Show NINE commercial STRAINS OF ALFALFA aj R W 1 1 0 AT 3 aw nag fv irrine I 1 4 M R TIAN I 1 RAN 0 g A 11 GOOD FIELD OF ALFALFA ON KENTUCKY FARM Prepa prepared cd by the be united states department ot of agriculture there are now nov nine fairly distinctive commercial oui mercial strains of alfalfa recognized in the united states these vary in n their climatic and other othe 1 re require quire ments and the farmer fanner who is contemplating lating planting alfalfa will do well to 4 7 A 1 4 ap CL n high and low grade seed ascertain tor for Illin himself self what variety is best aest suited to his condition F full ull in formation orin atlon on this point is contained in farmers bulletin Bullet luNo no of the V U S department of agriculture common alfalfa is a general term used to include all the theal al falfas that ire arf not clearly of hybrid origin or do not lot have distinct and uniform charac te crIsti cs the term however includes a number of different strains which are often designated by y some geographic or descriptive name such as kansas grown alfalfa dryland dry land alfalfa nl falfa 1 irrigated alfalfa etc in this conri connection letl on it may ay be said that the dryland dry land alfalfa ifa seed offered on the market has so far failed to show any noticeable superiority in resisting drought over that grown with an abundance of moisture on the other hand strains developed in the south have been found ae less ss hard than those in the northern states although they usually produce larger yields yield turkestan Turk estan alfalfa when subjected to thorough tests has been found inferior to american grown strains the grimm baltic canadian variegated and sand lucer n are well known commercial strains of variegated al falta falfa with the exception of sand lucern they have been found more resistant to cold than other commercial strains and may be recommended recommended recommend Rd for sections where occurs frequently peruvian alfalfa under favorable conditions outfields out fields any other commercial strain r for or the united states however it is not very generally useful because it is not resistant to severe cold and can only be grown successfully where tho the winter temperature Is mild as jn a the southern and southwestern stites states arabian alfalfa has a tendency to be short lived and cannot therefore be regarded as a satisfactory variety no matter what variety the farmer chooses lie should learn to distinguish y good from poor seed plump seed of an olive green coloia color almost invariably germinates well while shriveled or brown seed generally turns out poorly the presence of any appreciable quantity of weed seeds or oth other impurities indicate poor quality |