April, 1»22. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



257 



Alfalfa Hybridization. 



W. Southworth, Manitoba Agricultural College, Winnipeg. 



(Papei- read bet'oi-e the Western Canadian Society of Agronomy, December, 1921.) 



Introduction. — In a former article (4)* 

 dealing with the .subject of hybridization 

 of Alfalfa with Black Medick, the author 

 explained the results of investigations 

 which liad been conducted in the seasons 

 of 1911, "12, '13. During these years the 

 field work was carried out at the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, Guelph, and a part 

 of the greenhouse work in the plant 

 breeding department at the New York 

 State College of Agriculture, Cornell 

 University. 



The investigations were continued at 

 the Ontario Agricultural College until the 

 autumn of 1915 ; since that time, they 

 have been continued at the Manitoba 

 Agricultural College. Since the season of 

 1913 considerable work has been done 

 with these hybrids ; but new information 

 accumulates very slowly, and it is pur- 

 posed at a later date to issue a -Report of 

 Progress setting forth the outstanding 

 results so far obtained. 



The aim of the present paper is to give 

 an explanation of the working methods 

 adopted in these hybridization investiga- 

 tions. 



Before launching directly into our sub- 

 ject, it will, perhaps, be advisable to draw- 

 attention to, and revise, certain state- 

 ments made in the previous paper (4) to 

 w^liich reference has been made. The 

 statement .s referred to are concerned with 

 the natural fertilization of Alfalfa flow- 

 ers (4; p. 449, col. 2) and are stated 

 thus : — 



"From the results of our observations 

 and tests, we may conclude, 'From the 

 structure and mechanism of the Alfalfa 

 flower, it is incapable of self-fertilization 

 if it is not interfered with by external 

 agencies, natural or artificial." 



The above statement was made on the 



result of a two year's test at Guelph. At 

 that station, when flowers were caged so 

 as to prevent access of insects, not a sin- 

 gle seed was produced. In subsequent ex- 

 periments, we have found that Avhen 

 similar tests are conducted in Manitolja 

 quite an appreciable amount of seed is ob- 

 tained from flowers which nave not been 

 selfed artificially nor visited by bees. 



The reason for the striking difference 

 between the results at Guelph and Man- 

 itoba are doubtless owing to the much dry- 

 er atmospheric conditions in Manitoba to- 

 gether with higher temperatures and a 

 greater amount of sunshine in summer 

 than obtains in southern Ontario. 



*The numbers in brackets in the text 

 refer to literature cited on the subject, — 

 a list will be found at the end of the 

 paper. 



Fig. I. Alfalfa plant in full flower. 



Hybridization of Alfalfa. 



In conducting any kind of hybridiza- 

 tion experiments, it is clearh' essential that 

 the worker should first become thorough- 



