AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 217 



is the best producer. The Michigan Black Barbless 

 barley is said to out-yield other kinds in adverse years 

 and yields high in favorable seasons. Eight years of 

 experience with Eosen rye left its supremacy unchal- 

 lenged. Tests were also conducted in relation to 

 soybeans to determine the types best adapted to 

 Michigan. Bean tests have placed the improved 

 Eobust variety in the lead as a hardy disease-resistant 

 type. Northwestern varieties of alfalfa were tried 

 out and it was demonstrated that the Grimm, Cos- 

 sack and Baltic were of outstanding excellence for 

 Michigan. 



Evidence accumulates that Michigan farmers are 

 increasingly particular regarding the quality of the 

 seed they plant. April 29, 1921, the Michigan State 

 Farm Bureau reported that, during the preceding 

 winter, fifty thousand Michigan farmers had bought 

 seed through their seed department. The department 

 stated that it had put out three million pounds of 

 seed of "known origin, adaptability, purity and per- 

 cent of germination." It claimed to have increased 

 the registered Grimm alfalfa acreage of the State 

 by 500 per cent, and it handled 750,000 pounds of 

 ]\Iichigan-grown clover seed and retained it for 

 Michigan users, it reported. As evidence of the in- 

 creasing diversity in field crops, it was then stated 

 that the department was handling sweet clover and 

 vetch, for which there was reported a good demand, 

 and millet and Sudan-grass were also on their list. 

 Twelve carloads of "ITubam" (annual white sweet 

 clover) were reported to have been sown in the 



