Photo by Westgate 
Although alfalfa was brought by the Persians into Greece 490 B.C., there was scarcely 
an acre in this country sixty years ago. Today it is considered the best rough forage known, 
and there are over 7,500,000 acres of it in the Western Hemisphere. The search for hardier, 
drought-resistant, winter-growing, better-stooling, heavier-yielding varieties has taken explor- 
ers all over the world, and this search has attracted the attention of millions of people. As 
a result there are now in the Great Plains region breeding plots like the above, where are 
gathered together for the purpose of cross-breeding and selection the principal alfalfas of 
the world. The creation of entirely new forms, combining new characteristics, has already 
begun, and the effects will be as surely felt by this gigantic industry as good mining has felt 
the discovery of the cyanide process. 
Photo by Crandall 
NEW PLANT IMMIGRANTS ARRIVING AT THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
A shipment of living plants and seeds from the Cordilleras of Chile, which is being 
opened preparatory to inspection by an entomologist and plant pathologist for the presence 
of dangerous plant diseases or insect pests. These plants are either growing now in some 
part of the United States or have been discarded by some specialist who, after having tested 
them, has decided that they are not yet on the program. 
