334: Agricultukal Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. T. 



continued upon the vetch this year, and experiments have been tried 

 with common field peas, cow peas, and other plants, as covers for 

 orchard lands. 



The vetch is an annual leguminous plant which continues its growth 

 long after frost and which mats down with the snow into a perfect, 

 carpet- like covering. In the spring the vines are so well decayed that 

 the cover can be plowed under easily. The vetch can be sown late in 

 June or early in July in this State, and the plants will cover the ground 

 with a dense tangled mulch two feet deep when winter sets in. Last 

 year (1892) we sowed the vetch June 16. This year we sowed one 

 area June 20, and another June 28. Both made an ideal mulch, and 

 the plants were green and still growing late in November. They pro- 

 duced no seeds, and but very few flowers. About a bushel of seed 

 should be sown to the acre. The seed is large and germinates readily, 

 and is likely to catch at almost any time during the summer. Some 

 idea of the dense growth of the vetch this year maybe obtained when 

 I say that one patch overcame and obscured a heavy growth of horse 

 radish which had been in the ground two years. I am confident that 

 upon fairly good soil, good results can be obtained with vetch sown as 

 late as the middle and possibly the last of July. We have obtained 

 our seed from J. M. Thorburn & Co., of New York, who sell it for 

 $3.50 per bushel. Other dealers probably keep it. An analysis of the 

 vetch, as given in our report for last year and repeated below, shows 

 that it is rich in fertilizer value. 



There has been very considerable inquiry concerning the value of 

 cow peas for northern orchards. Sixteen varieties were grown at the 

 Station this year for the purpose of ascertaining which one will mature 

 in this latitude; and over half an acre was sown to the Black pea, 

 which Professor Massey, of North Carolina, thought likel}'^ to prove the 

 best variety for our purpose. These black peas -were obtained of L. R. 

 Wyatt, Raleigh, N. C, and were sown June 20. The land was clay 

 and variable in contour, comprising two dryish knolls, with a moist 

 vale lying between them. The peas were slow in starting, owing to the 

 hard soil, but they made a fair growth in August and early Septem- 

 ber. In the vale, the plants grew nearly two feet high and covered 

 the ground well, but on the knolls the soil was not covered. The 

 plants had just begun to flower when they were killed by the first 

 frost. The leaves fell off, and the bare, stiff stems now afford very 

 little protection to the soil. 



The varieties of cow peas grown for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the earliness of the various kinds, were sown May 31 in rich garden 

 loam. These peas were obtained from the experiment stations of North 



