Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

CATALOG

Certified Hardy Highland Grown

Alfalfa

And Other Field Seeds

Sold By

R. H. James

Rocky Ford, Colorado

By Way of Introduction

For every purchase of seed there should be a reason. With thousands of farmers and dealers offering seed in one way or another there should be some inducement to buy or my paper and postage is wasted.

Convenience, cost, quality and adaptability generally determine purchases of seeds. In the matter of convenience due to the low cost and excellence of our freight, express and parcel post service we are all on much of an equality. As to cost 1 believe because of my location at the place of production this can be held to be at least reasonable, in many instances low. To determine this exactly for you I am always pleased to quote you delivered prices. Dismiss¬ ing convenience and cost with these few words the remaining space will be devoted to the matters of quality and adaptability.

Quality is determined largely by using only parent stock of the highest procurable type and purity, reproducing the same under conditions insuring the crops best development. Few producers or dealers in farm seeds have as good control of the production as I happen to have. With a rather large ex¬ perience in the production of vegetable and farm seeds I realize fully the importance of the best of stocks and growing conditions. This business is built on the belief that I possess both in unsurpassed measure. Rocky Ford is famous as one of the very largest producers of garden seeds and produces farm crops in quantity and quality equaled by very few, if any, sections anywhere.

Where Winter hardiness is to be considered, the planter is assured that, due to our altitude and almost total lack of snow protection, our alfalfa and clovers get as much hardship as any produced in America and will equal any in Winter hardiness. An inspection of the native plants and the successfully grown fruit varieties prove, that any fruit or plant incapable of withstanding the severest American climatic conditions, does not flourish permanently here. Due to more than ordinary care on the part of the Rocky Ford farmers and the rapid and continuous rotation of the many crops grown here, no section has less noxious weeds. However, to give most positive assurance of this, we are glad to cooperate with the state seed laws in the matter of laboratory tests and tagging.

Prices quoted herein are F. O. B. Rocky Ford. Always glad to specially quote delivered prices, with samples, to those living outside of the Rocky Ford trade area. The principle of “Pittsburg Plus” prevails in the seed as in the steel business. Unless you live in a section producing a surplus of seeds you will pay practically the same transportation cost, whether you buy from me here, or from some local dealer, who has had to add it to his price. In any case quality should be the determining factor.

Winter Hardy Highland

Alfalfa

I offer three varieties of alfalfa seed, all locally grown, free of noxious weeds and cleaned to a purity of 99% or better. I am confident that you will find them unexcelled in Winter hardiness by seed from any section without exception.

COLORADO COMMON. Whether you or I approve or not the fact re¬ mains, that the great bulk of the hay produced is what is called Common Alfalfa. That it gives so general satisfaction proves the possession of con¬ siderable merit. For years the Colleges, the Agricultural Press and the Seed Trade have united in boosting in no uncertain fashion Grimm, Baltic, Turkes¬ tan, Cossack, Peruvian and others. While I recommend Grimm and Ladak as my personal preference, the “customer is boss” here. I therefore supply Colorado Common Alfalfa which I believe to be the equal of any “Common” alfalfa from anywhere, in as good quality and price as is possible, giving full details of origin, purity and germination on each bag sent out. See the back page for prices which are guaranteed only for 30 days or till present stocks are exhausted. Suggest you let me quote delivered price.

GRIMM ALFALFA has many friends in many sections. While it is not generally credited with producing more hay than our common it is undoubtedly of better quality and is thought by many to be more Winter hardy. I am handling this in Blue Tag State Certified and Grower Affidavit grades. Find prices on the back cover. Grimm alfalfa is especially scarce here this season and early orders on this especially recommended.

New Hardy Wilt-Resistant Alfalfa, LadaK

A four year old Ladak Alfalfa plant. Note the hundreds of fine hay stems. As these grow they branch like a tree making this the finest quality of all alfalfa hays. Also observe the low unexposed crown with the new growth coming from the underside of the perennial part of the crown. Other strains of alfalfa send their sprouts straight up from the more exposed portions. But Ladak’s ability to withstand the destructive life-shortening wilt disease is its crowning virtue.

