ALFALFA BREEDING FOE DROUGHT RESISTANCE. 



17 



COMPARATIVE YIELDS ^ OF THE DIFFERENT STRAINS AND PROGENIES. 



Table I. — Uniformity and seed yield of plants of alfalfa grown in progeny rows at Belle- 



fourche, S. Dak., in 1909. 



The results given in Table I were obtained from a large number of 

 plants. Where the progeny occupied two rows of the breeding 

 nursery the number of plants harvested in the bulk lot exceeded 100. 

 Where the progeny occupied one row the number of plants usually 

 exceeded 50, but where less than a row was planted the report shows 

 the yield of only 20 to 50 plants. Yields estimated on more than 

 50 plants should represent fairly the producing power of the progeny 

 under this system of planting. Column 3 of Table I shows the per- 

 centage of plants of uniform type in the progeny row, leaving out of 

 consideration the inferior plants which were discarded early in the 

 season. 



The dry weight of the plants and the seed yield have been reduced 

 to an average per plant so as to afford a comparison of the producing 



a The yields obtained in the breeding nursery, where each plant has much more 

 space than in ordinary field culture, do not necessarily indicate that under field 

 conditions the different strains will be found to occupy the same relation to each 

 other in comparative yielding power. 

 58575°— Bui. 196—10 3 



