The Book of Alfalfa: History, Cultivation and Merits / Its Uses as a Forage and Fertilizer

It is a time-worn but no less true saying that good seed is essential to good agriculture. No matter how well the farmer prepares his land, no matter how much time, labor and money he spends on it, if much or all of his seed fails to grow, he will either have a poor crop or be obliged to reseed, thus losing time and labor. Many causes may contribute to prevent a good stand, but if he can eliminate any one of these, he is by so much the gainer. Poor seed is a primary and great cause of a poor stand.

The farmer obtains his seed from one of two sources; he raises it or buys it. If the former, there should be less danger, as the chief source of poor seed is careless handling in harvesting and storing. If the seed becomes damp, mold will damage much of it, or it will sprout, then dry out, and the germ be killed. If seed is bought of strangers or from a distance, the chances of poor quality increase many fold. If all seed were bought of reliable dealers, there would be less cause for complaint, but farmers too often buy where they can buy cheapest. They pay for trash that is either full of harmful weed seeds or has a liberal admixture of old and dead seeds left over from previous seasons.

Before seed is purchased it should be tested for purity and germination. The adage that a dollar saved is a dollar earned well applies here; it is an easy matter to waste a dollar on seed, and when profit depends on avoidance of useless expenditure the use of inferior seed points its own moral.

IMPORTANCE OF SIMILAR CONDITIONS

The farmer who has brought himself to the point of introducing alfalfa upon his farm should be extremely careful in the selection of seed. In the first place it is important that he should sow such as is produced in about the same latitude as his farm and from a region of about the same rainfall, thus keeping in a line of acclimation, and with the habits and habitat, as it were, of what he is seeking to raise. Next, he should not sow seed raised under irrigation if he is in a non-irrigation region. A Michigan farmer, for example, should sow seed grown as near to his latitude as possible, say, from Wisconsin, Minnesota or the Dakotas, or not south of Nebraska or Kansas. It is questionable, at present, whether it is wise or profitable to attempt raising alfalfa seed in the more humid districts of the eastern and southern parts of the United States. It may be economy to leave the raising of seed to those regions with the least summer rainfall, keeping always in mind the securing of seed grown under conditions nearly like those to which the seed is to be introduced.

Speaking of the alleged different varieties of alfalfa, the seed of which is urged upon buyers by seedsmen, the editor of the Oklahoma Farm Journal pertinently says:

“We see occasional references to ‘dry land’ alfalfa and statements that it’s a kind that just longs for the hilltops so that it may turn off big crops of rich hay from land too dry and hard to yield good sorghum. Don’t forget that the one thing to look for when purchasing alfalfa seed is good seed, that will grow. It’s hard to find and the price is usually high. When you buy it, buy subject to test and send a fair sample of about an ounce to your experiment station, where it will be tested without charge. At the present time there is but one variety of alfalfa that Oklahoma farmers should buy, and that is good alfalfa seed. There is no ‘dry land’ variety of alfalfa, and the much boomed Turkestan variety isn’t as good for sowing in Oklahoma as Oklahoma or Kansas grown seed. Rich soil, thorough preparation, good seed well sowed, cutting at the right time, harrowing when weeds and grass bother, all these are requisite to success with this most valuable crop, and it pays for all the bother.”

Seed from Nebraska and northwestern Kansas has been generally successful through Iowa and Illinois, and is probably adapted to Ohio and southern Pennsylvania. Utah seed produces good crops in Minnesota, the extremes of cold and heat in Utah having developed a strain that does well in cold climates. The writer would use Utah grown seed for New York, northern New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania, and seed from Wyoming or Montana for New England. On the sandy land of southern New Jersey, in Delaware and Maryland, the seed grown in southern Colorado and southern Kansas ought to do well.

