Medic AGO falcata, a yellow-flowered alfalfa. 57 



yielding more abundantly. Unless a pure strain of Medicago falcata 

 that "will produce two or more cuttings in a season can be developed 

 by selection, this method alone is limited in the scope of its usefulness. 

 When the need arrives for special strains of alfalfa for pasturage 

 it doubtless will be met to some extent by selection from the low- 

 growing and spreading forms of the species. Hybrid strains might 

 have some difficulty in competing sviccessfully with such selections, 

 even though they do not recover quickly after cutting. 



HYBRroiZATION. 



TVhile pure strains of Medicago falcata for hay and pasture may 

 find a permanent place among our cultivated crops, it is not in this 

 role that the species promises to become important. Its greatest 

 value lies in its ability to form fertile hybrids with Medicago sativa. 

 This conclusion has been quite generally reached by those who have 

 investigated the species carefully and who appreciate the important 

 part that it has taken in the development of our commercial strains 

 of alfalfa. An examination of early botanical and agricultural 

 literature indicates that it was common in Europe many centuries 

 ago, and probably it has hybridized with Medicago sativa since an 

 indefinitely remote date. The effect of this on our commercial strains 

 of alfalfa is difficult to estimate. The origin of our more or less dis- 

 tinct varieties of commercial alfalfa has not as yet been well deter- 

 mined. The readily recognizable hybrids have been roughly assigned 

 to what is known as the variegated group and it has been assumed 

 that those which do not show variegation in color of flowers are 

 pure strains. Careful investigations may reveal at least a trace of 

 Medicago falcata in the parentage of many distinct commercial 

 varieties. Its part in the development of the well-known Grimm 

 alfalfa has been fully discussed and generally recognized. Instead 

 of indicating the possibility of developing better strains by hybridi- 

 zation, this recognition has had a tendency to create the impression 

 that the chances of producing anything better than the Grimm 

 variety through hybridization are very remote. There is, however, 

 good ground for taking the opposite view. 



The st(jck from which Grirnm alfalfa originated came from Baden, 

 Germany, and in all probability had been produced there for many 

 seed generations. The hyl)ri(lization which took phice in the develop- 

 ment of this stock was doubtless a more or less continuous process in 

 which the local forms of Medicago falcata were the only forms con- 

 cerned. There arc nunier-ous for-ms not found in that poT'tion of 

 Europe, and th(* [)ossibility of ol)taining iiybj'ids between certain of 

 these and good forms of Medicago sativa seems to offer a particularly 

 promising field. 



