per acre will not warrant the use of so much seed at the present high 

 prices. Vetches should be sown in April or May. They will be 

 ready to cut by the middle of June or the first of July, from full 

 bloom until the pods are half formed. When sown alone the vines 

 lodge and make a dense mat, and the object of the nurse crop is to 

 furnish a support to lift the vines up off the leaves. The vines are 

 very difficult to harvest when sown alone, on account of the tangled 

 mass of stems, but may be easily cut with a pea harvester. An 

 acre of vetch and oats yields ordinarily from 6 to 8 tons of green 

 forage. Where it can be grown,, its chief value arises from the fact 

 that it is ready to cut between the first and second crops of red clover, 

 thus filling a gap in the series of early summer soiling crops. Spring 

 vetches are also used for hay. To make hay, more care is required 

 than with red clover. Two crops are sometimes cut in one season, 

 and where this is possible the second is the one to be saved for seed. 

 The first crop ripens very irregularly, and some of the pods will be 

 shelled before the rest are ripe. Where they can be grown they are 

 a very good summer feed for horses, but must not be fed earlier 

 than full bloom, on account of their diuretic action. They are good 

 for soiling sheep and milch cows, and are said to very materially 

 increase the flow of milk. 



FEEDING VALUE. 



The percentage of digestibility of spring vetch forage has not been 

 determined in this country, but analyses show a high food content 

 comparable with alfalfa rather than the clovers. The average sample 

 of vetch hay contains 11.3 per cent water, 7.9 per cent ash, 17 per 

 cent crude protein, 25.4 per cent fiber, 3G.1 per cent nitrogen-free 

 extract, and 2.3 per cent fat. The flat pea and the soy bean are 

 the only leguminous fodders which exceed this in the crude protein 

 content. 



FERTILIZING VALUE. 



At the time when ready to cut for hay the vetch contains about 

 20 percent of dry matter,^ and in this 20 per cent there are contained 

 3.10 per cent nitrogen, 0.72 per cent phosphoric acid, and 3.30 per 

 cent potash. Calculating on this basis the fertilizing ingredients con- 

 tained in a crop of twelve tons of green forage produced from one 

 acre there would be 153 pounds of nitrogen, 37 pounds of phosphoric 

 acid, and 103 pounds of potash. In addition to this the stubble and 

 roots to the depth of 22 inches would contain 27.2 pounds of nitrogen, 

 7.2 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 21.8 pounds of potash, making a 

 total of 180.2 pounds of nitrogen produced in a single season by one 

 crop of spring vetches, or as much as is contained in 1 8 tons of barn- 

 yard manure. 



Spring vetches are not recommended as a forage crop for general 

 cultivation. They have value for some few northern localities, but 

 have proved a signal failure elsewhere in this country. The plants 

 come into flower very unevenly, so that sometimes the seed does not 

 ripen in sufficient quanties at one time to pay for harvesting. The 

 crop is liable to injury by drought and excessive heat, 



'Third Ann. Rept. Conn. (Storrs) Agr. Expt. Sta. (1890). 



