518 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



Some of these newer sorts are the result of Prof. 

 Hansen 's explorations ; some are the result of elimi- 

 nation by planting alfalfa in the cold Northwest and 

 growing seed there ; that is, if one will plant any al- 

 falfa in a cold region and allow it to remain for a 

 series of years, he can save seed from what is left, 

 if any, and feel sure that it is hardy. 



The Grimm alfalfa from Germany via Minnesota 

 is now understood to be a hybrid alfalfa, the result 

 of an accidental cross between the yellow-blooming 

 Medicago falcata and the common purple-blooming 

 Medicago sativa. One can note the peculiar greenish- 

 colored blossoms resulting from this cross. On 

 Woodland Farm in an alfalfa nursery we have a 

 large number of strains of hardy alfalfa, among 

 them the Grimm. While they differ in productive- 

 ness and value, yet all that we have grown from 

 seed from the Northwest have been quite hardy and 

 nearly equally good. Unhappily seedsmen have been 

 too enterprising in sending out new "varieties" of 

 "hardy" alfalfa, not always being scrupulous to 

 send the thing advertised. However, with the in- 

 crease in seed production in the Northwest we are 

 sure to have sooner or later hardy varieties avail- 

 able. We have found for our conditions seed from 

 Nebraska almost perfectly hardy and as productive 

 as any. 



The Yellow Blooming Medicago Falcata. — ^In 

 Pommern, Northern Germany, in the summer of 

 1911, I visited the great farm of Herr Ernest 



