EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 245 



ment 9413 are good types. The plots were too small to make the experiments, 

 comparing varieties, of great weight. 



5. The hairy vetch has been grown at the station for a good many years. 

 It has been used as a green manure and as a forage crop. It has not been a 

 success in the latter capacity. Sheep were hurdled on the vetch but would not 

 eat it. It was then tried as a soiling crop but neither cattle nor sheep seem 

 fond of it. It was cured as hay but again the stock refused it. 



There are sold in the markets a great many species of vetch seed under the 

 name of winter vetch, hairy vetch or villous vetch. The results of a comparative 

 trials of these vetches at the station shov/ that at least eight of them produce 

 but a small amount of green forage, although they ripen abundant seed. Of 

 these the Vicia picta was a fair sample, flowering In early July and fruiting in 

 the middle of August. 



On the other hand the V. canadensis, angustifolia and peregrina were three 

 vetches that yielded abundant foliage and fewer seed. V. disperma showed 

 relatively few seeds but a great quantity of matted leaves and stems, supplying 

 a dense mass of succulent green. Finally the biennis, the Louisiana vetch, the 

 gerardii and globosa have showy, red or blue flowers and furnish a tangled and 

 heavy mass of green forage. The horse bean, as the V. faba is generally called, 

 is totally unsuited to Michigan climate, although of great value in England. 



Professor B. O. Longyear suggests an analytical key which may aid in properly 

 locating a new vetch. 



Farmers are warned that the vetch has become a tceed difficult to exterminate 

 on the College farm and elsewhere. 



6. Small areas of medium green soys, Ogemaw soys. New Era cowpeas, the 

 Ticia globosa, second crop June clover and new seeding June clover were dug 

 about and the soil washed away leaving the roots attached to the stems. They 

 were separated into roots and forage at approximately the point where the knife 

 or the mower would have cut at harvest and were sepai'ately weighed and 

 analyzed. Combining the different factors -and estimating the normal yield of 

 forage per acre, it was found that the medium green soy yielded 152.29 pounds 

 of nitrogen per acre, the cowpeas 61.90 pounds, the vetch 77.10 pounds, the second 

 crop clover 51.47 pounds and the new seeding clover 49.06 pounds. 



A later experiment in which soy beans and cowpeas were sown side by side 

 to compare their values as green manure with that of buckwheat, the yields 

 indicated a rather greater value to the soy beans as the analyses given above 

 would suggest. 



THE EXPERIMENTS. 



In 1903, under the supervision of Mr. Bronson Barlow, now of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, Guelph, Ontario, an extended series of observations was 

 made on a long list of legumes, some of them common and others rare, to deter- 

 mine which should be selected for farther investigation. Naturally most of these 

 legumes are but illy adapted to Michigan conditions but it was decided to test 

 them all that some information might be gained. The report Is given in Mr. 

 Barlow's language. 



Lupinus albus, Linn., White Lupine. Planted May 15th, flowers July 1st to 

 July 18th, fruit July 21st, fruit ripe and stems leafless August 19th, 36 inches 

 high July 22d. It grows rapidly and produces a large bulk of green matter to 

 be plowed under on sandy ground. It may be fed before coming into bloom. 

 It has not been injured by blister beetle this season. 



Lupinus termis, Forsk., received from Cairo, Egypt. Planted June 12th, grew 

 well and was 16 inches high July 22d, 34 inches high August 19th, in full bloom 

 August 19th, fruit matured slowly but some seed ripened in the fall. It is an 

 attractive plant and compares well with L albus. Its season is longer and for 

 seed it should be planted by the middle of May. 



TJlex, Linn., Gorse. Planted May 15th, 12 inches high August 19th, no flowers 

 this first year, promises to endure the winter, has grown slowly, but is thrifty. 

 It is a shrubby plant with spiny leaves. In Wales horses are often kept through 

 the winter on Gorse. In England the farmers use it for fuel and for building 

 rough shelters for sheep and cattle. For this purpose they cut it and tie it into 

 fagots. 



Lupinus arboreus, Linn., Sand Lupine. Planted June 12th, grew slowly, 4 

 inches high July 22d, 12 inches high August 19th, flowers yellow August 19th 



