New seed fields therefore were established in inland irrigated valleys of Oregon. More than 90 percent of our bentgrass seed was grown in the non-coastal areas of Oregon in 1960.

The expansion of seed production in the West has doubled our output of alfalfa seed since 1945. Most of the expansion was in new irrigated seed-producing areas in the West, particularly in Washington and the Central Valley of California.

just before the war, California, Oregon, and Washington produced less than 7 percent of our alfalfa seed; 15 years later, they produced well over 50 percent of the crop.

California alone produced more than 47 million pounds of certified Ranger alfalfa seed in 1955 about four-fifths of the annual production in the United States in 1930-1939.

Substantial amounts of seed of red clover are still harvested from hayfields and pastures in the eastern half of the country, but the dependable production of certified seed from new varieties now comes from the West.

Oregon and Idaho have produced a great deal of alsike clover since 1930. Total production of alsike seed declined by one-third since 1935, due largely to a drop in acreage and production in the Corn Belt, where the draining, liming, and fertilizing of wet and acid soils (which alsike clover likes) led farmers to shift to other, more productive forage crops.

Whiteclover seed is produced mainly in Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Idaho, and Oregon. The center of production of Ladino clover seed is California.

Oregon produced one-third of all crimson clover seed harvested in the United States in 1958-1959. The remaining two-thirds came from South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, where crimson clover is an important winter cover crop. We import sizable amounts of seed of crimson clover.

The production of lupine seed is confined to the Southeastern States, where the temperatures are favorable. The production of vetch seed is of economic importance in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Austrian winter peas are produced in the Pacific Northwest. These winter annual legumes are grown for soil cover and green manure in the South Central and Southeastern States.

SOME EXPANSION of production of grass seed has occurred in regions outside the area where grass is used primarily for pasture, soil conservation, and turf, but the shift has been less pronounced.

Production of noncertified seed of orchardgrass has been centered in Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri. Most of the certified seed of improved varieties of orchardgrass is grown in the West.

The western part of the Corn Belt continues to be the primary source of noncertified and certified bromegrass seed. A few other States have limited acreages of improved varieties of bromegrass for seed.

The production of timothy seed has declined since 1940. Most of it is harvested from pastures and meadows in the Corn Belt.

Nearly all redtop seed is harvested in Illinois and Missouri.

Production of red and chewings fescue is limited to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Tall fescue seed is produced primarily in Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

The production and use of carpet-grass and dallisgrass seed in the Southeast has declined sharply since 1950 because of the vegetative plantings of more than 1 million acres of coastal bermudagrass and the growing popularity of improved varieties of bahiagrass, much of the seed of which we get from the Southern States.

Sudangrass, a summer annual forage grass, is grown in nearly all States. Its seed comes mainly from dry land or irrigated fields in the Southern Plains States westward to California.

Most pearl millet seed is produced under irrigation in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. It is used mainly in the Southeastern States.

The production of ryegrass seed is a highly specialized enterprise in Oregon. Plantings of Merion bluegrass for seed are mostly in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and California.

Crested wheatgrass and closely related species are best adapted to the northern Great Plains and Intermountain States to the west for the production of seed.

THE NATIVE GRASSES are well adapted to the Great Plains.

Until about 1950, most of the seed was harvested from wild stands, which usually included mixtures of species. Increasing acreages have been devoted since then to growing certified seed of more than 15 new varieties of 7 species. They are grown primarily in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and California.

The primary values of grasses and legumes are for pasture and hay, soil conservation, and turf. Management for those uses usually precludes seed production. Management for both forage and seed production results in a costly and hazardous farm operation. Climatic conditions best suited for forage production and cropping practices conducive to good soil conservation often are unfavorable for the production of seeds.

Production of seed therefore has become specialized and has moved westward to places where the climate is more favorable for seed set, curing, and harvest.

Unlike some other crops, the seed of many improved grass and legume varieties is produced far from the areas of use. Along with this development, increasing numbers of grassland farmers in the Central States and East have found it good business to shift from byproduct seed production to more profitable crops and cropping practices.

These developments mean that the specialized grower will have to continue to be aware of the needs of those who buy and plant his seeds.

He needs to keep himself informed about changes in agricultural programs, new varieties, their adaptation and use, demands, seed-yielding capacity, safeguards in seed production, and the replacement of old varieties by the new.

HUGO O. GRAUMANN is Chief of the Forage and Range Research Branch, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service. He studied crop breeding at Oklahoma State University and the University of Nebraska. Dr. Graumann taught and did research at the former institution and began his research with the Agricultural Research Service at the latter university in cooperation with the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station.