Evening star., 1909-02-19
RETURNS WITH SEEDS
Prof. Hansen Finds New Va
rieties of Alfalfa.
REALLY SC0URS WORLD
Agricultural Explorer Completes
Fourth Trip Abroad.
IS A GREAT NORTHWEST MAN"
Introduces in This Country the
Hardest of Proteid Plans.
Report to Department.

| y. r.. Hansen. the agricultural explorer
and hortculturist. who for the last eight
months was travelling through Russia. ST.
berfa. Central Asia, Turkestan and north
| ern Africa in quest of new varieties of
| alfalfa and clover for cultivation in this
| country, has returned with more than
! three hundred lots of seeds and plants to
| be used by the Department of Agriculture
| in experimental work. On previous trips
| Prof Hansen found alfalfa and clover
plants which it was proved would thrive
| in sections of the west where ii had been
| impossible to raise plants of the same
variety advantageously. He also intro
duced in the northwest Siberian alfalfa
that Is believed to be the hardest of pro-
| teid plants and will endure the severest
cold
| Prof Hansen has located two more
varieties of this northern plant. which
grows in a se"tion of Siberia, where the
mercury freezes and where there is no
snow. The Department of Agriculture
Will conduct experiments with the new
| plant in several northwestern states.
Busy With His Report
| Prof Hansen is now very busy with
| his report to the Department of Agri-
| culture and with his preparations to
| leave Washington as soon as possible for
| great northwest man primarily, and his
enthusiasm for the section in which he
resides is responsible for Secretary Will
sons choice in sending him on the re-
cent the fourth of his worldwide eXplora-
| tons in search of the best that the
eastern or western hemisphere produces.
| so that the United States may benefit
by it.
Prof. Hansen said today one great
reason for the departments anxiety about
the northwestern grazing fields is that
the history of the continent shows alter
nate cycles OF wet and dry weather. Just
| at present, with the farmers owning
motor ears and with everything in first
class full-dinner-pail order on the farms.
the climatic conditions are splendid but
If history repeats itself and a long dry
cycle rolls around the west will suffer
for the years in which the bountiful
rains Keep away For that reason the
world has been actually secured by Prof.
Hansen in his effort to get the clover and
alfalfa which will best grow in the lati-
tudes of the northwest and under condi-
tlons which may be expected
Foundation of Meat Industry.
Glover and alfalfa are the founda ton
for the great meat industry abroad. and
will become the beef and mutton raisers
greatest source of strength when the re-
suits of the Hansen expeditions are thor
ouShIS disseminated throughout the cat
| tie states.
Prof Hansen carries a passport from
| the State Department showing all ma
tons that he is an agricultural explorer
| The back of the document is stamped
and vised and signed with the official
seals and signatures of dozens of coun-
tries. Scarcely half an inch of clear
space remains. Through all of the prin-
cipalities and countries of that mysterious
region in and around the desert of Cobb
the explorer and his men travelled Sleep
ing on the ground at times. living with
the Mongolian peasants. doing farm work
and searching for the alfalfa which grows
| fartiest north.
Eighty-Three Degrees Below Zero.
| In one region. where the subsoiI is al
| ways frozen and where lakes and rivers
| freeze to the bottom, the party found
some of the varieties of which seeds have
been brought back. In one of the locali-
ties visited il is said that the thermometer
| has registered in winter S' degrees below
| zero. Prof Hansen would not verify that
however
The party risked cholera and other
| dangerous diseases. 1t met with adven-
| lures of all sorts. and in addition to the
| dangers it went through brought back
| story after story that will keep friends
| laughing for many months
| Prof Hansen stopped at nothing to get
a complete knowledge of the subject in
| which he was interested At one time
| when he found he was too late to collect
d quantity of certain seeds. he bought a
| huge pile of alfalfa and set Cinnamon to
| work sorting out the blades of grass and
| securing from the pile the seeds he
| wanted.