442 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



Examine Samples. It is safe to get samples of 

 alfalfa seed before buying and submit them to your 

 experiment station for examination, or to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture at Washington, choosing 

 the seedsman according to the quality of his seeds. 

 There are many honest seedsmen, but perhaps few 

 competent or sufficiently careful seedsmen. 



Edgar Brown of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 Department of Agriculture, has made careful study 

 of imported and home-grown alfalfa seeds and thus 

 presents the case in Farmers' Bulletin 194: 



Alfalfa seed is about the size of the seed of red clover, but is 

 easily distinguished from it by its uniform light olive-green 

 color, as contrasted with the purple and yellow of clover seed. 

 Unlike red clover, it varies considerably in shape. 



Adulteration. Alfalfa seed is often adulterated; numerous sam- 

 ples have recently been received at the seed laboratory for exam- 

 ination which contain a considerable percentage of yellow trefoil 

 seed. A few samples have also been received which contain burr 

 clover. 



Yellow Trefoil. The seed which is most used in this country as 

 an adulterant of alfalfa is yellow trefoil. It is darker green than 

 alfalfa, so that a sample containing from 10 to 40 per cent of it 

 looks brighter and better at the first glance than slightly discolored 

 alfalfa seed. Yellow trefoil seed, however, can be easily dis- 

 tinguished by an expert, on examination, through a small lens, 

 by the differences in shape. Figure 2 shows the typical form of 

 yellow trefoil seed. 



Yellow trefoil is a low-spreading, leguminous plant grown for 

 sheep pasture on some of the poor, light soils of Europe where 

 other forage crops do not grow. It is not grown to any extent 

 in the United States and is of no value where clover or alfalfa 

 is successful. 



Importation of Yellow Trefoil Seed. On account of the low 

 price of yellow trefoil seed and its resemblance to alfalfa and red 

 clover it is imported into this country in considerable quantities 

 and used as an adulterant of both these seeds. During the six 

 months from June 30 to December 31, 1903, 110,760 pounds of yel- 