Every year we get more and more complaint of alfalfa fields dying out. Did not use to be that way. Until lately an alfalfa stand was good long enough. However, in time a disease known as Bacterial Wilt made its appear¬ ance and since then the average life of an alfalfa seeding is less than five years. The necessity of rotating the ground to other crops is very inconvenient in many cases, to which we add the loss in hay, through most of us not being quick enough to plow up the stand on the appearance of the disease. There is no treatment for the disease and Ladak is the only resistant variety of which seed is available. While this seed costs much more per pound, when you con¬ sider the expense and loss due to thinning stands and plowing up, the seed is a bargain at twice the price. However, if there were no difference in the length of life of the seedlings, the difference in yield in one season more thqn pays for the extra initial expense. Here is one variety I am confident will be sold out early in the season. Supply is limited. Find prices on back cover.

New Hardy Wilt-Resistant Alfalfa

WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT LADAIv ALFALFA

Mr. P. T. Fortner, Baker, Oregon ; reports : “Its popularity is in the extra heavy first cutting which this variety produces. This adapts it to re¬ gions with short water supplies. In one or two instances where I have had opportunity to weigh Ladak alongside Grimm or Common I have found La dak to outyield other varieties by at least a half ton per acre.”

Mr. J. A. Ernest, Fort Rock. Oregon ; reports : “I have a plot of Ladak seeded the same time as some Grimm in 392G. The Summer frosts do not affect it. It outyields the Grimm every year, and it makes finer, leafier hay than Grimm.”

St. Paul, Minnesota ; reports : “Ladak Alfalfa is somewhat more resistant to alfalfa wilt than Grimm. Ladak is a very hardy alfalfa and in our tests has yielded as high as Grimm. If wilt becomes a menace in Minnesota, then I shall expect an increase in acreage of Ladak.”

Moscow, Idaho ; reports : “Ladak under our conditions has been very satisfactory and we believe it is a very promising one in sections where wilt is pervalent.”

Fargo, North Dakota ; reports : “Ladak is hardy and resistant to drouth, comparing favorably with the best varieties in these respects. In yields of hay it has likewise been satisfactory.”

Havre, Montana ; reports : “A variety trial planted in 1926. Four years later there were traces only left of Kansas and Dakota Common. Thirteen per cent of Hardigan. Ten per cent each of Turkestan and Grimm. Forty-five per cent Ladak. Havre is said to be ten per cent colder than the North Pole.”

Archer Field Experiment Station, Wyoming ; reports : “Ladak produced the largest hay yields and appeared to be the best variety for dry land farm¬ ing. It yielded more hay in rows than when drilled.”

Fort Hays Experiment Station, Kansas; reports: “Has proven superior to other varieties in total yield at the Fort Hays Station.”

Baker, Oregon ; reports : “Ladak is a very leafy variety and makes very fine quality hay which is higher in protein and relished to a larger extent by livestock than hay of other varieties.”

America's greatest farm publication, the Country Gentleman, in November. 1933, and the February, 1934, numbers, gave this variety full page articles praising it very highly. Good reports on it may be had from the experiment stations at North Platte, Nebraska ; Redfield, South Dakota ; Sheridan, Wyom¬ ing; Aberdeen, Idaho; Corvallis, Oregon; Pullman, Washington; and Boze¬ man, Montana.

New Hardy Wilt-Resistant Alfalfa

Four years ago upon recommendation of Professor H. D. Hughes, of the Ames, Iowa, station, I secured Ladak alfalfa seed to plant four small fields. Being a very dry spring only secured two stands. From its performance in these two fields I now believe it to be the best of all alfalfa varieties.

On both of these farms we have been trying to make seed so have never got a check as to its ability to produce quantity hay. During the past Summer a later planted field was well irrigated and the yield compared with Colorado Common growing alongside, with the result that hay from the Ladak weighed an even ton per acre more than Common under the same conditions of soil and water. That extra ton of $15.00 hay per acre repaid several times over the extra expense for seed.

