Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1914-10-01
SEED FOUND INFERIOR
Commercial Variety Higher in Price,
Poorer in Quality than Home Product

Washington, DC. Sept. ia warn
ing to alfalfa growers to avoid the use
of commercial Turkestan seed is con-
tanned in Department Bulletin No. 1873,
OF the U. s. Department of Agriculture,
which is shortly to be issued under the
title Commercial Turkestau 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, particu-
larly unsuited to the humid climate of
the east which, as a matter of fact,
uses most of the Turkestan seed i'm
ported 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 between com
mercial Turkestan alfalfa and special
strains Of hardy alfalfas that have been
developed from certain introductions
of seed from Turkestan. Valuable
varieties Of alfalfas unquestionably
exist in central Asia, but these are at
present only fitted for use in expert
mental work in breeding.
At the present time, approximately
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 available; in this coun-
try its wholesale price is less than that
of domestic seed. In spite of this fact,
however, mistaken belief in its
superior qualities has resulted in rails
ing its retail price to point frequent
ly 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 Turkestan last. Under these cir
cumstances, very little French and
Italian seed finds it's way to the Unit
ed States, the bulk of the importations
being, as already stated, the cheap
oov,, m oro;o1 TurLos&ou
Fortunately, growers who wish to
avoid this variety can readily identify
it by the presence of Russian KNAPP
weed seeds. These seeds have not been
found anywhere except in commercial
Turkestan seed, and here they are
practically always present. Russian
knapweed is in some ways similar to
quack grass, johnson grass and Canada
thistle, spreading both by seeds and
underground rootstocks. The seeds are
slightly larger than those of alfalfa
and cannot all be removed by any
practicable method of machine clean
ing. Their chalky white color makes
them especially conspicuous, and their
symmetrical form-slightly wedge
ped-distinguishes them from the
notched seed of other species often
found in varieties of alfalfa from other
sections. The knapweed seeds, how
ever, 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 Turkestan or not.