3 



cultivation has been attended with seeming success. In the United 

 States practical agricultnrists have not yet taken it u}) to any g-reat 

 extent. Several of the State experiment stations, notably those of 

 Louisiana, Michigan, California, and Massachusetts, have grown the 

 flat pea in a small way and have made chemical analyses of it. In 

 Louisiana the success of the experiment has so far not been marked, 

 although the experimenter admits that there has not been time for a 

 fair trial of it. At the Michigan Station quite favorable results have 

 been obtained, the yield be- 

 ing good and cattle relishing 

 the fodder. 



USES. 



Owing to its power of 

 taking nitrogen from the 

 air, and therefore of grow- 

 ing: without the aid of ni- 



trogenous 



manures when 

 once well established, the 

 flat pea is thought to l)e es- 

 ])ecially adapted to compar- 

 atively poor, sand}^, shaly, 

 or "chalky" soils. Hence 

 its greatest value should be 

 as a soil renovator to re- 

 store nitrogen to ground 

 which has been exhausted 

 by cereals and like crops, 

 or is otherwise lacking in 

 sources of protein. This is 

 a function largely dele- 

 gated in the United States 

 to the clovers and cowpeas. 

 The Laf]u/ri(S is said to be 

 a good binder for drifting, sandy soils, the strong, deeply penetrat- 

 ing roots forming a mesh which holds the particles of soil together. 

 The roots are sometimes 20 to 30 feet long. 



It is claimed that the hay of the Wagner flat pea makes an excel- 

 hmt fodder, much rehshed by cattle, sheep, and hogs, and contains 

 more nutriment than most standard fodders. Owing to the high 

 rate of nutritive matter in Lathy rns hay, it is recommended that it 

 l)e mixed with one-third or one-half of straw. At the Michigan 

 Experiment Station it was found that cattle relished the green 

 fodder, but no report is made of its effect upon them. A writer in 



FlC. -A. 



Young plants (if flat pi'ii. The out- to tlie left 

 shows the root tubercles. 



