Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-09-15
HANSEN UP NORTH
INTERESTING STORY OF QUEST
OF EMINENT PLANT EXPERT
IN NORTHERN SIBERIA
WANTED HARDY ALFALFA
The Government Had Commissioned
Him to Obtain Seed of Hardy
Varieties For introduce
ton in the States

Shortly before Commander Robert |
e. Peary nailed the stars and stripes |
to the geographical north pole early |
in the spring OF 1909, there returned |
to the United States from northern |
Asia another explorer who had found |
pole, the discovery of which, in all
human probability, means hundreds of
millions of dollars to the people of the
United States" This is the opening
sentence of story in the Outlook
concerning the great work of a former
Iowa man, Prof. N. E. Hansen Of
South Dakota.
This pole," continues w. P. Kirk
wood, was the north pole of alfalfa,
and the splendor of the achiey ement
of finding it lies in the fact that the
alfalfa seeds brought to America from
its vicinity mean the extension OF the
alfalfa belt on this continent north
ward to the Arctic circle, if men care
to take it sc far; successful alfalfa
culture, that is, for an immense re-
gion from which by extreme cold 1t
has hitherto been barred; an increase
of something like $50 an acre in the
values of northern farm lands; an
added income of millions upon mil
lions of dollars for American farm
ers, and consequently it may fairly
be assumed, greater prosperity for al.
"The discoverer, who came back
unheralded and went ungarlanded
when he came, was Niels Ebbesen
Hansen, hardy bodied and high spir-
tied Dane by birth, an ardent and 10y
al American by adoption, plant ex-
plorer for the United States govern
ment when there is exploring to do in
especially difficult regions, and resu-
larly the head of the horticultural and
forestry department of the South Da-
kota experiment station, which is
connected with the South Dakota col
lege of agriculture and mechanic arts
at Brookings, S. D.
:'But why?" asks some one. There
is abundance of alfalfa in this coun-
try, enough to supply any quantity Of
seed to the north" Obviously, the
trouble is the seeds are not Of the
right kind. Plants from the seed OF
common alfalfa, such as are under
irrigation in California give nine cut
tings a season, and without lrI1gat on
in Oklahoma give as many, often WIN
ter-kill in the extreme cold OF Mime
sofa and the Dakotas. That is, the
kind of alfalfa which thrlVeS In the
southern states will not stand the
severe winters OF the north Wlthout
snow blanket, and such blanhet
cannot be had to order from inc
weather man. In the winter Of 1888
the farmers of the west lost millions
of dollars just because OF this TACT
when Mr.. Wilson became secre-
tary of agriculture and developed his
great plan to search the world fol-
plants adapted to cold and dry elm
er. Accordingly in 1897 the latter Sc
out, the agricultural bureaus hrs
plant explorer plenipotentlary.
Pursuing his search Professor
Hansen crossed Russia twice and the1
went southwark through Transcau
casia and across the Caspian sea int
the land of the Turkoman. 1t wa
there, thrice years ago that tn
north pole of alfalfa idea laid it
relentless grip upon him.
cone memorable day he came upo1
the trail of hardy alfalfa. The dis
covery set his blood a Jingle.
cat once he set his face towar
the alfalfa pole. The compass wa
useful only in so far as it indicate
that the trail led northward. HI
guide was the alfalfa plant itself, an
a weary though increasingly allur
ing journey it led him.
"Thirteen hundred miles northeast
ward along the Tian-Shan mountain
in the very heart of Asia, in a body
racking and cumbersome covere
blackboard, the tarantass, he followe
the plant, questioning Russian arm
officers. natives, the very horse
munching their hay in the markf
places and oftenest of all the wld
wide plains. Nothing but the hardle!
of this hardy new alfalfa Woul
satisfy.
"Then winter, the traditional enem
of pole-hunters, boisterously fell upo
him lust as he returned from an 81
cursion to Kuldja, in northWester
China, and the quest was up for th'
year, at least.
ut was nine years before the agr
cultural department could send nj
out again. The Spanish-Amerlca
the Filipino, and the Russo-Jarane'
wars and the Russian revolution We
obstacles in the way.
'sBut in 1906 the way was open, e
cept for continued bloodshed IN Ru
tsia and Hansen went to nortne1
Europe Including Lapland ana IL:
land with instructions to go on
Siberia if, upon Investigations,
thought conditions In Russia won
hermit. Conditions id not look pror
sing but he decided to take the ris
and made straight for western siberl
"a second great alfalfa discove
was the early result. This was tn
away up in Siberia there grew wi
yellow Powered alfalfa, a forage
great feeding value, on which the .
Deadwood =. In order to minimi
the danger from forest fires t