206 Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



FIG. 184. Seed pods of alfalfa, magnified. 



dirt or debris. The standard weight for alfalfa seed is 60 pounds to the 

 bushel. As a matter of curiosity it may be interesting to know that 

 there are about 220,000 alfalfa seeds to the pound, which would mean, 

 if sown at the rate of fifteen pounds to the acre, if 90 per cent of the 

 seed germinated, 3,300,000 plants per acre, or 75 to each square foot of 

 ground. A pound to the acre would give five plants per square foot, 

 which would be ample for a good stand, except for failure of some seeds 

 to grow, the death of seedlings, and the competition of weeds. As a 

 matter of fact, in a few years most of the alfalfa plants with which a 

 field begins are crowded out by competition, or die from other causes. 

 The number of plants to the acre in an alfalfa field has been found to 

 range from as low as 70,000 to as high as 653,000.* 



The inside of an alfalfa seed is much the same as the inside of a 

 bean, which belongs to the same family. The entire interior of the al- 

 falfa seed coat is filled with the embryo or young plant, of which the 

 larger part consists of the two cotyledons, or seed leaves. Just above 

 the scar, or hilum of the seed, where it was attached to the pod, is a 

 small opening called the micropyle, which can be seen with a lens, but 

 which is scarcely visible to the naked eye, through which the moisture 

 first enters the seed when it is planted, thus stimulating the growth of 

 the root, a minute structure lying between the seed leaves. The root 

 then grows out through the micropyle. 



* Bull. 110, Colo. Experiment Station. 



