Paper on Wendelin Grimm Alfalfa1ENOELIN GRMI AND ALFALPA1
Grimm Alfalfa is one of Piimesota's main contributions to American
agriculture, and its history is an interesting and significant story of
a hardy forage plant that was brought to America some eighty years ago
by a German immigrant named Wendelin Grimm. Although millions of Euro-
peans migrated to the United States in the course of the nineteenth
century, Grimm stands out as an indi-,r.dual farmer who made an important
specific contribution to American agriculture. He left his native Kul-
shei.m, a little agricultural village between Tauberbischofsheim and.
Wertheim in the Tauber Valley of the duchy of Baden, Germany, in 1857.
Since he was nearly forty years of age when he emigrated, he retained
many of his old .:armin,_ methods and interests. Like many other immi-
grants he brought with him some of his favorite possessions. Among
them was a bag of alfalfa seed, weighing not more than twenty pounds,
which was destined to become the basis of his important agricultural
contribution. Grimm reached Chaska in Carver County about September 1,
and there he bought 137 acres in the northwest quarter of section 4.
range.24 west, Laketoom Township.
In the spring of 1858, Grimm planted the seed he had brought with
him in order that he might have a crop of alfalfa, as had been his cus-
tom in the old country. The soil was favorable, but the winters were
more severe than those of his native village, and he did not have immed-
iate success. Some of the alfalfa plants vrintcrkilled, but he carefully
saved the seed from those that sunrlved and replanted the field: Thus
he continued year after year, iryinC to grow what he considered an
essential crop. Some years his field winterkillo'd very little, but in
others it died out almost entirely. Yet he always saved seed from the
plants that survived and replanted the following spring. After year-.-
of earsofp.rsistonce, the alfalfa bccrmc acclims_tized and no longer winter -
killed. The scientific importance of his work, Grimm probably never
realized.
A near neighbor, Henry Gerdzen, is authority for the story of an
incident that must have made Grimm feel that his efforts in growing
alfalfa in America were worth while& in the summer of 1863, Grimm drove
a number of fat cattle past Gerdsen's home on the way to market. Gerd -
sen, surprised to see such fat animals when feed was scarce and his own
cattle were lean, asked Grimm where he had obtained his corn. Grimm,
long conscious of the feed value of alfalfa, proudly answered: "Kein
Kornchen, nur ewiger Klee," -- "not one kernel, only everlasting clover."
Wendcli.n Grimm's alfalfa or "everlasting, clover,° as it was cormaonly
called, grew and thrived year after year, but it received little Carly
notice coimmercially. Grimm himself dial nothing to bring his contribution
to the attention of the agricultural world: Only the farmers in his
neighborhood planted it and relied on it as a perma.ncnt source of fodder
and of fertility for the soil. They obtained seed from Grimm and sowed
fields for themselves In this way alfalfa spread in Carver County, but
it was raised largely within a radius of perhaps ten miles of the Grimm
farm.
This paper was presented at the afternoon session of the eighty-
ninth annual meeting of the Minnesota Historical. Society in St. Paul on
January 10, 1938.
These excerpts are +•aken from "Unnesota History", March 1938
Vol. 19 — No, 1.
261
After the passage of the Enclosure iict in 1871, fences were erected
and more attention was given to feed crops, and especially to alfalfa,
in Carver County. In 1809 this county _orodnced. nearly fifty per cera of
the alfalfa grown in Xiruiesota. Teri years later it was still the lae.c?-
ing alfalfa center of the state, producing a. third. of the total crop.
Prior to 19003 it was generally believed thr:.t the farmers of Minnesota
could not ?row permanent stands of alfalfa, ancithose few who knew thet
it was being grown in Carver County ;:ttribi.:ted its success to Local so -1.1
c on(iiti cns .
The first person to take an active interest in bringing Grimm's
hardy alfalfa to the attention of the outs::de world eras Arthur B. L,P.nan
of Excelsior. i.bout 1680, on a. vi. -ii; to 'Tobias Ottinger nt Victoria in
Carver County, he learned of the superiority of alfalfa over red clover,
and induce -d. his father to pl<nt a field, which winterkilled because
ordinary- seed was used. Ten years later, when teaching school in Dahl-
gren Township, Carver County, he ag,:in cadne in contact with this forage
plant which Withstood the winter,r weather. This timf- hc; took a handful
of Griru,i .lfalfa hay home and showed it to his father, who bought seed
in Minneapolis and tried again. As before the crop winterkilled.. Ly-,nau,
still believing in alfalfa, obtained seed from the Grinn neighborhood
and persuaded his te.Tacr to try agein. The result following the first
hri.nter was not encouraging, but the second reinter more plants survived
and from thcn on the alfalfa continued to flourish.
