Circular No. 6.— Revised. (Agros. 



United States Department of Agricultnre, 



DIVISION OF AGROSTOLOGY. 



[Grass and Forage Plant Investigations.] 



THE €ULTIVATT:D VETCHES. 



The demand for early spring forage plants is increasing in almost 

 every section of the United States. This demand arises from a 

 variety of causes, chief among which is the rapid increase of the 

 dairying industry. Soiling crops and pastures supply the desired 

 succulent forage from early summer until the first hard autumn 



Fig. 1.— Hairy vetcli: Plot in (irass Garden, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



freeze, and ensilage and root crops tide over the early winter. With 

 good management such substitutes for green forage may be made to 

 last until the grass starts, but on too many American farms there is 

 a period of shortage of succndent feed in late winter and si)ring. To 

 bridge over this critical period, annual leguminous crops, such as 

 crimson clover and the vetches, are each year coming deservedly into 

 greater prominence. The vetches are nitrogen gatherers. Like the 

 clovers they have the property of absorbing through their roots the 

 free gaseous nitrogen of the air, which is present in all well cultivated 



