36 BULLETIN 428, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
secured, a number of promising forms have been obtained from India. 
The data and conclusion, therefore, do not necessarily apply to these 
late introductions. Their behavior strongly suggests the advisability 
of deferring judgment on them until they have been more thoroughly 
tested. | 
GENERAL HABITS OF GROWTH. 
There is a wide range of variation of growth in plants of Medicago 
falcata. Practically every degree of erectness is represented, from 
prostrate to upright. However, from a forage standpoint the species 
may be divided into two general groups—the procumbent, prostrate, 
or spreading group, which, theoretically at least, has some advan- 
tages over the upright forms for pasturage, and the ascending or sub- 
erect group, which is suitable for hay production. Oliver (47) has 
discussed the pasture forms in some detail. A large majority of the 
forms fall either in the so-called pasture group or are not sufficiently 
erect to be included in the hay group. The apparently prevalent 
opinion, however, that there are no upright forms is erroneous, since 
there are some quite as erect as any that can be found in J/edicago 
sativa. The degree of erectness, it is true, is influenced to some ex- 
tent by cultural methods. The habit of the plants is dependent to 
a considerable degree upon whether they are grown in hills, widely 
spaced rows, or in broadcast stands. In hills and in rows they are 
much more procumbent than when grown in broadcast stands. How- 
ever, thickness of planting does not overcome the decumbent habit 
of the plants in groups 1 and 2 sufficiently to permit harvesting by 
machinery without loss. Observations made at Brookings, S. Dak., 
on two tenth-acre broadcast plats seeded in 1909 indicate an appre- 
ciable improvement in the degree of erectness of the plants after the 
stand becomes thickened by the enlarging of the crowns, which was 
especially noticeable after the second or third year of growth. 
The forms suitable for hay, so far as the matter of harvesting is 
concerned, are confined almost exclusively to groups 3 and 4. These 
forms are found abundantly in S. P. I. Nos. 20718, 20719, 24455, 
26927, 28070, 28071, 30433, and 32412. (See figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15.) 
The extremely low, spreading pasture forms are found in groups 1 
and 2, and especially in S. P. I. Nos. 20717, 20725, and 24454, where 
they predominate. (See figs. 7, 8, and 9.) 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VEGETATIVE GROWTH. 
The general appearance of the vegetative growth of the upright 
forms of Medicago falcata is not materially different from that of 
Medicago sativa, except that it is somewhat more silver gray in color. 
The mass height in broadcast stands is commonly less than that of 
