for variegated seed when they are assured that it is genuine; but 

 with the necessarily heavy rates of seeding they will be interested 

 only in a small way in quotations from fifty cents to one dollar a 

 pound. If they could grow their own seed the initial seed^cost would 

 not be a serious matter. : 



Fortunately, with the rapid extension of the acreage of variegated 

 alfalfa in the West, prices are approaching more nearly a point where 

 the consumer will buy these special varieties in large ^quantities. 



New Seedings of Common Alfalfa are Hardy 



In order to avoid disappointing those who may try out variegated 

 alfalfa in comparison with the common the writer wishes to empha- 

 size the fact that there may be little difference in yields and general 

 appearance the first year after seeding. It is only under unusually 

 severe climatic conditions that the variegated will demonstrate Jts 

 superiority in a one-year trial. ?j 



I have sown plots with common Kansas and Nebraska grown 

 alfalfa seed costing thirteen cents a pound, which after a hard winter 

 were equal in every .respect to plots of Grimm, Baltic and Cossack, 

 the seed of which cost five times as much. Not so, however, fol- 

 lowing the second winter. Common alfalfa loses some of its hardi- 

 ness after it is one year old, and becomes more susceptible to winter 

 injury with increasing age. I don't know why, but it does. Here's 

 an example one of many that I could give: 



June 23, 1915, I seeded a plot of alfalfa with Montana seed in the 

 same manner, under the same soil conditions and with the same 

 strain of seed taken out of the same bag as a similar plot not 

 more than three rods distant, which was sown June 27, 1914. Both 

 these plots had excellent stands in the fall of 1915, but in the spring 

 of 1916 seventy-six per cent of the plants in the two-year-old plot 

 had winterkilled, while of the new seeding only nine per cent of 

 winterkilling occured. 



Just why old stands of common alfalfa winterkill more seriously 

 than new seedings is a problem not yet solved, but that it is a fact is 

 further substantiated by 165 reports frorri members of the Alfalfa 

 Order in 1916, three-quarters of whom declared their old stands 

 winterkilled much more badly than the new seedings of 1915. 



Hardiness of Alfalfa and Clover 



The significance of this characteristic lies in drawing conclusions 

 from compara'tive tests with different kinds of alfalfa ""and clover. 

 It is claimed by some that alfalfa is more subject to winterkilling 

 than is red clover. If you compare new seedings of red clover with 

 old seedings of common alfalfa you may find it so. But if you com- 

 pare new seedings of clover with new seedings of alfalfa growing 

 under equally favorable conditions the alfalfa will be the hardier of 

 the two. Variegated alfalfa is always hardier. 



To make a fair comparison of common and variegated alfalfa the 

 test should be conducted for two or more years. If the second 

 \\inter happens to be favorable there may not be a great difference 

 until the third year. It takes a severe winter to put the two kinds 

 to the test, and we can judge fairly of their merits only when they 

 have weathered at least two winters. 



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