Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1915 — TURKESTAN ALFALFA SEED FOUND INFERIOR [ARTICLE]

TURKESTAN ALFALFA SEED FOUND INFERIOR

The Commercial Variety Both Higher in Price and Poorer in Quality Than Home-Grown Product A warning to alfalfa growers to avoid the use of commercial Turkestan seed is contained in Department Bulletin No. 138, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, under the title of “Commercial Turkestan Alfalfa Seed.” Specialists of the department have been investigating the comparative merits of different kinds of alfalfa seeds, and have reached the conclusion that there is nothing to recommend the Turkesmn variety for general use in this country. It is, they 6ay, particularly unsuited to the humid climate of the east, which as a matter of fact uses most of the Turkestan seed imported into this country. This seed is also not sufficiently hardy to warrant its general use in the upper Mississippi valley, where hradiness is an Important factor. The investigators, however, are careful to distinguish between commercial Turkestan alfalfa and special strains of hardy alfalfas that have been developed from certain introductions of seed from Turkestan. . Valuable varieties of alfalfas unquestionably exist in central Asia, but these are at present only fitted for use in experimental work in breeding. At the present time approximately ‘one-fifth of the alfalfa seed used in the United States is imported. Of this quantity, practically all —96 per cent in the last twelve months —comes from Russian Turkestan. In the European market commercial Turkestan is the cheapest seed available; in this country its wholesale price is less than that of'domestic Beed. In spite of this fact, however, a mistaken belief in its superior qualities has resulted in raising its retail price to a point frequently above that of domestic seed. No such preference is shown in the alfalfa growing regions of Europe. There French seed is commonly considered the best, with Italian ranking next, and Turkestan last. Under these circumstances very little French and Italian seed finds its way to the United States, the bulk of the importations being, as already stated, the cheap commercial Turkestan. Fortunately, growers who wish to avoid this variety can readily identify it by the presence of Russian knapweed seeds. These seeds have not been found anywhere except in commercial Turkestan seed, and here they are practically always present. Russian knapweed is in some ways similar to quack grass, Johnson grass and Canada thistle, spreading by seeds and underground rootstocks. The Beeds are slightly larger than those of alfalfa and can not all be removed by any practicable method of machine cleaning. Their chalky white color makes them especially conspicuous, and their symmetrical form, slightly wedge shaped, distinguishes them from the notched seed of other species often found in varieties of alfalfa from other sections. The knapweed seeds, however, are not usually found in large quantities,, and any lot of alfalfa should therefore be examined in bulk. The examination of small samples is not sufficient to show whether the alfalfa comes from Turkestan or not.