Ladak’s great virtue is the ability to withstand Wilt. Wilt has done more to reduce the alfalfa acreage in the West, and to take the profits out of hay growing, so that Ladak would be extensively used if it was a poor hay producer. The past Summer competent experts examined my two fields of Ladak and pronounced their freedom from Wilt remarkable. Wilt is in the alfalfa producing sections to stay. There is no cure or control for it outside of the new resistant Ladak. Using cheap Wilt susceptible seed is like hiring high priced workmen to put on cheap paint or wall paper. Taken into con¬ sideration in getting a stand of alfalfa the price of seed is only a small part.

Ladak hay always looks like third cutting, it is so fine stemmed and leafy. For this reason it will often bring extra price for use as rabbit and poultry hay. Fed to your own stock it is worth much more than the old coarse stemmy Common on account of the extra food value.

As yet we have not had a good Winter hardiness test made here, but at Fort Collins, a couple of years ago, it got a good test and showed up much better than any of the other sorts, in fact was the only variety that came through with a stand and did not have to be replanted.

One characteristic of Ladak is that it makes a very heavy first cutting of hay. This makes it especially valuable for the dry land farmer or the man under a canal that only gets water once a year. It is unquestionably far the best variety for the dry farm belt.

PRICE for Certified Blue Tag Ladak Alfalfa seed is 75c per pound for 14 pounds or less. Over 15 pounds, 70c per pound. This price is good until my stock of seed is exhausted. While the price per pound is higher than Common seed, due to its stooling habit but half as much seed is needed, which reduces the difference in the cost of seeding considerably.

New Hardy Wilt-Resistant Alfalfa

I paid $851.60 for the part trailer load pictured above. Although it was not a heavy seed crop the crop paid the grower at the rate of $182.00 per acre. It would have taken a lot of $7.00 hay to have brought in that much money while this load came in behind the family car without any inconven¬ ience to the day’s shopping.

Growing Ladak For Seed

While the main use of Ladak must always- be for use as a hay or pasture crop, still for many it will undoubtedly prove a money maker as a seed crop. Especially is this true of those situated favorably for seed production. It so happened I was interested in the welfare of the pioneer Grimm seed growers of Idaho and so know something of what adopting Grimm did for them. For about thirty years now they have been getting a premium of from six to thirty cents per pound on every pound of Grimm seed they produced, over what they would have received for Common. My opinion is that Ladak has much more to recommend it than had Grimm, and that Ladak growers can depend on having many years of profitable prices for Certified Ladak seed. With the Corn and Hog Program diverting acreage into hay and pasture, thereby mak¬ ing future prices of hay very uncertain, demand for good 'Wilt-Resistant Ladak ought to remain stable for many long years. From wherever alfalfa is pro¬ duced comes this call for a Wilt-Resistant variety, and it is going to take many years for the old conservative alfalfa seed producers to plow up their fields of common and turn to Ladak. The man who gets in now should reap a harvest.

Due to the tendency of Ladak to grow big crowns it is an ideal sort to grow in rows. In fact our trouble so far has been that in planting ten pounds per acre broadcast we got much too thick a stand to make seed. In rows three to five pounds is plenty and even at 70c per pound that does not make the seeding a costly procedure. On dry land less is advised. It is a mistake to get a thick stand to produce seed.

Colorado Grown Clover Seeds

Colorado Medium Red Clover

No section produces better Red Clover seed than the Rocky Ford dis¬ trict. It is beautiful seed and we have very little trouble with noxious weeds such as Dodder and Buekliorn. It lias been widely tested for hardiness and is admitted to be the equal of any in states requiring the utmost in Winter hardiness. See last cover page for prices.

Colorado Grown Sweet Clovers

I offer you both the White and Yellow Blossom Sweet Clovers, free from noxious weeds and attractively priced. Every season sees a larger use of these crops for use as pasture and hay crops and for soil improvement. Will grow most anywhere and is really a better pasture for liogs and cattle than alfalfa. It is drouth resistant, inexpensive to seed and should be on every farm. See last cover page for prices.

