28 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



JutY 4, 1907. 



Marshall H. Duryea. 



( Vice-preBldent of the American Se«»d Trade Association, photographed at the 

 Koof Garden of the Hotel Astor, June 27. > 



Hopkins has grown some sixty distinct 

 strains of timothy, one of the types be- 

 ing about two weeks earlier than the 

 ordinary form, and of this a second crop 

 can be grown the same season. The 

 Stewart variety, when tested beside ordi- 

 nary types, has produced a crop from ten 

 to twenty-five per cent larger. 



About 500 kinds of sorghum, particu- 

 larly of the nonsaccharine types, have 

 been tested with a view to their use in 

 the drier regions of the United States, 

 and several types have proved suflSciently 

 valuable to warrant general dissemina- 

 tion. As soon as the value of a certain 

 kind of timothy or sorghum is deter- 

 mined, the department relinquishes the 

 work for attention by seedsmen. 



The life history investigations of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry have resulted 

 in the introduction of the Orel and other 

 superior types of red clover. The Orel 

 clover was secured from Kussia and is 

 exceedingly hardy, long-lived, perfectly 

 smooth, and yields a superior quality of 

 dustless hay. It promises to be of great 

 value in the northwestern states. 



Valuable propaganda work is being 

 carried on in connection with forage 

 crops. An extensive exploitation of al- 

 falfa is being made throughout the east, 

 and farmers are encouraged to cultivate 

 this crop. Arrangements are often made 

 with farmers for cooperative work with 

 the department in growing one or two 

 acres of alfalfa, and this results in the 

 permanent cultivation of this crop. 



Extensive propaganda work is being 

 conducted with cowpeas, soy beans, 

 vetches, a number of grasses, and various 

 leguminous forage crops. 



Improvement of Cowpeas. 



Work in the improvement of cowpeas, 

 the use of which crop has increased 

 greatly within ten years, has been un- 

 dertaken. George W. Oliver, a master 

 at hybridizing work, is engaged in ef- 

 forts to secure types of cowpeas suited 

 to certain specific sections of this coun- 

 try and having definite characteristics. 

 It is desirable to obtain a cowpea of 

 bush type that can be readily made into 

 hay and that will yield a good quantity 

 of seed and hold its leaves well. Further, 

 it must not be subject to root-knot, leaf- 

 rust, or other diseases. The securing of 

 this ideal type has been undertaken 

 through the crossing of varieties each 

 of which has some of the characteristics 

 mentioned. Efforts are being made to 

 secure types of cowpeas which may be 

 harvested by machinery and to deter- 

 mine some way of preventing the rapid 

 deterioration of seed. As seedsmen well 

 know, practically all of the cowpea seed 

 sold this year has been of low vitality. 

 The department has secured the seed of 

 a type of cowpea from India, ninety- 

 eight per cent of which, though five 

 years old, has germinated. This type 

 has been used as a parent for several 

 hybrids. 



Work of a similar nature is being car- 

 ried on with vetches and other forage 

 crops. Vetch has bsen used in the to- 

 bacco-growing sections of Connecticut 

 with great satisfaction, 400 acres having 

 been planted this year in the Connecti- 

 cut valley alone, as a result of demon- 

 strating the fact that vetch is valuable 

 as a winter leguminous cover crop for 

 planting in fields from which tobacco 

 has been harvested in early September. 



The China white clover and a now 



F. W. Bolgiano. 



(Second Vice-president of the American Seed Trade Association.) 



