Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1914 — PUNTS OF SIBERIA [ARTICLE]

PUNTS OF SIBERIA

Explorer Hunts New Seeds in Siberian Weeds. Finds Forages That May Be Grown in Northwest—Discovery of Hardy Red Clover and New —— Mongolian Wheat.

Brookings, S. D. —Another advance toward the conquest of its prairie uplands has been made by South Dakota, Prof. N. E. Hansen of the State C6l- - of Agriculture and Mechanics Arts has just returned from a fourth trip to the wilds of Siberia, bringing with him one mid five-eighths tons of hardy alfalfa seed, an amount in excess of his own and his friends’ fondest hopes when he set out on his expedition last May. The seed is of the hardy, upright, yellow flowered Siberian alfalfa, Medicago falcata, which has already proved its worth in the western parts of South Dakota, and even far up into Canada, and it was to get additional supplies of such seed that his state sent him abroad, t —~

On previous trips to Siberia for the department of agriculture at Washington, D. C., Professor. Hansen discovered the yellow flowered alfalfas, and brought home quantities of the seed to be tested in this country. The seed was distributed and tried under varying conditions. In the high and dry regions of South Dakota, after long and painstaking trials to develop seeds and plants, it was seen that these alfalfas were a discovery of first importance and that, used largely, they would add immensely to the value of South Dakota lands.

The problem was to obtain more seed- -The people of the state were eager to solve this. Consequently the last legislature passed two measures, one providing $15,000 for further experimenting with seeds and plants under a nursery system adapted by professor Hansen to the varying conditions of South Dakota, and the other providing SIO,OOO to send' Professor Hansen to Siberia to gather such a crop of seed as he could on the open steppes in regions he had previously explored with success. In both of these bills Professor Hansen was named as the man to conduct the work.

Having put his nurseries in the best of order by a vigorous spring campaign, Professor Hansen Bet out May 29 for Siberia. He hoped to obtain possibly a ton of the kind of seed he was after. He arrived at Brookings Saturday to announce that he had obtained more than a ton and a half, besides many other things that he'believed would be of great value to the people of his state. On his way east Professor Hansen went first to St. Petersburg, where he obtained his passports. Then he hastened to Moscow,' where he secured interpreters and organized his expedition. By the Trans-Siberian railroad he took his party to Omsk and thence southward to lower Siberia, into a country of great extremes of heat and cold, where the rainfall averages from eight to nine Inches. . Moving out by wagon train among the nomads he organised native alfalfa gathering parties and set to work.

The uqprk was by no means easy. The horses of the expedition were wild and unruly, wild animals at times gave a good deal of trouble and the problems of the commissary were not without dlfllcaitiea. The diet of the

party for the most part was limited to mares’ milk, fat tailed mutton, broom corn and coarse wheat bread. Alfalfa seed was by no means all that Professor Hansen obtained, however. A find of exceptional value, in his estimation, is that of a hardy red clover, from a region where the rainfall is about eight lncfcd# and where there is little snow for protection, and the mercury frequently freezes:- Of this seed Professor Han Pen brought back 142 pounds. With this experiments will be made with a view to adding a new clover to the crops of South Dakota.

A new species of sweet clover was another discovery of importance. This is large seeded 1 and red stemmed, grows tall and erect add is more palatable than other sweet clovers. With the increasing interest there is just now in sweet clovers as a forage the development of this Importation will be watched with great interest

A new wheat has also added to the list as a result of this trip of Professor Hansen’s. It is a Mongolian wheat and has a very large kernel. And along with this comes a large, white seeded millet, which gives generoup yields with only an eightinch rainfall. This is the “corner stone” of dry land agriculture in Siberia and is used as a food for both men and beasts. Among Professor Hansen’s horticultural discoveries on this - trip is one of special note. It is a new hardy cherry.’ With this to work upom by crossing and selection a hardy cherry for cold western states may within a reasonable time be developed.