Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-01-21

our alfalfa crops. Especially is this
true for the states of the middle west,
notably Utah, Colorado, Kansas and
Nebraska These states are the home
Of the American type of alfalfa, aud in
them no other alfalfa has been able to
compete with it, When, therefore, the
breeder has found that strain or type
of alfalfa which is most suited to the
locality within which he must work,
it is from this strain that he should
look to draw his materials for further
selection and improvement. He must
first study the needs Of his locality
and determine what lines of improve
ment are most necessary in order to
increase the yield or feeding value.
When this is done he may intelligently
seek out and select for breeding pur-
poses those Individual plants which
seem most likely to possess valuable
characteristics.
For what points should we breed? In
the first place, hardness and vigor are
indispensable, in order that the plant
may not be driven out by weeds or
killed by severe weather conditions.
Moreover, hardy, vigorous plants will
live longer, be more productive, and
the expense of reseeding will not &c so
frequent.
Another aim of the breeder of alfalfa
is to secure plants of greater drought
resistance, in order that the area over
which this valuable plant can be
grown with profit may be further eX-
tended into the semi-arid regions and
that better crops may be secured in
the drier sections in which it is al
ready grown. Drought-resistance in a
plant depends either upon it's effect
iveness in gathering water from the
soil or it's ability to retain it when
gathered, or upon both. Obviously the
best way to determine the drought
resisting qualities of plants is by
means of comparative tests in dry sec
lions. but where this is impracticable
preliminary test may be made by
measuring the quantity Of water trans
pired by a given amount of leaf surface
in a. given time. The Importance of
such tests is suggested by the fact that
of two plants, growing side by side in
the breeding plots of the botanical de-
nartment of the Kansas station, one
showed an average Transportation rate
for equal areas Of leaf surface nearly
twice as great as the other. It is but
natural to suppose that, other charac-
teristics being equal, the plant show
| ing the least loss of water would be
most suited for a dry region. Close
| pollinated seeds CT the abOve-men-
| toned plants have been secured and
| it is proposed to test by similar meth
| DDS the Transportation rates of the off
spring of each in order to determine
| to what extent these characters may
| be inherited, and whether by this meth
Cd there may not be isolated and prop
agated, at once, extremely drought-re-
| Sistant strains.
Alfalfa is susceptible to several dis
eases. All of these are capable of do
| ing more or less serious damage, and
there is as yet no practicable method
| of controlling them known. 1t would
| seem, moreover, that the only method
| in which there is offered any large de-
| gree of hope for success lies in the
| possibility of securing more disease-re.
| sistant strains by selection and breed
| ing.
An ideal alfalfa plant should be very