892 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 729 



Grimm alfalfa came from the vaUey region 

 of Baden, which is said to be one of the 

 warmest and most fruitful districts, not only 

 of Germany, but of Europe ; a section in which 

 the almond, walnut and vine flourish. Hence 

 we have in the latter case an instance of the 

 introduction of a valuable crop by an immi- 

 grant and also an undoubted example of a 

 high degree of acclimatization brought about 

 by natural selection unconsciously aided by 

 man. 



The Minnesota climate is exceedingly severe 

 and during the early years Grimm alfalfa suf- 

 fered many vicissitudes. Several years ago 

 a member of the Minnesota Agricultural So- 

 ciety, discussing this valuable strain, said: 



When they first commenced to plant it some 

 of them were badly discoiiraged . . . but finally 

 they made a success of it, and I attribute that 

 success to its having acclimated itself to the 

 country. I can remember that clover growing in 

 this coimty (Carver), well I should say pretty 

 close to forty years. 



Fields between twenty and thirty years old 

 visited by the writer during the past summer 

 have from 10 to 50 per cent, of a stand. 

 Hardy as the strain has become, winters of 

 unusual severity in any particular respect 

 carry the selective acclimatization still farther. 

 Fields examined in the summer of 1905 had 

 suffered considerable losses in stand from the 

 previous winter; fully 50 per cent, of the 

 selected Grimm plants in the nursery at the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station were winter- 

 killed during the same winter (190^^5), while 

 common aKalfa was killed out almost com- 

 pletely. 



Wendelin Grimm died eighteen years ago, 

 hence exact details as to his experiences are 

 lacking. Nevertheless, it is apparent that in 

 the early years of his attempt to grow alfalfa 

 in Minnesota he suffered many setbacks. 

 With characteristic German persistence, 

 realizing neither the practical nor the scien- 

 tific importance of his unconscious experiment 

 in acclimatization, he patiently saved genera- 

 tion after generation of seed from the plants 

 that survived each successive winter, planting 

 new fields to replace the deteriorated ones on 



his own farm, and selling his surplus seed 

 to his neighbors. He was probably oblivious 

 both to the difficulty of the task he had under- 

 taken and to the great value of the result, 

 and took as a matter of course the yearly de- 

 generation of his stands. 



The fact that in its original home in Ger- 

 many this variety was called upon to bear 

 minimum temperatures less severe than those 

 observed at Albuquerque, N. M., shows what 

 this German immigrant accomplished in the 

 way of acclimatization of alfalfa in Min- 

 nesota. 



The Grimm strain is one of the hardiest of 

 which we have knowledge. A six-year-old 

 field at Fargo, N. D., has repeatedly endured 

 temperatures lower than 30° F. below zero. It 

 is for this quality that it is so highly prized. 

 It came from a climate little calculated to 

 develop resistance to cold, and as it stands 

 to-day it is undoubtedly the direct product of 

 fifty-one years of perpetuation of fit and 

 elimination of unfit individuals under climatic 

 conditions whose rigors are unknown in Ger- 

 many. 



Charles J. Brand 



Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 U. S. Department of Agkicultube, 

 November 13, 1907 



THE CONVOCATION WEEK MEETINGS OF 

 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



The American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science and the national scientific societies 

 named below will meet at the Johns Hopkins 

 University, at Baltimore, during convocation week, 

 beginning on December 28, 1908. 



American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. — ^Retiring president. Professor E. L. 

 Nichols, Cornell University; president-elect. Pro- 

 fessor T. C. Chamberlin, University of Chicago; 

 permanent secretary, Dr. L. O. Howard, Cosmos 

 Club, Washington, D. C; general secretary. 

 Dr. J. Paul Goode, University of Chicago. 



Local Executive Committee. — William H. 

 Welch, M.D., chairman local committee; Henry 

 Barton Jacobs, M.D., chairman executive com- 

 mittee; William J. A. Bliss, secretary, Joseph S. 

 Ames, William B. Clark, R. Brent Keyser, Eugene 

 A. Noble, Ira Eemsen, John E. Semmes, Francis 

 A. Soper, Hugh H. Young. 



