UNIVERSITY OF ILIINOf^ 
iGRicuiiuRE uemr 
7 
CII " 
ALFALFA, SUGAR BEETS, CANTALOUPES 
NOTES, 1906 
By P. K. BUNN 
ALFALFA 
linprovciiicnt by Seed Selection —The alfalfa seed nursery es¬ 
tablished in 1905 for the selection and improvement of alfalfa, was 
given as uniform conditions as possible as to care and irrigation; 
yet there appeared a marked contrast in the size and the early de¬ 
velopment of six rows of Turkestan alfalfa in the center of the 
plat, as compared with four rows of native alfalfa on each side. 
The Turkestan alfalfa was up three inches high by April ist, while 
the native rows had not begun to show above the ground; many of 
the Turkestan stools would measure six to eight inches in diameter, 
while the native stools would hardly measure three to four, as they 
broke through the surface of the ground. The Turkestan was also 
characterized by wide clover-like leaves, as compared with the 
native, though this character varied in individual plants. 
Each stool in the plat consisted of one plant, the nursery hav¬ 
ing been thinned to one individual to a place; the rows were 20 
inches apart and the plants about the same distance in the rows. 
Plate 2 shows the contrast in the plat, April 15 , 190 (). 
Owing to the marked superiority revealed in the Turkestan al¬ 
falfa, it seemed advisable to begin the work of seed selection with 
this variety, and as we had secured a selection of seed from the most 
promising plants in the native rows the previous season, we accord¬ 
ingly cut out the rows of native alfalfa, and also eliminated all un¬ 
desirable plants in the Turkestan rows. 
Plate 3 is a view of 12 rows of new seeding from the seed 
above mentioned which was added to the nursery this year. During 
the season a close study was made of the individual plants to deter¬ 
mine their variations desirable for seed selection. In the plat of 
over four hundred plants, sixteen were selected for their special 
characteristics. 
Seed producing tendency was a prime consideration for obvious 
reasons, for how to get a good yield of alfalfa seed is an important 
question in Colorado. The variation in this respect of the individual 
plants in the plat was very marked and exceedingly promising 
of valuable results; for the results of tests so far, seem to indicate 
that these variations can be fixed through seed selection. 
The following notes indicate the characteristics of the plants 
from which the seed was selected; in each case the seed was the 
*This Bulletin is the report of progress of Mr. Blinn as Field Agent, 
for 1906. It was not prepared as a bulletin. 
