

 in Agriculture. 



KENTUCKY. 



state Experiment Station, Lexington. 



The Samarkand alfalfa seed was planted (three-eighths of a pound to one-eight- 

 ieth of an acre) May 21, 1898. It produced only a fair stand, which, August 21, 

 was six inches high— an even growth, but rather spindling. All through this 

 season it looked weak and unpromising. In 1899 it appeared much stronger. 

 Under date of May 23, 1899, I find the following among my notes: "This plot, 

 started from seed furnished by the Department of Agriculture, is now in excel- 



