REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XXVII 



when green and piled in windrows. In this stage, unless great care is 

 taken in turning and airing the mass, a heating takes place in which the 

 temperature rises sometimes as high as 173° F. The tendency of this 

 heating is to destroy the germination of the seed. This fact is readily 

 applied, even under the methods of handling the grass seed which are 

 now followed in the areas where it is grown. In order, however, to 

 secure the most practical results, the Department is now engaged in 

 experimenting with machinery which will dry the moist seed without 

 permitting it to heat, and at the same time without destroying its ger- 

 mination in any other way. There is good prospect that suitable 

 machinery will be found. 



SECURING A STAND OP BERMUDA GRASS FROM SEED. 



One of the most valuable pasture grasses for use in the Southern 

 States is Bermuda grass, a species of tropical origin. In our latitude 

 this grass seeds very sparingly, and the method of securing a field of 

 it has been to transplant roots. This method, however, is so expen- 

 sive as to be almost prohibitory. Experiments have been made with 

 good imported seed by the Department during the past two years on 

 the tria grounds at Washington, and it has been found that when 

 sown at the rate of 3 pounds per acre during a portion of the year 

 in which the ground continued moist, a good stand from 3 to 6 inches 

 high was secured in forty-five days. The procuring of good germi- 

 nable seed and the adaptation of the above facts to conditions in the 

 South should make it possible to secure at a moderate price an excel- 

 lent stand of this valuable grass. 



SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN-GROWN CLOVER SEED. 



Owing to a controversy in Europe regarding the relative value of 

 American and European clover seed, the Department has undertaken 

 some comparative experiments, the initial series of which was conducted 

 at Washington. Many samples of clover seed of known origin from 

 the different countries of Europe and from different parts of the United 

 States and Canada were grown under like conditions. Cuttings of hay 

 were made at suitable intervals, the product of each plat being care- 

 fully weighed. These experiments, which have now been under way 

 for two years, show conclusively that under the conditions existing 

 here the European red clover is decidedly inferior in productiveness 

 to the American. Apparently the American strain is better adapted 

 to the conditions of bright sunshine, periodic heat, and dryness that 

 exist here. For the purposes of our farmers, therefore, a decision of 

 the question whether- to use American or imported seed is easily 

 reached. During the past year a series of supplementary experiments 

 has been started at typical selected areas in different parts of the 

 United States, to see whether these results hold in the principal clover- 

 growing States. 



