The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-09-18
TURKESTAk ALFALFA
seed ARE INFERIOR
Higher In Price and Poorer In
Quality Than Home
Products.

1 Washington. d. c.. Sept. 1S.-A
Warming to alfalfa growers to avoid
the use of commercial Turkestan seed
ID contained in Department Bulletin
No. 1873, of the U. s. Department of
Agriculture. which is shortly to be
iSsued under the title Commercial
furkestan Alfalfa Seed"
Specialists of the Department have
Heen investigating the. comparative
rherits of different kinds Of alfalfa
seeds and have reached the conclu-
sion that there is nothing to Rocco
mend the Turkestan variety for gen.
erai use in this country. 1t is, they
say, particularly unsuited to the hu-
mid 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 suf-
fjciently hardy to warrant its gen
efal use in the upper mississippi VAL
ley, where hardness IL an important
factor. The investigators. however,
ar careful to distinguish between
commercial Turkestan alfalfa and
special strains of hardy alfalfas that
have been developed from certain
introductions Of seed from Turke-
stan. 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, approximate
ly one-fifth of the alfalfa seed used
in the United States is imported. OF
this quantity, practically all-95 per
cent in the last twelve months
comes from Russian Turkestan. In
the European market, commercial
Turkestan is the cheapest seed avail
able; in this country its wholesale
price is less than that of domestic
seed. In spite of this fact, however,
a mistaken belief in it's superior
qualities has resulted in raising its
retail price to point frequently
above that of domestic seed. No
such preference is shown in the al
falfa growing regions of Europe.
There French seed is commonly con-
sidered the best, with Italian rank
ing next. and Turkestap last. I'm
der 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 Tur-
kestan. q"
Fortunately growers who wish to
avoid this variety can readily iden-
tify 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
in some ways similar to quack grass.
Johnson grass and Canada thistle,
spreading both by seeds and under
ground rootstocks. The seeds are
slightly larger than those of alfalfa
and cannot all be removed by any
practicable method of Machine
cleaning. Their chalky white color
makes them especially conspicuous.
and their symmetrical orm-slightly
wedge shaped-distinguis them
from the notched seed of other spe-
cies often found in varieties of alfal-
ia from other sections. The KNAPP
weed seeds. however. are not usually
found large quantities and any lot
of alfalfa should, therefore. be ex-
amined in bulk. The examination of
small samples is not sufficient to
show whether the alfalfa comes from
Turkestan or not.