Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-09-15
TURKESTAN AL
FALFA SEED HAS
PROVED INFERIOR
The Commercial Variety Both
Higher in Price and Poorer in
Quality Than Home Grown
Product, Say the Experts

Washington, Sept. IA warning to
alfalfa growers to avoid the use of COM
mercial Turkestan seed is contained in
Department Bulletin No. 1885, of the
United States Department of Agriculture,
which is shortly to be issued under the
title. Commercial Turkestan Alfalfa
Seed"
Specialists of the department have been
investigating the comparative merits OF
different Kinds of alfalfa seeds and have
reached the conclusion that there is
nothing to recommend the Turkestan
variety for general use in this country.
It is, they say, particularly unsuited to
the humid climate of the East which, as
| matter of fact, uses most OF the Turk
estan seed imported into this country.
| This seed is also not sufficiently hardy
to warrant its general use in the upper
Mississippi valley, where hardness is an
| important factor The Investigators,
however, are careful to distinguish be-
tween commercial Turkestan alfalfa and
special strains of hardy alfalfas that
have been developed from certain intro
auctions of seed from Turkestan. Valu-
able varieties of alfdlfas unquestionably
present only fitted for use in experimental
work in breeding.
| AT the present time, approximately one
fifth of the alfalfa seed used in the
| United States is imported. OF this guam
| tity, practically all-95 per cent in the
| last u months-comes from Russian
Turkestan. In the European market,
commercial Turkestan is the cheapest
/ seed available; in this country its whole
, safe price is less than that of domestic
seed. In spite of this fact, however,
mistaken belief in it's superior qualities
has resulted in raising its retail price to
| a point frequently above that of domestic
seed. No such Preference is shown in the
alfalfa growing regions of Europe There
| French seed is commonly considered the
best, with Italian ranking next, and Tur-
/ kestan last Under these circumstances,
very little French and Italian seed finds
its way to the United States, the bulk of
the importations being, as already stat
ed. the cheap commercial Turkestan.
Fortunately, growers who wish to avoid
this variety can readily identify it by the
presence of Russian knapweed seeds.
/ These seeds have not been found any
/ where except IN commercial 1ufkeSldH
seed, and here they are practically al
1 ways present. Russian knapweed is in
some ways similar to quack grass, John
son grass and Canada THISTLE spreading
both by seeds and underground root
stocks. 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 form-slightly
wedge shapcd-distinguishes them from
the notched seed of other species often
found in varieties of alfalfa from other
sections. The knapweed seeds. however,
are not usually found in large quantities
and any lot of alfalfa should, therefore,
| be examined in bulk. The examination
of small samples is not sufficient to show
whether the alfalfa comes from Turkes-
tan or not.