1916.] WHY GROW ALFALFA? 79 



Nebraska, three strains - - - 23.6 



Kansas, one strain - - - 15.2 



Turkestan, twelve strains - - 27.7 



African, Arabian and Spanish - - 00.0 



The German, Russian, French, and Mexican gave about 15 

 per cent, that survived the winter. The South American and 

 ItaUan strains gave very few plants alive in the spring. But Han- 

 son found sickle alfalfa growing at Yakutsk, where the ther- 

 mometor goes to 83- Fahrenheit below zero. But we must not 

 place too much reUance on power to withstand cold for the 

 Minnesota Station while it found that the Grimm could stand a 

 lower degree of cold, yet 14 strains lost from 15 to 23 per cent. 

 v/hen the thermometor went only to 17'^ Fahrenheit below zero. 

 The Turkestan at Minnesota Station proved very variable in 

 power to withstand Minnesota winters* 



Alfalfa stands the winters better after the first year and the 

 earlier the alfalfa gets started and the stronger it gets started, the 

 better it stands the winters. Heaving is the most dangerous 

 thing in Eastern states and heaving occurs worst the first and 

 second years and in thin rather than thick alfalfa stands. A 

 heavy cover of strawey manure is good to prevent heaving. 



There is great need and little reliable evidence as to what 

 strains can best stand wet weather. In the Eastern states alfalfa 

 suffers severely during wet weather and hence we need to develop 

 strains that can stand our humid climates. 



^Ifalfa Breeding and Seed Selection. — Probably the greatest 

 advancement in alfalfa grov\^ing that is to be made during the 

 next decade or two will be in the seed selection. There has been 

 little alfalfa breeding as the Genetists understands the term. We 

 are some years from the time when we can get pure strains or 

 known hybrids for our alfalfa fields. What we can get are mixed 

 alfalfas that have been taken some years ago to certain places 

 and there propogated until through the survival of the fittest, we 

 have left plants that have lived through winters as rigid as ours 

 and through summ.ers as wet as ours. That is what the Grimm 

 seed means to me. In 1857, Mr. Grimm went to Minnesota, 

 taking with him some alfalfa seed. This he sowed. A number 

 of times his alfalfa v/as killed out but a few plants survived and 

 from these he gathered seed and reseeded his fields. There many 