Ladino, The Giant WHite Clover

This is a recent introduction from Italy. In brief it is a giant form of the common small White Dutch clover. It is adapted primarily for perma¬ nent pasture and lias a greater carrying capacity than any other clover. Non¬ bloating. It is a long lived plant and once established will keep all other vegetation out. Makes wonderful rabbit and poultry hay and an immense amount of it. Not so well adapted for dry locations but stands plenty of moisture. Seed is very small and three pounds per acre is plenty. Can be started with or without a cover crop. See last cover page for prices.

Reed Canary Grass

This grass is offered to the farm¬ ers of the Mountain and Northern states as valuable for lands too wet for any other crop. At the same time it is as drouth resistant as any of the widely used grasses. While unable to stand much stagnant water it flourish¬ es submerged in running water, and in most places is thought of only as a wet land crop. It is to a degree tol¬ erant of alkali. I see it growing wild along the Mesa seeps of Delta county, Colorado, and along the alkali drain ditches of Larimer county. In Delta county I have observed it growing a year without irrigation and produce heavy pasturage on a 12 inch rainfall. It has a much wider range of soil toleration than Alfalfa and produces about the same amount of hay per acre. It can be grown on some loca¬ tions not suitable for alfalfa and in addition is safe for cow pasture, not producing bloat. It’s a shy seed pro¬ ducer but chances are this will be developed as we get better acquainted with this crop. recommend it chiefly as a pasture crop relished by stock and poultry.

Seed as early as possible in the Spring, broadcasting from four to six pounds per acre, or, in 18-inch drill rows, two or three pounds. Seed germin¬ ates readily under water but not in soil under water. Seeded early a nurse crop is not needed. In preparing the seed bed use disc or harrow instead of plow. Eighteen inch rows will sod over completely in a couple of seasons.

See back cover page for seed prices. If more information is wanted get U. S. D. A. Farmers Bulletin No. 1602.

Crested Wheat Grass

For the High Plains area and the Northern states Crested Wheat Grass gives promise of much value. Still in the experimental stages with me. For reseeding the short grass* and sage brush country I know of nothing equal to it. Seed is very scarce and high. For seeding with wheat drill, use 10 or 12 pounds per acre. In rows 18 to 20 inches apart, 4 to 5 pounds. Seed early. See back cover for prices.

Sudan Grass

Sudan Grass is another crop whose use is increasing yearly as its virtues and adaptations become better known. Belonging to the cane family and strictly an annual its ability to produce a tremendous amount of pasture dur¬ ing the dry hot months, when other pastures dry up, makes this crop of value to the stock and dairyman. Horses and hogs also thrive on it. As a pinch- hitter for farms short of pasture nothing else equals it. Pure Sudan has never been known to kill stock, but where the seed planted is full of cane mixtures and hybrids pasturing is not advised. This cheaper grade of seed is advised only where the crop is wanted for hay only. We advise the planting of Certified seed, at least get an analyist’s report showing the seed you use is free of hybrids. My seed is Colorado grown, carries neither Johnson Grass or other mixtures or hybrids unfitting it for pasture use. We have it in both the certified and common grades.

Grown for hay purposes Sudan can be planted with a grain drill, using two or three pecks per acre. Planted in midsummer it will make a good crop of hay in 60 days. As much as 6 or 8 tons can be expected per season. Being a member of the sorghum family it should not be planted till late corn plant¬ ing time.

Seed of this is mostly grown on the Texas plains, which were very dry last Summer and seed is now higher than it has been for some years. Do not plant too early but do not put off buying seed too late this season. See prices on back cover.

Sorghum Seed

Sorghum and the Millets seem to be about the scarcest thing there is. If you are going to plant any of these my advice is to buy it long before you need it, as it is not apt to be procurable at planting time. This advice is good on most all seed this season but especially so on sorghums. Write for prices.

