CLOVER CULTURE. 11? 



soon forming- a capsule, which contains four seeds. The 

 capsule does not split into lobes, but opens by a trans- 

 verse circular line. Each seed contains a thread-shaped 

 embryo, which is spirally coiled itr the albumen. The 

 albumen is the nourishing- material stored up in the seed out- 

 side of the embryo or g-erm. This embryo is dependent for 

 its development upon the albumen stored up in the seed. 

 The number of flowers in the cluster rang-e from ten to- 

 twenty, and the seeds are of a pale gray color, difficult to 

 detect with the naked eye, and, hence, the rapid spread of 

 the parasite. As an example of the difficulty in detecting 

 these seeds, we notice the report of the Delaware Experiment 

 Station on a sample of alfalfa sent for examination, as fol- 

 lows : 



The purchaser remarked that it was one of the purest samples of 

 seed he had ever seen, and an examination proved this fact, the propor- 

 tion of impurities being only four-tenths of one per cent, mainly dirty; 

 but a close examination revealed the presence of Cuscuta, or dodder seed, 

 at the rate of seven hundred and twenty to the pound. This seed, when 

 sown at the rate of fifteen pounds to the acrp, which is about one-half 

 that generally sown in Germany, would furnish nearly eleven thousand 

 Cuscuta seed to the acre, or enough to give one seed every two feet, in 

 drills two feet apart. The sowing of this much Cuscuta seed upon 

 an acre of land, would, at the least, be a dangerous procedure, and 

 might result in a total destruction of a crop in the course of two or three 

 years. Every precaution should be taken against the introduction of 

 this parasite into the state. In Germany its presence has proved a 

 national calamity, and well nigh forced German farmers to abandon the 

 growth of clover. The flax dodder, according to Ledoux, broke up the 

 culture of flax in North Carolina and paved the way to cotton culture. 

 In Germany the fight against the Cuscuta has been vigorous, but the 

 enforcement of stringent laws and the sharp eye of the German govern- 

 ment over the quality of clover and alfalfa seed has done much to reduce 

 this evil. 



It will be seen from the above what untold damag-e 

 might be done to the clover interests of the West by the 

 introduction of this seed. When the seed falls to the 

 ground it usually remains dormant until the following- 

 spring', when the embryo begins growth by sending one end 

 into the soil, and with the other sends up a stem, turning 

 from right to left, or contrary to the sun's apparent motion. 

 If it is in reach of a clover plant it seizes it by means of it? 

 sucker-like points, which it at once throws o'iit and then goes 

 on fastening itself to the foster plant and others in the 

 vicinity. It then lets go its hold on the ground, Dodder 

 is an annual and therefore can be destroyed before it has 

 ripened seed, and should be in every case where it is observed. 

 The best method we know of to get rid of it is to cut tbe 

 infected portion close to the ground and then burn it. The 



