The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-03-10
Interesting History of the
Alfalfa Development in N. w.
By Charles r. Hutcheson

By Charles r. Hutcheson
The available supply of genuine
Grimm and Cossack alfalfa seed is
the most important factor in en-.
deavoring to secure the goal OF
"An Acre of Alfalfa for Every
Central Minnesota Cow"
About ID years ago, several car,
: loads of common alfalfa seed were
shipped into Minnesota and dis.
tributed among farmers desirious
of growing this wonder crop, and
you can hardly find a single plant
left in the state from these sever.
al carloads. But about this same
time, or a little later, Prof. C. G.
Selvig at Crookston insisted that,
throughout the Red River Valley,
farmers buy only genuine Grimm
alfalfa seed.
You can find dozens of fields
that were started from this ship
ment and hundreds of new fields
sown from seed which was raised
on these plots. You can search
everywhere in the state, and it is
really almost impossible to find a
field of any other variety except
ing Grimm or Cossaek that is in
good, healthy stand and over 10
years old. After having visited
over 10000 patches or fields of
alfalfa during the past few years
in Minnesota, I am forced to con-
clude that using one of these two
varieties is the only way You can
assure yourself that you will hay e
plenty of alfalfa hay, rich IN pro-
tein and minerals to feed your
livestock and to pasture your h,gs
on one year after another.
In 1900, Minnesota had less than
$500 acres of alfalfa. Over SO
per cent of this was in Carver
county. Wendelin Grimm's field
of alfalfa was the only one that
had lived through all the charge
able seasons in that community
during more than thirty years.
This convinced the naighbor:ng
farmers that they should get seed
from Grimm. They had tried out
common alfalfa repeatedly one
year after another. They might
have a crop or two of alfalfa from
their common alfalfa plants and
the next spring the frost would go
out of the ground 5 or 6 inches
deep, then the weather would
change, and it would freeze at the
top surface about an inch and stay
frozen for several days. This
caused an expansion in the soil and
when the top surface heaved up
it broke off the alfalfa roots. The
common plants had only one main
tap root. When this was broken
off, the plant had no feeder roots
to bring in plant food and mois-
ture.
The seed that they purchased
from Grimm was produced on
plants that had roots and a crown
that could stand up under these
heavings Of the soil and the sud
den changes of temperature, ard,
following out the principle, like
produces like" nature had elnni-
mated the characteristics Of the
old common alfalfa root, and dur
ing those 80 years, by natural Sc
lection and carrying out the prln-
ciple of the survival of the fittest,
the Wendelin Grimm field stood
out as the one dependable source
of seed that nature herself had
developed into a rugge1, hardy,
dependable and almost frosu-proof
variety of alfalfa. Much credit is
due those who have fought for the
keeping of this variety Of alfalfa
registered so that purchaser OF
seed would know absolutely that
his seed had blood lines in 1T
tracing back to the old Grimm
field.
Sixty-seven~ winters, springs,
summers and falls have put genu-
inc Grimm alfalfa plants to every
possible test, and thousands OF
them have won and lived in spite
of the vigorous attacks by the ma
tural elements and weather condi-
tions.
What right has anybody to say
that they have alfalfa "Hke
Grimm" Gas good as Grimm"
Not one of the foregoing really
means anything because the origi-
nal Grimm field was the only one
that had gone through this long
period of test. If YOU or anyone
else want to bring out an alfalfa
Gas good as Grimm" thirst let them
show us plants that have lived for
so to 81 years in the varied type
of soil and in the vigorous and
changeable climate that we have
in Minnesota. t.
For "a years, / have watched
carefully and continuously the slow