1917.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 57a 



Variety Test Work. 



The testing of different varieties of potatoes, alfalfa and soy 

 beans has been continued during the past year. 



Further experiments with alfalfa lead to the conclusion that 

 the so-called Grimm variety is not enough better than the com- 

 mon variety to warrant paying the higher price for the Grimm 

 seed. In the early experiments comparing Grimm and common 

 alfalfa, the Grimm variety produced the larger yield, but in 

 later trials the yield of common alfalfa has been at least equal 

 to that of the Grimm, and indeed in many cases it has ex- 

 ceeded the Grimm. It has not been our experience that the 

 Grimm variety is any more hardy than the common alfalfa 

 produced from good northern-grown seed. In all our trials the 

 best seed obtainable has been purchased of both varieties, and 

 it is our conclusion that good northern-grown seed obtained 

 from reliable sources is just as satisfactory as the higher-priced 

 Grimm seed. 



There is a good deal said and written in these days con- 

 cerning the importation of different varieties of alfalfa from 

 Siberia and other northern countries. In one of our experi- 

 ments we have had under comparison with common and Grimm 

 one of these Siberian varieties. The seed was obtained from 

 Professor Hansen of South Dakota, and was said by him to be 

 the best of all imported varieties. We paid $5 per pound for 

 the seed, and took all possible precautions to insure a good 

 stand. The variety proved absolutely worthless, being a low 

 growing one that winterkilled more than the common or 

 Grimm varieties, and did not yield nearly as satisfactory a 

 crop. 



Seed from several of these imported varieties are offered for 

 sale on our market at fabulous prices. The purchase of such 

 seed, especially in large quantities, is not recommended. A 

 variety may do well in northern Siberia, and, when the same 

 variety is grown in the Dakotas and Minnesota, where climatic 

 and soil conditions are somewhat similar to those in Siberia, may 

 do equally as well and prove a very profitable variety for that 

 locality. It does not, however, follow that the same variety 

 will succeed in New England under entirely different soil and 



