SUMMARY OF ALFALFA SOWING, 525 
planted it, and after a year had passed found that 
the alfalfa was much inferior to the ordinary. In 
fact, much of it winterkilled the first winter and that 
which did live through did not begin to equal the 
ordinary alfalfa in yield. The lesson learned will 
long be remembered by those men who had this 
experience and now it is scarcely necessary to say 
anything against sowing Turkestan seed, as the av- 
erage farmer knows for himself what it is. A safe 
rule for those in the cornbelt to follow is to plant 
only seed grown in this country. If it comes from a 
territory further north than his, he will be surer 
of getting seed that will be hardy. Where severe 
winters are the rule it is better to sow seed from the 
northwest or else the Grimm or one of the Siberian ‘ 
varieties, if they are available at not too high a 
price. 
Transplanting Alfalfa—The work of increasing 
special strains of desirable alfalfa is being hastened 
by transplanting the roots. Prof. N. E. Hansen has 
inaugurated this interesting work. It is of espe- 
cial interest to all that great region of semi-aridity 
in the West and Northwest, where alfalfa seed pro- 
duction is easiest and where it should naturally all 
be produced, since there grown it is certain to be 
hardy. I quote from Prof. Hansen as follows: 
“On May 2 at Ipswich, S. D., alfalfa plants were set at the 
rate of 100 per minute, or 6,000 per hour by machine. Dem- 
onstrations of this machine planting were first made April 
23 at Brookings and a half dozen other points later. The 
plants were set with plow, spade and hoe. I claim no origin- 
