2O Breeding Plants and Animals. 



having superior heredity and so dried and stored that its 

 vitality is unimpaired. 



One more example will suffice for opportunities in 

 breeding field crops. Alfalfa is a wonderful crop in 

 dry regions where the temperature does not reach too 

 low a point. But in the northern tier of states the 

 common alfalfa of the West sometimes fails to en- 

 dure the winters. The National Department of Agri- 

 culture has imported from Turkestan several new forms 

 of alfalfa. One of these found by Prof. Hansen in 

 Northern Turkestan promises to be very hardy, though 

 no considerable quantity of that variety is yet available 

 for seed. It is worthy of note in passing that some 

 seed being distributed as Turkestan alfalfa will prob- 

 ably not prove hardy as some of the original varieties 

 secured from warm cotton-growing portions of Turke- 

 stan have not proven hardy. Hardy forms of alfalfa 

 have been accidentally discovered growing in the 

 Northwest and are to be disseminated. This crop can 

 be especially bred to yield even more for the different 

 irrigated district, for the unirrigated districts of the 

 Southwest and for the cold districts of the North. In 

 Minnesota, for example, we have great need of such 

 a crop to grow hay and with which to enrich our soils 

 for grain, and which will compel as well as enable us 

 to raise more live stock, that we may let alfalfa and 

 other "crops go to market on foot and leave the fertility 

 on the land." 



The opportunities for breeding other crops will be 

 mentioned in future pages in connection with detailed 

 methods of breeding the respective crops. 