Prof. H. M. Cottrell, formerly agriculturist of the Kansas experiment station, says: “One year I sowed 20 acres to alfalfa—19 acres with Utah grown seed and one acre with imported seed; both showed a germination of over 98 per cent, and the growth was good from both lots all through the season, with no difference that could be detected. The next spring there was a good stand all over the 19 acres seeded with Utah seed, and not a single live plant on the acre seeded with the imported seed. I have seen several trials with imported seed, and never yet saw a good crop harvested from it. Usually after passing through the first winter there is from one-fourth to one-half a stand from such seed; the plants make a weak growth and, if allowed to remain, most of them die out in two or three years. Descriptions of the puny growth in reports of failures of this crop, given by eastern growers, make one think that probably imported seed had been sown. No intelligent farmer would take corn grown in the warm soil and climate and long season of southern Kansas and expect to grow a good crop in New York on heavy soil with short seasons. It is even more difficult to succeed with so great a change in growing alfalfa, as it would have to withstand the long severe winter, as well as the change in summer conditions. No one should sow alfalfa seed without knowing where and under what conditions it was grown.”

New seed, other conditions being right, is always preferable, although that kept for several years, properly cared for, may have retained most of its germinability. Such tests as have been made appeared to show a loss in well stored seed of only about one and one-half per cent of germinability in five years. W. P. Headden (Colorado Bul. No. 35) after various experiments declares, “the results are positive in showing that the age of seed up to six years does not affect its germinating power.” It is usually handled and stored by seedsmen in the ordinary seamless cotton sacks holding from 150 to 160 pounds, and quoted and sold by the pound or hundred-pounds instead of by the bushel. The legal weight of a bushel of recleaned alfalfa seed is sixty pounds.

Although the seed is handled in sacks for convenience, seedsmen say there is no good reason why it might not be safely stored in bulk in bins without any deterioration from heating, or otherwise. There might, however, be some degree of danger from weevils or other insect pests in warm weather. Exposed to too much light, seed will lose its bright yellow color and change to a brownish cast. When stored, dealers say, it does not go through a “sweating” process as do the seeds of some other forage plants and grasses.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF SEED

In years of large production in America and a shortage in other countries, considerable American seed goes abroad to Italy, France, Germany and Australia. The largest portion is consigned to Germany because extensive seed houses at Hamburg act as distributers to all portions of the world, from which they receive demands.

In recent years the United States has been a buyer rather than a seller, and imports have been as follows:

According to the government authorities the bulk of the imported seed comes from Germany and France. That having the best reputation in Europe comes from Provence, (southeastern) France. A small quantity comes from Italy, but it is not generally considered to be of as good quality as that grown farther north. Seedsmen complain that many consignments of the foreign seed contain large quantities of Yellow trefoil and Bur clover.

It is a fallacy popular among farmers and country seed dealers that great quantities of alfalfa seed are exported to be used for dyeing purposes. There is no foundation in fact for such a belief, and the exportations made, like the importations, are for seeding purposes exclusively.

IMPURITIES AND ADULTERATIONS

A foremost source of danger and loss, aside from infertile seed, is impurities and adulterants in the alfalfa seed planted. Growers often are careless and do not examine their alfalfa before or at the time of harvesting, and do not reclean their seed after threshing, thus sending out among innocent purchasers seed mixed with those of weeds, inferior grasses and forage plants, and with various trash which adds bulk and weight but has no value. The commonest seed adulterants or impurities are those of Sweet clover (Melilotus alba) (Illus. opp. p. 26), Bur clover (Medicago denticulata), Spotted clover (Medicago Arabica) (p. 67), Yellow trefoil or Hop clover (Medicago lupulina) (p. 26), and the Dodders (Cuscuta epithymum and Cuscuta arvensis), (pp. 45 and 47).

That an extraordinary proportion of the alfalfa seed in the markets, wheresoever from, is adulterated to an amazing extent with seeds of undesirable plants or loaded with worthless, if not actually harmful impurities, is being demonstrated by the United States Department of Agriculture. In a circular pertaining to this work is given the following, showing the adulterants found in samples bought in the open markets of the cities named:

In Farmers’ Bulletin No. 194 of the United States Department of Agriculture is given the table on page 34 to show the result of analyses of alfalfa seed imported within a period of six months.

