SEED DIVISION. 49 



now being put up, are more equally distributed, and in mucb greater 

 varietj^, than has heretofore been attainable. This is important, as, 

 in justice to the members of Congress, statistical correspondents, and 

 others, the distribution should include the largest number of varie- 

 ties possible. By the present method not less than thirty additional 

 varieties are now systematically sent into each Congressional dis- 

 trict, which is a matter of no little importance, as the greater the 

 number of varieties the greater is the possibility of widely dissemi- 

 nating such seeds as are "rare and uncommon," or, to say the least, 

 of determining their adaptedness to the locality. It is a well-known 

 fact that if some kinds of seed are not changed, the crop will soon run 

 out. This fact is true of grains, but applies to a larger extent to gar- 

 den vegetables. The thousands of letters received during each year 

 and referred to the Seed Division are ample evidence that such is the 

 fact. The testimony as to the value of the seeds distributed during 

 the past fiscal year has been both general and emphatic. For in- 

 stance, Maj. H. E. Alvord, director of the Houghton Farm experi- 

 ment station, in a report to the Department dated May 4, 1886, says: 



The seeds received this season, as a whole, for the first time since my experience 

 with the Department, answered the definition of new and useful. 



REPORTS OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES, 



AND ASSOCIATIONS. 



ALFALFA. 



Colorado Agricultural College : Reports alfalfa an entire success. 

 If the land is kept well irrigated two crops can be taken the first sea- 

 son, yielding three and four tons to the acre. The second season three 

 cuttings can be made, yielding seven tons per acre. This year the 

 second crop grew 42 inches in thirty days, so thick and heavy one 

 could not walk through it. When once well rooted it appears to be 

 an impossibility to kill it. _ Plowing it under, like clover, only makes 

 it grow better. After having been plowed under and the land sowed 

 to oats, 3 tons of alfalfa per acre were cut after 42 bushels of oats per 

 acre had been harvested. Wheat, corn, and potatoes are raised with 

 excellent success after plowing it under, and without interfering with 

 the stand of alfalfa the next year. Of the clovers, alfalfa will always 

 head the list in this region. In some respects it is unequaled, as it 

 has unrivaled vigor of stem and root, the latter qualification enabling 

 it to survive our seasons of scantiest water supply, which the grasses 

 will not do as a general rule, an irrigation in the fall being a desira- 

 bility and often a necessity to insure their wintering safely, and this 

 in some seasons might prove to be impossible to accomplish, owing 

 to lack of water in our streams, especially if a large area had to be 

 irrigated. 



Indiana Experiment Station : Alfalfa does well, but must be sown 

 in drills to secure a stand. In the western part of the State it is not 

 considered a profitable crop. 



Louisiana, Saint Helena Parish : Alfalfa did well on dry, good 

 land. 



Michigan Agricultural College : Alfalfa does well on dry upland, 

 but does not get a good stand until the second year. Clover is con- 

 sidered better in a rotation of crops. 



Missouri Agricultural College : The soil in this section is not 

 adapted to alfalfa. In the southern part of the State it is a success. 

 4 AG.— '86 



