A Bacterial Disease of Alfalfa 13 
stems, now dried and prostrate. Four of the twenty-six varieties 
were noticibly freer from the infection than the rest, namely, No. 
12,398, No. 12,671, No. 12,784, and P. L. H. 3,251. It is a matter 
of considerable practical interest, that the first three of these are 
from seed which we may consider as home grown; the first is from 
Colorado, the second, Kansas; the third, Utah. If we are so 
fortunate as to find high resistance in plants from local seed, the 
question of obtaining resistant varieties will be much more easily 
solved than if we are compelled to breed up a strain from foreign 
seed. Table No. 7 gives the detailed observations on the variety 
plats, made June 11, 1909. 
table no. 7 
Showing Condition of the Different Varieties of Alfalfa when Two Years Old. 
June 11. 1909. 
Variety 
Vigor 
Prevalence of the Disease 
9451. 
Fair 
Present 
11275. 
Fair 
Present 
12398. 
Good 
Present, but not serious 
12409. 
Fair 
Present 
12671. 
Good 
Present, but not serious 
12702 . 
Good 
Present 
12747. 
Good 
Present 
12748. 
Fair 
Present 
12784 . 
Good 
Present, but not serious 
12801. 
Poor 
Present 
12816. 
Fair 
Present 
12820. 
Good 
Present 
12846. 
No plants 
No plants 
13291. 
Fair 
t4 it 
13259. 
Fair 
44 44 
13857. 
Poor 
44 44 
17698. 
Good 
44 44 
18751. 
Fair 
44 44 
19508 . 
Good 
44 4 4 
3251. 
Very good 
Present, but not serious 
3252. 
Fair 
Present 
9322. 
No plants 
No plants 
12694. 
Very good 
Present, but not serious 
9453. 
Poor 
Present 
13437. 
Fair 
Present, but not serious 
GypsumNo.1 
Good 
Present, but not serious 
We shall continue this part of the investigation with the same, 
as well as additional varieties, since the only practical way of test¬ 
ing out the disease resistance of these different kinds of alfalfa is 
to grow them under actual field conditions on infected soil, where 
natural agents are at work. We shall introduce, also, legumes 
other than alfalfa, in order to determine the susceptibility of these 
to the disease, so that we may be in a position to recommend other 
crops as substitutes where the land is so badly infected as to make 
profitable alfalfa growing no longer possible. 