Bearing also upon the adulterations, impurities and defectives found in alfalfa seed sold in the markets, extracts from reports of tests made at the Wooster, Ohio station (Bul. No. 142) are exceedingly interesting. In fifteen samples bought, each of one dollar’s worth, the quantity of pure germinable seed was found to range from 5.1 to 9.3 pounds; the number of noxious seeds found in a dollar’s worth of that bought as alfalfa seed ranged from 360 to 185,940. Seven of the fifteen one-dollar samples each carried more than 23,000 noxious seeds.

Seed bought at $7.80 per bushel showed as low as 61.2 per cent that was germinable, of which the actual cost was $12.74 per bushel. None of the fifteen samples had less than 77 per cent of germinable seed. One pound sample contained 21,728 noxious seeds, of which 18,144 were lamb’s-quarter or pigweeds; the same pound also had 3126 seeds of dodder. Another pound carried 6420 seeds of crab grass, and one had 3325 seeds of foxtail.

The station authorities recommend that no alfalfa seed be sown until carefully screened through a screen fine enough to remove dodder seeds. Wire sieves or screens with twenty meshes to the inch are found to serve the purpose.

ADULTERANTS DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED

As a further and more thorough discussion of the frequent adulterants, Prof. H. F. Roberts, botanist of the Kansas experiment station, has kindly prepared, with illustrations, for this volume the quoted statements which follow here:

“The immense and steadily increasing value of alfalfa as a forage crop in the United States, and the high price of the seed, make the securing of sound, pure seed a matter of supreme importance to farmers, and render it equally important for them to be able to recognize, by sight, the presence in alfalfa seed of the adulterants and seeds of certain weeds most commonly known to occur. There is conclusive evidence that an amount of adulteration and substitution is actually practiced with alfalfa seed. It is usually charged that this is done abroad, especially, as is alleged, in Germany.

“The writer has been informed that, to a limited extent, the practice exists in America. The chief adulterant used is the seed of the Yellow trefoil, or, as it is sometimes called, Hop clover or Black medick. (See illustrations opposite pages 26 and 32.) About fifty species of plants are known as ‘medicks’ or, scientifically, Medicago; but it so happens that the only perennial species among them is alfalfa, which goes under the botanical name of Medicago sativa, (p. 1). Other species such as Yellow trefoil (Medicago lupulina) (p. 38) and Bur clover (Medicago denticulata,) while they possess some forage value and are useful to a limited extent, lack, for the most part, the lush, abundant growth of alfalfa itself, and are notably inferior through the fact of their annual habit. It is because of its perennial nature, therefore, as well as on account of its rank, succulent growth, that no species of annual leguminous plant can hope to compete with alfalfa for a moment in importance. This means, then, that any substitute for alfalfa seed, or adulteration of it with the seed of another related species, such as Yellow trefoil or Bur clover, is distinctly a fraud of serious character, despite the fact that the adulterants are plants that make fair pasturage and have some forage value. They are merely annuals, ending their life with the season, whereas a field of alfalfa should live twenty years or more, under right conditions.

THE CHIEF ADULTERANT

“At present, as stated, Yellow trefoil is the chief adulterant used in American alfalfa seed. A number of cases, indeed, of complete or almost complete substitution of Yellow trefoil for alfalfa seed have come to the writer’s attention within the past year. It is important, therefore, for farmers to know the characteristic marks of distinction between the seed of alfalfa and of its chief adulterants. What are the chief characteristics of alfalfa seed? Facing page 13 are samples of pure alfalfa seed, photographed under a magnification of five diameters. It will be noted that seeds of three general types exist: (1) A kidney-shaped type, marked ‘a’ in the illustration; (2) a type in which one end terminates in an acute wedge, marked ‘e’; and (3) a type that is round or nearly so, marked ‘b’. These types clearly illustrated, arranged for comparison in parallel rows are shown opposite page 44. See also page 27. It should be noticed that type 2 is the most characteristic and frequent, and that the perfectly round type is extremely rare. This angular slant toward one tip of the seed is found nowhere among any of the adulterants. Neither does the kidney shape of seed occur, except in Bur clover; and, in that case, the difference in the size of the seeds of the two species is sufficient to distinguish them, in most instances.

