GROWING ALFALFA SEED. 441 



ket value in Europe for dyeing purposes, being used in the print- 

 ing of cotton fabrics, and large quantities of seed have been ex- 

 ported from this country to supply the foreign demand. For dif- 

 ferent years and in different parts of the country the price has 

 ranged from seven to fifteen cents per pound. A bushel of alfalfa 

 seed weighs sixty pounds. Three to four bushels of good seed per 

 acre is a profitable crop. The average crop in the more favored 

 alfalfa regions ranges from five to seven bushels per acre, while 

 yields as high as twelve bushels per acre have been reported. A 

 yield of less than two bushels per acre is an unprofitable crop. 



Importance of Good Seed. An immense amount 

 of failure with alfalfa comes through getting bad 

 seed. There are various causes of bad seed. Some- 

 times it is grown in the wrong latitude and thus fails. 

 Some alfalfa seed is grown in Algeria and is ex- 

 ported through France. It is improbable that this 

 Algerian seed would succeed in Ohio or Illinois or 

 Nebraska. Thus in imported seed it is hard to tell 

 what one will get. Some French seed is very supe- 

 rior and well adapted to eastern America. 



Adulterations. The worst of seed, however, is 

 that containing the weeds and adulterations one 

 often gets. For instance, one day recently I visited 

 a newly established alfalfa field situated in a region 

 where alfalfa is a new plant, struggling to get rec- 

 ognition. To my astonishment the young growth 

 proved to be nearly every bit burr clover. Burr 

 clover seed is always cheaper than alfalfa seed, and 

 the enterprising seedsman had adulterated his al- 

 falfa seed so vigorously that there was only a rem- 

 nant of alfalfa left. I have seen fields so nearly a 

 pure stand of yellow trefoil that the stray alfalfa 

 plants looked like weeds. 



