DIVISION OF FORAGE PLANTS 885 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



em Europe and northern Asia. Consequently it is naturally adapted to severe winters 

 and is able to withstand, successfully, most adverse conditions. Now, the variegated 

 alfalfas having inherited the cold resistant powers of yellow lucerne they are much 

 hardier than ordinary alfalfa, and consequently better adapted to those parts of Can- 

 aria where hardiness is essential. 



On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that variegated alfalfas are somewhat 

 inferior to ordinary alfalfa as regards yielding capacity and feeding value. This 

 inferiority is due to the infusion of yellow lucerne which, is inferior to ordinary 

 alfalfa in the respects just mentioned. 



Yellow lucerne is generally rather prostrate in habit, often trailing flat on the 

 ground. Its stems are more wiry in character and show a tendency to become rather 

 woody. These characteristics which make the hay of the yellow lucerne coarse and 

 unpalatable to stock, have been partially inherited by the variegated alfalfas. Conse- 

 quently the latter varieties, including Grimm's alfalfa and Ontario variegated, are 

 inferior in feeding value to ordinary alfalfa. 



Breeding New Varieties. — Realizing this, the Division of Forage Plants has taken 

 steps toward the production of new varieties, possessing the hardiness of variegated 

 alfalfa and the feeding value of ordinary alfalfa. 



There are two main roads leading to the production of new varieties, combining 

 the above characters, viz. ; breeding from variegated alfalfa and breeding from ordinary 

 alfalfa. 



Breeding from variegated alfalfa. — Being a cross between two species, variegated 

 alfalfa is naturally not a uniform " variety," but consists of a mixture of a very great 

 number of different forms in which the characters of ordinary alfalfa and yellow 

 lucerne are combined in thousands of different ways. The practically unlimited 

 number of forms which thus result from the crossing are all more or less diiferent. 

 Most of them, however, possess the hardiness of the yellow lucerne. But, on the other 

 hand, they have also inherited, more or less markedly, such characters from the yellow 

 lucerne as make the latter inferior to the ordinary alfalfa. 



A few forms, however, can be singled out which have inherited the best characters 

 from both of the parents, i.e., hardiness from yellow lucerne and high yielding power 

 and feeding value from ordinaiy alfalfa. From such forms the Division of Forage 

 Plants is endeavouring 1k) raise new varieties. 



In order to secure such varieties of a known pedigree over one hundred crosses were 

 made between flowers or ordinary alfalfa and yellow lucerne. The seed pro-duced from 

 those crossings will be used for the raising of new uniform varieties. 



Breeding from ordinary alfalfa. — At present, there do not exist any pure uniform 

 strains or varieties of alfalfa. Even such fields of ordinaiy alfalfa as seem to be fairly 

 uniform as to general appearance, prove, upon closer examination, to be composed of a 

 great number of different types. All so-called "varieties" are in reality mixtures of 

 hundreds or even thousands of different types having more or less striking differenti- 

 ating characters. These types differ not only in external characters, such as height, 

 branching, number of stalks to the root, leafiness, colour of flower, etc., but also as to 

 biological properties, such as hardiness, earliness, etc. 



All these characters are hereditary, i.e., they can be transmitted from a mother 

 plant to its progeny. 



The mere fact that, in ordinary- alfalfa, there exist types having difterent ability 

 to withstand severe winter conditions and that the different degrees of hardiness arc 

 hereditarily transmissible, makes it evident that, out of ordinary alfalfa, varieties 

 possessing different degrees of hardiness can be produced. 



Taken in bulk, ordinary alfalfa in many cases proves insufficiently hardy, which 

 quality manifests itself in total or partial winter-killing of the same. Its hardiness 



Ottawa. 