“It is when we consider the round or roundish type of alfalfa seed that there is difficulty in distinguishing from alfalfa the seeds of Yellow trefoil and of Sweet clover (illus. opp. p. 26), which latter frequently occurs as a weed seed, and possibly in some cases in sufficient quantity to be suspected as an adulterant. By comparison of the seeds of alfalfa with the two adulterants just mentioned, (p. 26) the resemblances and differences of the three species will become evident. In general the seeds of Yellow trefoil are shorter and rounder than those of alfalfa, the largest seeds of trefoil measuring 0.0629 inch wide by 0.0897 inch long; whereas the largest alfalfa seeds measure 0.0653 inch wide by 0.1153 inch long; so that the largest alfalfa seeds are a trifle wider and more than a third again as long as the largest trefoil seeds. The smallest seeds of Yellow trefoil are usually plumper and shorter than those of alfalfa (0.0511 inch wide by 0.0291 inch long, as compared with 0.0496 inch wide by 0.0751 inch long in alfalfa); nevertheless, among both the small and the large seeds, so far as the criterion of size goes, individuals occur that equally well belong to either species, and the average differences in size are not so great as the differences found on comparing the largest and the smallest seeds of the two species, the average for the trefoil being 0.0574 inch by 0.0799 inch, and for alfalfa 0.0582 inch by 0.0944 inch. So it will be seen at once that while trefoil seeds as a rule are smaller, shorter and rounder than those of alfalfa, the rule is transgressed by many individuals. We must, therefore, turn to the form and general outline of the seed. A farmer can detect at once an attempt to substitute wholly Yellow trefoil for alfalfa seed by the fact that in no case will the kidney-shaped or the regular-pointed types of seed be found in trefoil, whereas these always occur in alfalfa. (Illustrated opp p. 26.)

“In the more common cases, where adulteration rather than complete substitution is practiced, detection is more difficult—is practically impossible, in fact, without the aid of a lens or magnifying glass having a power of about fifteen diameters. There are many seeds of trefoil which can scarcely be distinguished from certain rounded seeds of alfalfa. Generally, however, the trefoil seed has a little projection or “beak” on the middle line of the seed, just back of the scar marking where the seed was attached to the pod. This is rarely found in alfalfa.

“Bur clover as an adulterant is probably not so frequently used as Yellow trefoil, since the larger size of its seed renders detection easy. Were it not for this fact, Bur clover would be a most effective adulterant, because its seeds resemble those of alfalfa more closely than do those of Yellow trefoil. There are, of course, smaller seeds of Bur clover and larger seeds of alfalfa that approximate each other in size, but the average Bur clover seeds measure 0.0604 inch by 0.1188 inch, as compared with an average for alfalfa of only 0.0582 inch by 0.0944 inch.

“So far as the plants of Yellow trefoil and Bur clover are concerned, they are easily distinguishable from alfalfa. Both are of lower growth, as a rule, than alfalfa. Both have wider leaflets, which, in Bur clover, are like broad, inverted wedges. The flowers of these plants are yellow, and are borne in scanty clusters. The pods are wholly unlike those of alfalfa. Alfalfa has a spiral pod of two or three turns (p. 32), containing as many as five or six seeds. Yellow trefoil has a straight pod (p. 32), containing but one seed. Bur clover has a coiled pod (p. 33), but covered with bristly projections that give the plant its name. Where adulteration or substitution is practiced, some of the pods are very apt to occur in the bulk seed, and they can then easily be identified and distinguished from those of alfalfa.

