Grimm alfalfa seed, the hardiest alfalfa / A.B. Lyman, Inc., the father of Grimm alfalfa ; A.B. Lyman.

Historic, Archive Document

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

ONE BUSHEL

Gross Weight

ALFALFA SP

THj HARDIEST ALFAL^

tonA«jgr

fATHER of GRIMM

DEMAND LYMAN’S
- GRIMM -

Because-—

A. B. Lyman discovered this
hardy variety.

Because---

He has studied its character
and habits for 40 years.

Because---

Practically all Grimm Alfal¬
fa in America traces back to
A. B. Lyman’s original seed.

Because—

Of the tremendous testi¬
monies of Experiment Sta¬
tions, government officials
and m any thousands of
farmers who have used his
hardy seed.

Because---

His discovery has made al¬
falfa growing possible in
severe climates.

Lyman Discovered Grimm

DISCOVERY WORTH MILLIONS

Credit for saving and producing millions
of dollars for agriculture is given to A. B.
Lyman, who discovered and developed
Grimm Alfalfa.

Lyman — once a school teacher in Carver
County, Minnesota — first realized the value
in this special alfalfa developed through
many trials under the severe climatic con¬
ditions of Carver County. He and his father
experimented with it and were successful in
producing, year after year, big crops of al¬
falfa under rigorous climatic conditions,
where previously all other alfalfas had froz¬
en out.

Lyman Begins Valuable Work

Lyman knew that his seed had survived
its long, hard test and that farmers nearby
were raising the much desired alfalfa crop.
Knowing what it would mean to all colder
states, Lyman, in about 1900, went to Prof.
Willet M. Hayes, then of the Minnesota Ex¬
perimental Station and later Assistant Sec¬
retary of Agriculture of the United States,
and told him this remarkable story of an
alfalfa that did not winter kill. The story
seemed too good to be true. Hayes', anxious
and hopeful, went with Lyman and began in¬
vestigations that resulted in the government
declaring GRIMM ALFALFA to be among
the hardiest cultivated plants grown.

1

Government Helps Lyman

Cooperating with Professor Hayes, Ly¬
man began his long, slow, and careful ef¬
forts to increase the amount of seed of this
valuable alfalfa. The U. S. Government
helped in every way and ordered LYMAN’S
seed out on their test plots in many states
where it stood every test. In the drier north¬
ern sections the production of a seed crop
was much more rapid, so LYMAN distribut¬
ed seed into Idaho, Montana, and the Da¬
kotas under contract and supervision.
Lyman Receives Official Recognition

Many times worthy ones have not been
recognized or praised while they lived, but
to A. B. Lyman all have paid tribute for his
discovery, increase, and distribution of this
valuable alfalfa.

In its annual report in 1903, the Minne¬
sota Agricultural Society was among the
first to accord A. B. Lyman official recogni¬
tion of his work.

We quote from Page 42 of the Annual
Report of the Minnesota Agricultural So¬
ciety in 1903 :

Professor Hayes, “This is a young man
(referring to A. B. Lyman) I want to make
an example of. When Mr. Lyman told me
he had discovered this hardy Alfalfa, I said
to him: You cooperate with the Experiment
Station and I will cooperate with you, and
we will give you a reputation as a seedsman.
I expect to cooperate in helping Mr. Lyman

2

distribute this seed where it will be used for
growing seed. We expect to distribute some
of it through the Department of Agriculture
that it may be grown in other places and the
seed produced more abundantly than in Min¬
nesota.”

Professor Spillman, Washington, D. C. :
“Mr. President, I am glad to see Professor
Hayes take the stand he does. I can not help
but be impressed with the paper read by Mr.
Lyman this afternoon, as of vital importance
to the future of agriculture. . . . We have
been searching the world for a variety of Al¬
falfa that would do just what this variety
does. The value of that seed means more
than a million dollars to the State of Min¬
nesota alone.”

The world distribution of this Alfalfa
from that point was rapid — Canada became
interested, as did Denmark, Sweden, Russia,
Germany and Alaska, since here was a hardy
plant that would endure the most severe
climatic hardships and produce an abundance
of protein feed, year after year, living
up to the name which Wendelin Grimm
had originally given it, “The Everlasting
Clover.”