Lyman was very enthusiastic over his fat!Ier's success with Grimm
alfalfa and was anxious to disclose the facts 'to soraeon: .,he would bring
it to the attention of .Ninnesota farmers. In 1.900, at a vinic excursion
on Lake Minnetonka, he met Professor 1.1illet It. Hays, head of the
cultural iaprximent Station of the University of Idlinne..rota in St. Pau12
nd to him he told the story of his discovery. Bays decided to make a
personal. investigation in Carver County. Accompanied by an assistant,
Andrew Boss, he drove the thirty ;Hiles to Excelsior and made an extensivo
tour of inspection vi.th Lyman a guide:. After t.hrE e days, he decided to
start trials with the plant at the experiment station, and made arrange-
ments with L,nnan to procure all the Grirma seed possible-. Lyman obtained
as much as he could by increasing his ohm alfalfa fields to 'over one
hundred acres." Cold, .rainy seasons prevented the harvesting of large
supplies for two year, but at the end of that time he, again agreed to
furnish s<:ed because .there were constant di:P.ezds for it from other ex-
periment stations.
To pay homage and tribute to the German pioneer who developed
Grimm alfalfa, a monument was unveiled and. dedicated on June 10, 1924,
on his old farms. Over four hundred people „at cr<:d for the occasion,
including many of Grimm's descendants. His granddaughter, Miss Clara
Adcls:ann of Minneapolis, c'r:w brook the; l`:,icrican flag- that covered the
monument --a bronze tablet attached to a. native boulder. The inscrip-
tion reads: "Commerrnora.ti.ng 6dendelin Grimy resident of irinncscta 1857-
1891, who originated Grirmn Alfalfa on this farm. Erected June 192h by
Grimy. Alfalfa Growers Associations."
3-
Speakers at the dedication services included Dean W. C. Coffey, of
the college of agriculture of the ivcrsity of "i nnescia, ho d .c'_.r dIIn
that he felt that Gri:_mss contribcticn to -21c-li°:r_..,'coc>, induatry t'aae as
great as th-at of the bre(Aers. Guorgc U. .clley, editor Of the tdcrthi.-est
F'a mstca.?j gave his .reaction to the occasion i, the fO'llowir:g., ed=to. .O
and i,s text may well serve as Wcor_clu.sion for the present discuosion:
The world knows not its greote„t benrfacto::s. Frcouently it raises
to ,.ircn t "i,ho 6el,ia- o,ue and. r.e ti:, -ie scr-.Or. it c£ten givers to
th,.- e :"d spoziisible for its most Oiasti3Ouo calar!Atie'S.
Sometimes, though, it is nivcn to a f:r to recognise and pay tribute
to " 'pay c -'!t '(man :)r wo, : ;ho it O:Sc:iirity end 1Jorha2: s in poverty h::.c
worked out l>re zt benfita to
Such aR GI.0 . _. (:il '. La<Ct. when c:;rin.nt lien from several. s;.:tes
jojxt -ri u til :Ilindre..'; G.` _:is former neighbors ir. dedicc 'Jing a S'ionuuint t0
the late ';enUllin :: riDnn.
Civilization advar:nvo. Such mx;numcnts indic:t it. Perhaps some
day our _iisterians will. tell .acre; of tne: .-a,14 o£ u.c}h men and Elori y
less 'the authors of death and devastation.v
VEUTT E. MY11hRDS
United Strtc,s ik;r;artn;ent of kl ri-
CUitUrb, 71da. hington, • C•
Prepared by:
The Carver County Agricultural 1uxtension Service for distribution
at the:
Grimm. Alf^.lfa Centennial Program, ivcndelin Grim::: Homestead, Carver
Counr y, idinne: ota, 6eptulibcz 65 1957.
The Wendelin Griimii homeste d is now owned by the Clarence Schwalbe
family.