ORDER SHEET— 1935

R. H.

CLOVER AND

ROCKY FORD

JAMES

GRASS SEEDS

COLOR ADi

Nam©

Date

1935

Street, R. F. D. or P. O. Box . . .

Post Office . State

Send by . on . 1935 to Station or Express . .

(Parcel Post, Exp. or Frt.) (Shipping Date) (Only if different from P. O.)

QUANTITY

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

NewHopi Indian Lima

This is a brand new introduction of an extra hardy Lima that matures well at the North and in high altitudes. All other Lima Beans are a native of a trop¬ ical homeland. These have been grown from prehistoric times by the Indians of the Utah- Arizona plateau with a climate like Iowa.

As they have always been grown with little rainfall by Indian dry farm meth¬ ods they are a certainly proven dry land crop. I recommend them to the dry farmers and irrigators alike as a heavy producer with the true big lima flavor that will command a large demand and price. While I am catering to the field planter they make a good item for the garden as they are fine cooked green, either alone or with green corn to make succotash. In the garden they should be trellised but we grow them in 40 inch rows and have little trouble in harvest¬ ing them. Thirty pounds is plenty to plant an acre.

OtHer Seed

The foregoing are listed at length as they are outstanding in value and need to be better known. In addition to these I handle seed corn, wheat, oats, barley, cane, beans, etc. I believe I have as large an assortment of certified field seeds as any dealer in the state. The intention is to handle only such grades. You will find prices reasonable. Tags will comply with state laws and varie¬ ties are proven. Descriptions are given according to my experience with the crops. However, on account of the many factors affecting the conduct of seeds no warranty, expressed or implied, is given as to description, quality, produc¬ tiveness or any other matter of any seeds we sell. If purchaser does not accept them on these terms they should be at once returned.

Certified Seed

I am a believer in the certification of seeds by the state inspectors. My experience is this inspection helps the best of growers and if paid attention to by planters would cut out a lot of seed being sold one way and another. Then the best of seed needs recleaning. A good cleaning plant certainly is a bless¬ ing to its patrons and whether you grow your own seed or buy from your brother-in-law see to it that they are well cleaned. The planting of unclean seeds has done more to spread bad weeds than everything else combined.

Price List

Due to tlie close margin at which field seeds are retailed and to the varia¬ tions in prices to he expected this year, the following prices are guaranteed only for the next 30 days, or until present stocks are exhausted. We are always pleased to sample and quote latest prices on any seed in which you are interested. Due to the present abnormal scarcity of seeds early ordering is advised. We will hold for you without charge any late planted seed which you may order and pay for now and you will find early orders more than usually profitable this season.

PRICES are for cash with order and are F. O. B. Rocky Ford, Colorado. Transportation to destination quoted on request.

PRICE LIST for the month ending February 15th or until the lots quoted are exhausted.

ALFALFA, Colorado Common

Lot Nel . Purity 99.61% @ 24/ lb.

Highland Maid, Blue Tag Certified Ladak Lot GIB. Purity 99.91% @ 75/ lb. Over 15 lbs. @ 70/ lb.

Highland Maid, Blue Tag Certified Grimm Lot Hun. Purity 99.87% @ 33/ lb.

Highland Maid, Affidavit Grimm

Lot KUR. Purity 99.31% @ 27/ lb.

CLOVER, Highland Maid, Medium Red Clover

Lot BOB. Purity 99.26% @ 24/ lb.

Highland Maid Yellow Blossom Sweet Clover Lot SHO. Purity 99 . 8 % @ 11/ lb.

Highland Maid, White Blossom Sweet Clover Lot Lee. Purity 99.22% ® 11/ lb.

Ladino Giant White Clover @ 90/ lb. GRASS, Reed Canary Grass @ 80/ lb.

Crested Wheat Grass @ 60/ lb.

Blue Tag Certified Sudan Grass

Lot WIL @ 14/ lb.

Colorado Grown Sudan Grass

Lot MIL @ 12/ lb.

New Hopi Indian Lima Beans® 20/ lb. ” " " " " @ 15.00 cwt

BEANS ,