Lyman’s selection of Grimm was un¬
doubtedly one of the greatest boons to Agri¬
culture discovered in the past century.

And now you have LYMAN’S GRIMM

3

— approved by the Father of this hardiest
of Alfalfas, produced under the most severe
climatic conditions, sacked only in sealed
branded bushel bags — marked with his sig¬
nature.

In states where winter killing and heav¬
ing are vital factors, LYMAN’S GRIMM is
essential because of these superior qualities.

Here is LYMAN’S GRIMM. Demand
seed in the original package.

Richard Lyman Inspecting Lyman s Grimm
In the Producing Field

4

& (S.c&ma/i'

The Father of

GRIMM HARDY ALFALFA

««« Enduring - Winter-Proof »» »

THE HARDIEST ALFALFA PLANT KNOWN

J

TODAY, as never before, thrift niust be practiced in farming, but to buy
and plant cheap seed is false economy. Make your seed dollars go
farther by planting only A. B. Lyman’s Grimm Alfalfa Seed. The slightly
higher cost than “ordinary" alfalfa seed is returned a hundredfold. Many
fields of Lyman’s Grimm Alfalfa have stood the severest winters for over
thirty vears and are still producing excellent crops.

;

LYMAN S GRIMM

COMMON ALFALFA

MAKE

EVERY

SEED

COUNT

a

PLANT

ONLY

THE

BEST

a

GRIMM ALFALFA

HARDIEST ALFALFA KNOWN

The long and interesting history of
Grimm Alfalfa tells a story of cold, severe
winters, of survival of the best and strongest
plants, of constant tests and plantings to
bring the proof of vigor and hardiness to this
now world-famed variety, GRIMM.

Here is what the U. S. Government Bul¬
letin No. 209, by the Bureau of Plant In¬
dustry, says: “THE GRIMM VARIETY
IS MUCH HARDIER THAN THE OR¬
DINARY KINDS, AND THERE IS
EVEN STRONG REASON TO BE¬
LIEVE THAT IT IS THE HARDIEST
FORM OF CULTIVATED PLANT.”

Difference Between Grimm and
Common Alfalfa

This persistent, superior hardiness is due
to many things. The yellow and the varie¬
gated blooms show the cross in its ancestry
that indicates hardy parentage. Then those
long years of survival of the best plants in
that rigorous climate means the selection of
only the strongest.

Compare the vigorous Grimm plant with
the ordinary Common and you will recog¬
nize physical characteristics that undoubt¬
edly are great factors in its cold resistant
ability.

Grimm has a greater diversity of forms,
upright and decumbent plants often grow-

8

A Typical Lyman Grimm Producing FieH

mg side by side while some of the flowers
vary in color from blue to yellow.

The tap root of Grimm shows a tendency
to branch and the crowns to he low set and
spreading. These characteristics contribute
much toward its ability to resist extreme
cold, alternate freezing and thawing and
heaving.

Lyman's Grimm

A. B. Lyman discovered GRIMM and its
development has been his life’s work. To
him we owe a great tribute. The story of
his struggle to maintain highly selected
GRIMM stock, proudly watching its growth
and development, and his final success, is
an interesting one. Today, LYMAN’S
GRIMM is known in all parts of the world
where hardiness and vigor are essential.

9

Why Those Who Know Insist On
Lyman’s Grimm

WILL USE ONLY LYMAN’S GRIMM SEED

Enisburg Falls, Vt., Feb. 8, 1916.
Mr. A. B. Lyman,

Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir :

Re yours of February 4th, would say I had fine
success with your Grimm Alfalfa and it is the
only alfalfa seed I have been able to grow here.
Have cut same for four years now, three crops
a year. Am planning to use more of it this com¬
ing spring. Would not think of using anything
but your Grimm seed.

Yours truly,

V. A. IRISH,
Maplewood Farm.

GRIMM ONLY KIND TO STAND WINTER

Mr. A. B. Lyman,

Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir :

Experimental work conducted by the Depart¬
ment of Agronomy of New Hampshire Experi¬
ment Station seems to indicate that hardy alfalfa,
preferably your Grimm, is the only kind that can
be depended on to withstand our winter condi¬
tions.

