124 



STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS. 



FLAT PEA. 



(Lathyrus silvestris). 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



A special purpose plant needed 125 



Claims made for the flat pea 125 



Soil 125-6 



Planting 125-6 



Germination 12f) 



Cultivation 127 



Growth of tops and roots 126-7 



Tubercles-- 126-7 



Page. 



Endures frost 126-7 



Winters well 126 



Transplanting 126-7 



Yield of green forage 127 



Liked by cattle 127 



Bloom and seed 128 



Summary 127-8 



Can the light sandy soils of northern Michigan be converted into fertile 

 farms, where at present prices of land and labor and farm products men 

 can win a livelihood and make comfortable homes? This is "the problem 

 of the plains." In solving this problem we have several known quantities; 

 the question of how many quantities at present unknown remains to be 

 seen. Among the known quantities are: 



1. A soil of light sand, usually of several feet in depth, often of 

 many feet in depth, having very little if any vegetable mold. 



2. Long, cold winters, in which the thermometer sometimes sinks as 

 low as 30 degrees below zero. But usually vegetation is protected by a 

 garment of snow. 



3. A possibility, not to say probability, of untimely frosts. Frosts 

 linger late in the lap of spring, they come with swift feet in the fall as 

 to their home; sometimes visits are made at intervening times. 



4. An uneven distribution of rainfall. Enough rain falls in the course 

 of the year, but sometimes for several weeks in mid-siimmer there is no 

 rainfall, or but little. The hot sun beats on the hot sand and scorches 

 vegetation unless it has unusual powers of endurance. 



A deep, sandy soil, zero winters, frosts late and early, a summer some- 

 times hot and dry, — such conditions are severe. As mentioned in the pre- 

 ceding part of this bulletin we find spurry a great help. Its quick 

 germination, its maturity in six to eight weeks, its excellent forage for 

 cattle and sheep, its superior fertilizing properties will continue to make it 

 invaluable. But spurry, if one expects a full crop, must be sown for each 



