38 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



on the habitats, ecological relations, and time of flowering of 34 uncultivated 

 grasses. 



Culture of meadows on moor soils, jNI. Ohiime (Wiesenhau auf Moorbodcn. 

 Berlin, .1013, 3. ed., pp. //8, figs. 9). — This book treats of the possibilities of both 

 high and low moorlands, and includes discussions on regulating the ground 

 water, the preparation of the seed bed, fertilizers, seeding, and management. 



Moisture as a factor of error in determining forage yields, R. McKee 

 (Jour. Amcr. Soc. Agron., 6 (IDl'i), Ao. 3, pp. 113-111). — From work done in 

 1911, 1912, and 1913 on varieties of alfalfa at Chico, Cal., the author concludes 

 that available data relative to forage yields can be made more accurate by de- 

 termining both water-free substance and air-dry matter from at least a 2-lb. 

 sample from the field-cured crop. 



Commercial Turkestan alfalfa seed, E. Beown (JJ. 8. Dept. Agr. Bui. 138 

 (1914), pp. 7, fig. 1). — Following a review of European and American literature 

 on results of experimental work with alfalfa from various localities, the author 

 concludes that although Russian Turkestan produces the largest supply of 

 alfalfa seed for export, and supplies practically all of the imported seed in 

 this country, being distributed into international trade through Germany, chiefly 

 through the port of Hamburg, it " has given uniformly poor results wherever 

 tested in Europe, and none of the tests of commercial Turkestan seed in this 

 country has given as good yields as were obtained from local seed. . . . 



" Commercial Turkestan is the cheapest alfalfa seed in the European market, 

 and its wholesale price in this country is less than that of domestic-grown seed. 

 The retail price of Turkestan alfalfa seed in this country is usually higher than 

 that of domestic seed ; consequently, the seedsman's profit on it is greater than 

 on domestic seed. 



" Commercial Turkestan alfalfa is particularly unsuited to tlie humid east- 

 ern portion of the United States, while it is not as hardy as other strains in 

 the North and everyAvhere recovers slowly after cutting, thus reducing the hay 

 j'ield. It is relatively short lived and is a poor seed producer. 



" Russian knapw^eed, a weed similar in manner of growth to quack grass, 

 Johnson grass, and the Canada thistle, is constantly being introduced in Turkes- 

 tan alfalfa seed, and by the presence of this weed seed commercial Turkestan 

 seed may be easily identified." 



A bibliography of 12 titles is appended. 



Some distinctions in our cultivated barleys with reference to their use 

 in plant breeding, H. V. Harlan (V. S. Dept. Agr. Bid. 137 {19U), PP- 38, 

 figs. 16). — In order to facilitate his work of breeding barley the author found 

 it necessary to study more minutely the characters of barley, and so to increase 

 the efficiency of the nursery by elimination. " The data upon which the con- 

 clusions are based consist of some 200,000 recoi-ded observations extending 

 over a period of five seasons and embracing experiments at St. Paul, Minn., 

 Williston and Dickinson, N. Dak.. Highmore, S. Dak., Moccasin, Mont., Aber- 

 deen and Gooding, Idaho, and Chico. Cal. Of the work done at these points, 

 that at St. Paul, Minn., which was conducted in cooperation with the state ex- 

 periment station, was the most extensive." 



The following summary of conclusions covers the characters studied and ex- 

 presses their value to the plant breeder : " Strains are often shown to be dis- 

 tinct in early growth by their rate of development. All barleys rush through 

 the early stages very rapidly, and a selection that is one or two days earlier 

 than a second is very dissimilar in appearance on a given date. Leaf produc- 

 tion is, in some ways, a varietal character. In some varieties the third leaf 

 appears in three days after the second, while in others it occurs six days later. 

 In the production of the fourth leaf even a greater range exists. In some 



