From United States Government Bulletin 
No. 209 by Charles J. Brand, Bureau Plant 
Industry, Washington, D. C., Page 21, 
Bulletin No. 209: 
“Recognition of the superiority of the 
Grimm variety over ordinary alfalfa by Mr. 
Lyman and through him by Prof. Hayes of 
the Minnesota Station, marked a third era 
in the evolution of alfalfa culture in the 
Northwest. The Grimm alfalfa is much 
hardier than the ordinary kinds obtained 
from Kansas, Utah and elsewhere, and 
there is even strong reason to believe that 
it is the hardiest known form of the culti- 
vated plant. It not only endures extremely 
low temperatures with or without snow 
and other adverse conditions, but it can be 
cut with greater safety late in the fall and 
will bear more abuse in the way of pasturage 
than any other plant that has been compared 
with it until this time. There is some dis- 
“I am sending above photograph of Grimm alfalfa 
from you, alongside of thirteen commercial samples. 
You will see that it is much hardier than the others. 
Out of 88 varieties and strains of alfalfa, ‘Lyman’s 
Grimm’ was amongst the few that came through the 
winter of 1912 and 1913, a very severe winter.” — From 
letter of Prof. I.. A. Kunk of Macdonald College, 
Quebec, Canada 
agreement among investigators as to how 
Grimm alfalfa obtained its hardiness, but 
there is no difference of opinion that it is 
hardy.” 
From report of Alfalfa Specialist F. For- 
bell of the Minnesota College of Agriculture, 
taken from Hoard’s Dairyman of September 
7, 1917: 
During the summer of 1915, 168 fields 
were established by the writer in Southeastern 
Minnesota. On 47 of these fields Grimm 
was sown alongside of Liscomb alfalfa — a 
variety which has been developed in Minne- 
sota and advertised to be quite as hardy 
as the Grimm. On most of the remaining 
fields South Dakota Common and Montana 
Common seed was sown. During the winter 
of 1915-1916 an ice sheet of from two to three 
inches deep covered this section for from 
four to six weeks. All of the clover, rye, 
most of the Liscomb, and other common seed 
winterkilled; also much of the meadows and 
pasture.s. But the Grimm alfalfa came 
through the winter in excellent condition. 
In his annual report in 1907, the Secretary 
of Agriculture predicted that the further 
extension of alfalfa growing on large areas 
is a prize that will be worth hundreds of 
millions of dollars annually. With due 
persistence and an intelligent use of present 
knowledge, the North and Northwest can 
now begin to collect at least a part of their 
ultimate share of this prize. 
In the fall of 1904, Mr. Lyman sold the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. C., 
their first lot of Grimm seed. One year he 
shipped the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
twenty sacks of Grimm alfalfa. The next 
fall, he sold it another load of 4,000 lbs. 
As early as 1904 the Department at 
Washington became interested in Grimm’s 
hardy alfalfa. From page 25 of the Annual 
Report of B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau 
of Plant Industry, we copy the following: 
“Grimm Alfalfa — Experiments thus far con- 
ducted indicate that this is the hardiest 
variety of Medicago Sativa of which we 
have knowledge.” 
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