New YorRK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 201 
flowers can be found at any time during the season. In others, 
flowers may be abundant on certain spots and absent from others. 
Besides, many of the flowers fail to produce seeds. Why this is 
so we do not know. It can not be attributed to the frequent 
mowing of the alfalfa, because Cuscuta epithymum, at least, may 
produce flowers and seeds low down on the plants below the 
reach of the mower. On two alfalfa plants in the Station green- 
house Cuscuta epithymum was permitted to have its own way for 
over three months. It throve, producing threads three feet in 
length (see Plate XX, fig. 1), and finally killed the plants, yet it 
produced no flowers. 
When dodder produces seed it seems as if it must be spread by 
the operations of mowing, tedding and raking; also, in manure 
made from animals fed on the hay. This would be most likely 
to happen in the third cutting. Hay from the first cutting is not 
likely to contain dodder seed because it is made about three weeks 
before the dodder commences to bloom. Usually, the first flowers 
of Cuscuta epithymum appear about July 15. The second cutting, - 
made about August I, may contain some dodder seed. 
While it seems reasonable to suppose that dodder may be intro- 
duced into an established alfalfa field by top dressing it with manure 
containing dodder seed no instance of the kind has come under 
our observation. In considering this problem it occurred to the 
writers that delicate dodder seedlings may find difficulty in estab- 
lishing themselves upon old alfalfa plants. Hence, the following 
experiment was made: Early in the spring of 1906 two spots in a 
two-year old alfalfa field were carefully marked so that they might 
be readily located at any time. On each spot over an area about 
two feet in diameter 100 dodder seeds were sown on each of three 
different occasions: First, on April 18 just as the alfalfa plants 
were commencing growth; second, on May 5 after a heavy shower ; 
third, on July 9 when the second crop of alfalfa was about a foot 
high. The seed used in the first sowing was a mixed lot taken from 
several different samples of alfalfa seed and consisted partly of 
C. epithymum and partly of C. arvensis (?); that used in the sec- 
ond sowing was all from one lot of alfalfa seed (different from 
those previously used) and all C. epithymum; while that used in 
the third sowing was taken from ten different lots of alfalfa seed 
and contained both C. epithymum and C. arvensis (?). Through- 
out the forepart of the season there was an abundance of rain and 
so far as could be determined there were no unusual conditions 