JOHN B. ABBOTT, Durham, N. H.
County Agent, Dept, of Agriculture,
N. H. College of Agriculture.

VALUABLE STRAIN IN CANADA

Mr. A. B. Lyman,

Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir :

Your Grimm Alfalfa is being tested in Canada,
wherever tests for hardiness are conducted, and is
proving a valuable strain.

JNO. R. DYMOND,

Seed Analyst, Ottawa, Can.

10

PERFECT STAND — CUT FIRST YEAR

Mr. A. B. Lyman Cameron, Wis., June 6, 1916
Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir :

Your Grimm seed has been uniformly satisfac¬
tory. That planted in 1915 made a good stand
before winter and we are making our first cutting
now — almost exactly one year after it was seeded.
The stand is perfect and the crop very heavy.
GEORGE T. SLADE,

Vice-Pres. Northern Pac. Ry.,

St. Paul, Minn.

THICK STAND AFTER TEN YEARS

Bellaire, Ohio, June 4, 1930

Mr. A. B. Lyman,

Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir:

I am sending you in the attached box, two
spears of Lyman’s Grimm Alfalfa. I have a small
corner of the patch that I sowed ten years ago and
it has been cut twice each year for nine years,
and no fertilizer applied; it still stands thick and
fine, in spite of the wild grasses ; it is on sandy
land, the land was in a good state of fertility when
the seed was planted but has had no fertilizer
since that time. One spear measured 33 inches,
the other 32 when cut. Would be pleased to
learn if you get this all right. If I ever sow any
more alfalfa, it will be Lyman’s Grimm.

L. H. CHAFEE.

GREAT SUCCESS WITH LYMAN’S GRIMM

Mr. A. B. Lyman,

Excelsior, Minn.

Dear Sir :

Please send us at once, freight, collect, 100 lbs.
of your best Grimm Alfalfa Seed.

This is the fifteenth year we are using your
seed and we have certainly had great success
with it.

J. E. McCLAIN.

li

ONLY VARIETY THAT WITHSTANDS
WINTER

Your seed proved to be very good, germinating
very quickly, and gave a most excellent stand.
Your Grimm seems to be the only variety that
stands our New England winter. Another feature
in favor of it is that this 3-acre lot had not raised
a profitable crop up to this time of seeding, being
what we call light with a sandy sub-soil, sensitive
to drouth.

S. O. BARMES, Greenville, R. I.

HARDIER THAN ALL OTHERS

In the spring of 1912, Prof. L. A. Klink of
MacDonald College bought 300 pounds of my
Grimm.

On November 20th, 1914, R. Summerly, lec¬
turer in Cereal Husbandry, wrote me as follows :
"I have your letter of November 10th, addressed
to Prof. Klink. He has taken a position as Dean
of Agriculture at the University of British Co¬
lumbia.

“With regard to the Grimm seed purchased
from you some years ago by this department, our
experience has been that your alfalfa is by far the
hardiest of any alfalfa that it was possible to pur¬
chase on the market. I am sending a photograph
of Grimm alfalfa for you, along side of thirteen
commercial samples. You will see that it is much
hardier than the others. Out of 88 varieties and
strains of alfalfas, ‘Lyman’s Grimm’ was amongst
the few that came through the winter of 1912 and
1913, a very severe winter.

“In another section of our experimental grounds,
a half acre block of this alfalfa came through
where Mammoth Red Clover, Medium Red Clover
and Alsilce Clover in similar adjoining blocks win¬
ter-killed. We are advising the use of Grimm
seed whenever it is possible to get it for the
Province of Quebec.”

12

DEMAND LYMAN'S
- GRIMM -

Because---

A. B. Lyman discovered this
hardy variety.

Because---

He has studied its character
and habits for 40 years.

Because —

I tactically all Grimm Alfal¬
fa in America traces back to
A. B. Lyman’s original seed.

Because— -

Of the tremendous testi¬
monies of Experiment Sta¬
tions, government officials
and m a n y thousands of
farmers who have used his
hardy seed.

Because---

His discovery has made al-
falfa growing possible in
severe climates.

LYMAN

GRIMM