194 Appendix. 



doubt preferable to spring sowing because the little plants do not have the weeds, 

 drought and hot weather to contend with. On clay ground here, there has 

 been no difficully in getting a good stand with fall sowed seed. Alfalfa begins 

 growth early in the spring, 4 inches of new growth was made by April 1. 

 By May 15 there was a fine growth 10 to 15 inches high. (See Plate IV, c). 



This plant is especially noted for its deep rooting tendency and usually the 

 roots extend downward several feet. Knowing this to be the case it was a 

 great surprise to tind only 8 pounds of roots per acre in the soil between 8 and 

 12 inches in depth as compared with 1,972 pounds in the surface 8 inches. 

 This was from plants four months old. The tops at this time were not quite 

 as heavy as those of red clover, there being 5,430 pounds of them. The total 

 yield of green tops and air-dry roots per acres was 7.410 pounds containing 95 

 pounds of nitrogen, 41 pounds of potash and 21 pounds of phosphoric acid. 

 Crimson clover yielded more than 23^ times as much weight of plants as did 

 nlfalfa, but pound for pound, it is a little richer in phosphoric acid, not quite so 

 rich in potash and only a little more than one-half as rich in nitrogen as is 

 alfalfa (see Table I). This is a splendid showing for alfalfa as a nitrogen 

 gatherer. About 30 pounds of seed per acre will give satisfactory results. 



Hair]) or sand vetch (Vicia villosa. Roth.) — This plant is often called 

 "winter vetch," but the writer could find only one authority for it, namely, 

 Bailey in the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, page 1928. According to 

 Smith.* the winter vetch is Lathyrus Mrsutus. 



The seed of this was sown at the rate of 130 pounds per acre which is 

 a very heavy seeding : about 40 pounds is ample for cover crop purposes. 

 The use of vetch is ruled out of extensive cover crop operations because the 

 seed is so expensive ; the usual price is about $6.00 per bushel. The vetch is so 

 satisfactory as a soil improver that it would be good policy for the fruitgrower to 

 set aside a plot of ground especially for growing the seed. If it is used in a 

 one-year old orchard and a strip of ground 6 or 8 feet wide on each side of 

 the tree rows is cultivated the remaining portion between th rows may be al- 

 lowed to go to seed. This will occur during the second season's growth of the 

 orchard. When the crop is gathered enough seed will shell out to reseed the 

 ground and it should be plowed under shallow at once. This practice is not 

 recommended for orchards older than two years. There is no satisfactory way 

 so far as we know of threshing small lots of seed, it being usually threshed 

 with a flail. 



The vetch is a sprawling grower and when young it extends along flat on 

 the ground. The stand was good, but a little uneven on account of exceedingly 

 heavy rains washing the soil soon after the seed was sown. By November 1 there 

 was a good green mat of plants from 2 to 15 inches thick ; when straightened out 

 the growth was from 2 to 21^ feet high. Ordinarily the vetch stands the win- 

 ter all right, but in this instance it suffered as did the crimson clover. Perhaps 

 half of the plants were winterkilled ; the others started into growth the latter 

 part of March, and six weeks later were 21^ feet high and were beginning to 

 bloom. This plant affords an immense amount of vegetable matter for plowing 

 under. 



The weiglit per acre of the crop four months old, 13,150 pounds of green-top 

 and 600 pounds of air-dry roots, is a little more than two-thirds as much as 

 that of crimson clover (see Table 1). The roots were taken to a depth of 12 

 inches, nearly all being in the first 8 inches of soil. That it is richer in nitrogen 

 and potasli than the clover is evidenced by the fact that with a little more 

 than two-thirds the weight of plants it gave very nearly as much nitrogen and 

 potash as did the clover. The vetch might reasonably be called a potash 

 plant or "nitrogen-potash plant," because, pound for pound, it is a little richer 

 in potash than is the rape, and is more than one-third richer in potash than 

 is the cowhorn turnip. It contains a little more phosphoric acid than do the 



♦Smith, J. G., Circular No. 6 (Agros. 25), page 5, Div. of Agros., U. S. 

 Dept. of Agr. 



