4 The Colorado Experiment Station 
others, will breed irregularly the qualities , that were apparently the 
same; hence, heredity in alfalfa plants can not he determined, by a 
cursory view , but more by the comparison of their performance 
records. 
The plan is now, to make individual selections of seed from 
the most highly efficient plants, revealing desirable traits, where 
ever found, in any of the varieties, and then submit them to a fair 
comparative test for their reproducing tendency, thus, affording 
an opportunity to intelligently select and increase seed of alfalfa, 
with known uniformity, of qualities, for testing in different sections 
of the state. Some of the principal qualities, that have engaged 
the attention in this investigation are— Hardiness, there are few 
fields of alfalfa that have not suffered from the lack of this trait, 
plants dying out, either form frost, drouth, soil conditions, or plant 
diseases. The superiority in this respect, of the Turkestan and 
more hardy kinds, over the Arabian, or southern variety is very 
marked indeed. 
Peate I. Contrast of Hardiness Between Sound Turkestan and 
Unsound Arabian Peants 
The contrast between two, two year old plants, from the 
nursery, can readily be seen, one perfectly sound, the other with 
the crown nearly all rotted off, and each having grown under the 
same conditions, and also representing fairly the condition of the 
plants, in the plats from which they were taken; showing a lack 
