184 Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



man" or "Old German Frankish" lucerne. This alfalfa, planted in the 

 spring of 1858, has undergone gradual acclimatization until it is now 

 the recognized type of alfalfa for the extreme northern United States. 

 Common alfalfa from Utah, Kansas and California, and from many 

 other sources, has been tested in Minnesota, but with the solitary ex- 

 ception of the Grimm, none has stood the test of the cold of Minnesota. 

 The United States Department of Agriculture had its attention attracted 

 to the hardy Grimm alfalfa in 1904, and extensive experiments conducted 

 since that time show conclusively that Grimm is thus far the most winter- 

 hardy strain of alfalfa known. At the Minnesota Experiment Station 

 farm at St. Anthony Park, in 1907, seven different lots of Grimm alfalfa 

 showed percentages of loss from winterkilling varying from to 11 per 

 cent, with an average of 4.2 per cent. For the same period, three strains 

 of ordinary alfalfa from Utah and Montana showed an average of 84.5 

 per cent of loss due to winterkilling. At Dickinson, N. Dak., in the winter 

 of 1908-'09, there were 68 strains of alfalfa under experiment from all 

 the chief alfalfa-growing regions of the world. The average loss of the 

 Grimm alfalfa was under 5 per cent, while the average for the whole 

 experiment was 78 per cent of loss twelve strains out of the sixty- 

 eight winterkilling 100 per cent. These experiments show graphically the 

 superiority of Grimm alfalfa in respect to winter hardiness. 



Arabian Alfalfa. 



This type of alfalfa was introduced from Bassorah and Bagdad in 

 Arabia by the Lathrop and Fairchild Expedition in 1902, and through 

 a later importation in 1905. This alfalfa comes from a region of ex- 

 ceedingly hot summers and mild winters, where it has been growing 

 since, perhaps, prehistoric times. It has a longer growing season than 

 common alfalfa. In rapidity of growth it lies between common and 

 Peruvian alfalfa. The leaflets are broad in proportion to their length, 

 while those of Peruvian alfalfa are long. The Arabian alfalfa is short- 

 lived, its period of profitable growth being about five years. In Cali- 

 fornia it is considered desirable to plant Arabian alfalfa in young 

 orchards, since it dies out by the time the trees come into bearing. It is 

 more productive than ordinary alfalfa and a more vigorous grower, 

 with a more upright habit, but it winterkills badly in Kansas, and com- 

 pletely in such northern states as North Dakota and Minnesota. 



Peruvian Alfalfa. 



In 1903 seed of the native Peruvian alfalfa was sent to the United 

 States Department of Agriculture from Limache, Peru. The exact lo- 

 cality in Peru from which the seed came is not recorded, but it appears 

 to be a type of alfalfa that had become acclimatized to high altitudes. 

 Alfalfa was, of course, introduced into Peru by the Spaniards after the 

 conquest, and the alfalfa that they brought was adapted to a hot, dry 

 climate. Nevertheless, the Peruvian alfalfa in question, while it will 

 not generally winter over in Kansas, or at all in any more northern state, 

 is capable of growing in cooler weather than any other alfalfa we have. 

 It commences its growth earlier in the spring and continues growing 

 later in the fall than any other sort. For this reason it has great value 



