The results o^btained show that 47.1 percent of the 

 flowers were tripped, "by clasping the racemes "between the 

 pages of a iDOok, and that 52.7 percent of the tripped 

 flowers produced pods; and that 4.8 percent of the 

 flowers which were not tripped by this operation produced 

 pods. The figures shown in the table indicate that any 

 mechanical method that might he devised which would trip 

 flowers in alfalfa fields, would, under conditions like 

 those under which this experiment was conducted cause a 

 considerable increase in the total yield of alfalfa seed. 



Period During Which Alfalfa Plowers Ma-y be Po llin ated. 



An experiment planned to show at what stages of its 

 development an alfalfa flower may be fertilized, and also 

 to show during how long a period it remains capable of 

 fertilization, was carried on at Pullman, Wash, in 1909. 

 All opened and wilted flowers were removed from a number 

 of racem_es on five different plants. On the following 

 day all unopened buds on these racemes were removed, 

 leaving only those flowers v/hich had opened during the 

 preceding thirty-six hours. The flowers had been covered 

 with netting tents in order to exclude insects. As the 

 experiment was carried out in September, when the weather 

 was comparatively cool, the flowers remained fresh and 

 open for a longer period than they would gave remained 

 open in warmer weather. A number of the flowers on these 



(42) 