“Seed of Sweet clover seems to occur frequently in western-grown alfalfa seed (p. 26). Sweet clover (illustrated in this book) grows to a height frequently of from four to six feet, bearing small, white flowers on slender spikes three or four inches long. Unfortunately, and unlike Yellow trefoil and Bur clover, Sweet clover is generally rejected by stock. On this account, it is a plant of no generally established value for hay or as pasture, although, in some instances, it is successfully used. The seeds of Sweet clover are of a golden yellow when ripe; those of alfalfa, trefoil and Bur clover being greenish yellow. The seed coat of Sweet clover seed is covered with minute elevations, while alfalfa seed is smooth. The seeds of Sweet clover (p. 26) are rounder and plumper than those of alfalfa, and have a very pronounced groove between the main body of the seed and the ridge which marks the location of the rootlet of the young plant within. It is this ridge that in alfalfa seeds runs off, as a rule, in a marked slant, but which in both trefoil and Sweet clover, especially in the latter, forms a well-rounded curve to the tip of the seed. No pointed or kidney-shaped seeds are ever seen in Sweet clover. (See illus. opp. p. 26.)

A COMMON WEED IN IMPORTED ALFALFA SEED

“It remains to mention the most common weed found in imported alfalfa seed—the English or Ribbed plantain, or, as it is more generally called in the West, Buck-horn or Rib grass. It is a difficult weed to eradicate, lots of seed containing any noticeable percentage of it should be rejected. (See illus. opp. p. 13.)

“The farmer is often to blame for the poor seed of which he makes complaint. Prime alfalfa seed is expensive, and a cheap grade will inevitably be poor in quality, containing much dead seed, rubbish, and the seeds of many kinds of weeds. Where ‘cheap’ alfalfa seed is demanded it will always be sold, and buyers need not be surprised by its quality. On the other hand, there is no excuse or palliation for the offense of selling, under the name and at the price of standard alfalfa seed, seed of substituted species. It is the duty of seed dealers to ascertain beforehand the character and genuineness of seed that they sell under any given name, and this applies to the retailers as well as to the wholesale dealers. On the other hand, farmers cannot expect to obtain the best seed unless they are willing to pay the price it brings.”

DODDER SEED

Dodder seeds are somewhat smaller than alfalfa seeds (pp. 45 and 47), but are not separated from them except by careful recleaning; consequently, they are often sown along with the alfalfa seed, especially in that which has been imported. If a field is badly infested, it should be plowed up and devoted to some other crop for a few years. Prof. F. H. Hillman of Nevada (Bul. No. 47) says there are several kinds that infest alfalfa, but two kinds are especially common and destructive in this country. Cuscuta epithymum is the commoner. “The seeds of this (p. 47) are very small, and are almost sure to escape detection on casual examination of the samples; yet, once recognized under the lens, their presence may be easily discovered. They are so much smaller than alfalfa seeds that the use of a sieve of twenty meshes per inch separates them from the latter when only free dodder seeds are present. Not only are various other small weed seeds disposed of in the process, but little if any alfalfa seed worth buying is lost. The few ripened flowers of dodder retaining matured seeds, which sometimes pass the thresher uninjured, may be removed by proper fanning. It is safe to say that no purchaser of alfalfa seed can afford to neglect sifting his seed carefully with a twenty-mesh sieve, which is the mesh the writer recommends for the separation of this kind of dodder from alfalfa seed.

“Cuscuta arvensis is another dodder as destructive when once established. Its seeds (p. 47) seem to be less common, however. They are larger than the preceding, many of them being practically the same size as the smaller, more rounded alfalfa seeds, which they often strikingly resemble. Thus they are hard to detect, and cannot be removed without the loss of much small alfalfa seed. This should be the more dreaded of the two dodders, because alfalfa seed infested with seeds of Cuscuta epithymum can be made practically free from them with comparatively little loss and expense. Not so, however, with seed containing Cuscuta arvensis, which should not be purchased at any price. Dodder seeds can scarcely be regarded as an adulterant, yet as an impurity they are very common and most objectionable.” (See illustrations opp. pp. 45, 46 and 47.)