6 



Farmers to the number of 1,713 in all parts of the United States 

 have complied with the request for a report as to their success or 

 failure with these seeds. We desire here to acknowledge and to thank 

 all those kindly filling out the blanks forwarded to them, thus making 

 possible the production of this report. 



This distribution does not include large consignments of grass and 

 forage plant seeds sent to our special agents at Walla Walla, Wash., 

 Abilene, Tex., and Highmore, S. Dak. The detailed reports from 

 these stations on the results obtained are published in Circulars 21, 22, 

 and 23 of the Division of Agrostology. 



SEED DISTRIBUTION TO VOLUNTEER EXPERIMENTERS. 



Trials of new grasses and forage plants are necessary that ranchers 

 and farmers in all parts of the country may determine their suitability 

 each for his own district. After selection of the promising varieties 

 has been made they can be grown on a larger scale and tinall}- adopted 

 without the useless expenditure of time, money, and labor often attend- 

 ing attempts to grow new forage crops. This introduction of new 

 grasses and the improvement of those already in cultivation is very 

 necessary and important. Many of the ranges have been overstocked 

 and require renewing, and it is a serious question as to what are the 

 best grasses with which to reseed them. 



Experiments, to be properly carried on, must receive careful atten- 

 tion; occasional examinations of the plats must be made and the rate 

 of growth and progress carefully noted, so that at the close of the 

 season one can select the varieties that are worthy and suitable for 

 the locality. 



During the last three fiscal years 5,120 packages of grass and forage 

 plant seeds, including 251 different varieties, have been distributed by 

 this Division to volunteer experimenters throughout the United States. 

 Table I indicates the variety and the number of packages distributed 

 during the fiscal years 1896-97, 1897-98, 1898-99. 



Some of the varieties which have been distributed extensively are 

 Turkestan alfalfa, blue grama, bur clover, dwarf Essex rape, hairy 

 vetch, Japanese barnyard millet, meadow fescue, Metcalfe bean, Rus- 

 sian red clover, rescue grass, Rhode Island bent grass, shad scale, 

 smooth brome grass, slender wheat grass, side oats grama, soy beans, 

 sorghum, sulla, velvet bean, Virginia lyme grass. The seed is obtained 

 for the Division mainly through special agents, who go out into the 

 field during the summer months and collect the seed of those native 

 varieties which by their habit of growth and general appearance seem 

 likely to prove valuable under cultivation. A considerable quantity 

 of seed is also grown at the experiment stations at Walla Walla and 

 Yakima, Wash., and large quantities of a few varieties from foreign 



