Milford chronicle., 1924-02-08
Italian Seed Is
Not Satisfactory
Has Resulted in Poor Crop
or Failure in Nearly
Every Trial.

prepared by the United States Department
of Agricultural
In October last, the United States
Department of Agriculture called at
tentiOn to the fact that the American
red clover seed crop for 1923 appeared
to be a short one and that therefore
1t was probable that considerable inn
pOrtatiOns of foreign seed would be
made. Present indications are that
such impOrtatiOns will be heavy and
from widely separated regions Of pro-
ductiOn and therefore will include seed
varying greatly in its adaptability to
the climatic conditions of different pOr-
tiOns of this country. This makes 1t
important for the farmer to consider
In the light of available information
what kind of clover seed will be best
for him to buy.
Points Well Settled.
! While the department has not vet
accumulated sufficient information
through its tests in cooperation with
the state experiment stations to make
possible a determination Of the adapt
ability of red clover from all the for
elgn sources, the following points are
regarded as fairly we'll settled:
1. italian red clover seed is UNI
suitable for any part of the clover
area except the Pacific Northwest. |
Italian seed has resulted in a poor |
crop or a failure in nearly every trial |
made by the department, both in its
own tests and those made in cO-Opera-
ton with the state experiment sta
tons except in the Pacific Northwest.
How much italian seed will be import
ed is not known and, unfortunately, it
is not possible to tell how much Ital-
ian grown seed will be offered under
some other name.
2 In the Central Northwest where
winters are severe and the snow cover
usually light, northern grown red
clover seed only should be used If
that is not to be had, other domestic
seed may be used, except that from
Oregon, which produces a less hardy
plant.
3. So far as trials have been made,
the Chilean, French, and northern
European seed has given good results
in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and
in the North Atlantic coast states.
However, where there is trouble from
clover diseases, especially anthracnOse,
the foreign clOvers are more likely to
lose out on the second crop.
4. In Virginia and westward to Ten ,
nessee, where anthracnOse is likely s
to be destructive, an effort should be s
made to develop local disease resistant j
strains. At present there is prac- 1
tically no such seed on the market. '
Under these circumstances seed grown
In the eastern United States as near L
as possible to where the seed is to be
used or Chilean, or French seed sOwn a a
in August rather than in the spring y
may be expected to give fair results. D
On suitable land a good crop of hay
may be commonly expected even
though a second cutting may not be Sc.
cured. il
5. In Oregon, Washington and Idaho OF
all strains have done well, the place T
Of origin of the seed seems to make S
little difference for these regions. g
6. Buyers should insist on knowing tt
the origin of the seed offered and seed
should be purchased from firms or or a
CARNATIONS of known integrity and re- 81 81
~
Use Only Domestic Seed. Is
Z. It would probably be desirable by
or all American farmers to use only tn
domestic red clover seed. That is at ye
present impossible, however, and too be
,reat insistence on this might lead Dt
o an excessive increase in price to- u
,ether with the sale of much imported 90
eed under domestic labels. Wherever -
seed of suitable kinds can 7
e safely used, this course would seem
dvisable to follow rather than to re. u
luce the acreage seeded because OF Hi
in securing domestic seed. ac
Er