2 



soils, and fixing a portion of it in a form which may become either a 

 fertihzer if left in the soil or a muscle-making element in the forage. 

 Nearly all leguminous forage crops have this property and hence 

 their great importance as green manure and soiling crops. 



The vetches are also useful because they form a living mulch in 

 spring and early winter, shading the ground and preventing the 

 growth of weeds, thus retarding the constant loss of soluble plant 

 foods that is going on wherever a soil is left bare and unprotected 



Fig. 



-Hairy vetch or sand vetch {Vici<i riUom): a, cross-section of stem ; /), flower ; 



c, stamens ; d, pod. 



from the direct action of the elements. A mulch of weeds would 

 serve the same purpose, but all can see wh}" it would be better to 

 have the winter cover consist of vetches or clovers rather than of a 

 tangle of noxious weeds. 



In the Southern States vetches should be sown in the late summer 

 or early fall, so that they may be out of the way in time to plant the 



