Our Plant Immigrants 



191 



Photo from U. S. Department of Agriculture 



A Sample Cutting and the way it is put up and mailed to the Department of 



Agriculture 



riety, that costs no more to grow than 

 the ordinary one, becomes apparent. 



It found its way into this country 

 probably from Asia Minor or Arabia 

 through the roundabout way of Chile. 

 Since its introduction by the Friars in 

 the fifties, its culture has spread, until 

 the area covered by it is over 2,000,000 

 acres. 



With the thought that there was no 

 reason why this Chilean alfalfa should 

 be the best in the world, Mr N. E. Han- 

 sen, the first explorer of the office, 

 brought home with him seeds of alfalfa 

 which he found on his exploring trip to 

 the steppes of Siberian and Russian 

 Turkestan. 



It is only grown there in small patches, 

 that are cut with sickles in a most prim- 

 itive fashion. Distributed in large 

 amounts, this seed has proven to be of a 



variety more resistant to drouth and 

 alkali than the ordinary kind, and it is 

 now being grown in acre areas in many 

 parts of the West. While in Arabia three 

 years ago the writer found and imported 

 seed of an alfalfa which the Arab date- 

 growers cultivate, and this has made 

 such an unusual growth in the irrigated 

 regions of the Southwest that the farm- 

 ers think they can get an extra cutting 

 of hay from it each season. 



THE MALIN HORSERADISH FROM BOHEMIA 



Horseradish culture in this country 

 has been generally neglected. Until the 

 introduction by the Office of Plant Intro- 

 duction of the famous Malin horseradish, 

 only one sort, the common American, 

 was known. In a little village near 

 Vienna the best horseradish in the world 

 is grown. There are two or more other 



