Alfalfa in Kansas. 



191 



during a drouth, as do the sorghums. Their tops wilt, and new shoots 

 start immediately from the crown. The only improvement thus far made 

 in getting more drouth-resistant alfalfas seems to be in the introduction 

 of the Turkestan strains and the Sickle alfalfas from the dry steppes of 

 Siberia. Among the experiments along this line are those of Dillman, at 

 the Bellefourche Experiment Station in western South Dakota. 



In 1909 nineteen pure strains of Grimm and twelve of Turkestan were 

 grown at Bellefourche, in rows, under strictly dry-land conditions. It 

 was found that the average yield of dried hay per plant was different in 

 the different strains. The nineteen strains of Grimm showed a variation 

 in this respect ranging from an average of 4.8 ounces of dried hay per 

 plant in the lowest-yielding row to 6.8 ounces in the highest. In the 

 Turkestan plots the range was almost exactly the same, but the average 



FIG. 162. Type of common alfalfa, with sprawling branches sparsely set with leaves. 



for the Grimm plots was slightly higher than for the Turkestan, being 

 at the rate of 5.7 ounces per plant as against 5.3 ounces for the latter. 



There is need of a very much wider range of dry-land experiments of 

 this nature with alfalfa to discover the most productive and economical 

 types for semiarid or dry-land agriculture. Perhaps the crossing of 

 Turkestan with Peruvian (which is not hardy in Kansas) may give 

 better types of alfalfa for semiarid conditions. 



The variegated alfalfa, or so-called "Sand lucerne," produced by cross- 

 ing, whenever common alfalfa and Sickle alfalfa grow near together, has 

 proved not only more winter-hardy but more drouth-resistant than the 

 common Chilean or American alfalfa. Its semiprostrate habit, resem- 

 bling that of the Sickle alfalfa, is its most objectionable feature. By 



