254 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



B. Stipules conspicuous, with numerous prongs, glandular spot pale; leaflets 

 few, about 2 pairs, ovate to narrowly elliptic, apex often acute; flowers 1 — sev- 

 eral on a lengthened peduncle, pale blue, Vicia bithynica. 



C. Stipules simple or once pronged at base (half sagittate), not glandular 

 spotted; leaflets numerous obtuse or acute, mucronate: flowers one-sided, racemose 

 or spicate few or numerous on a lengthened peduncle. 



a. Flowers numprous. conspicuous, deep purple, stems pubescent. 

 ♦Pods glabrous, flowers blue purple, T. gerardii. 



**Pods hirsute or hairy. 



tStems, and especially the pods, quite strongly hirsute, Y. onobrychoides. 

 ttStems and pods sparingly hirsute, V. globosa. 

 Flowers reddish purple, Y. biennis. 



b. Flowers few, inconspicuous, usually pale purple, stems nearly glabrous. 

 *Pods glabrous, Y. ludoviciana. 



**Pods minutely hirsute or hairy. 



tFlowers 1 — 2 about one-half inch long; pods 4 — C seeded, Y. cassubica. 



ttFlowers 3 — 6, about one-fourth inch long; pods 1 — 2 seeded. 



Y. disperma. 



Y. argigeyitinum. 



Yicia bitliynica, L. Stems low, angled, branching at base, sparingly silky, 

 slender, green; leaflets 1 — 2 pairs, rather large, obovate — narrowly lanceolate, 

 tapering at each end, apex mostly acute, mucronate, sparingly silky; stipules 

 large and conspicuous, margin spreading and laciniate, glandular spot pale; 

 flowers 1 — 2 on a somewhat lengthened peduncle, 6 to 8 inches long, bluish. Pods 

 5 inches wide, one and one-fourth long, flattened, hairy, seeds 4—5. 



VETCH AS HAY. 



In the fall of 1899 several sowings were made with a view to growing them 

 for hay the following season. One lot sown September 5 was used for early 

 soiling, beginning June 11 and continuing two weeks, during which time one- 

 tenth acre produced 1,076 pounds green feed. Another plot sown the same date, 

 September 5, on light sand, was cut for hay June 11, producing one crop of 

 4,188 pounds cured hay per acre. Another tenth acre sown October 5, at the 

 rate of three pecks per acre, three parts Gold Coin wheat and two parts winter 

 vetch, was harvested June 25, producing 3,01G pounds cured hay per acre. 

 Another seeding of one peck of wheat and one peck of vetch per acre, made 

 October 7, 1901, on sandy loam soil, was harvested June 22, producing 4,300 

 pounds cured hay per acre. Another similar mixture similarly treated, produced 

 4,000 pounds cured hay per acre. This hay is not altogether palatable but 

 cattle will eat it either green or dry and this new legume may be sown late in 

 the fall, with the expectation of securing a crop of hay the next season. 



SOY BEANS AND OTHEB LEGUMES AS GREEN MANURES. 



It is difficult to compare legumes as to the amount of plant food they will add 

 to the soil if used as green manures. A season that is best for clover may not 

 be best for soy beans. Cowpeas are tender and if an early frost be a severe one, 

 they are killed outright by this before completing their growth. Soy beans are 

 adapted to clay loams and clay as well as to sandy loams, while cowpeas have 

 done better at the station on sand and sandy loams. The vetches will grow 

 on clay loam but seem to find a more congenial soil when planted in sandy loams. 



On the 23d of September, 1903, there were growing plots of soy beans, cowpeas, 

 vetches, new seeding clover and second crop clover. On soil not widely differing 

 in physical character, the soy beans, cowpeas and clover had abundant nodules 

 on the, roots, the vetches had a few nodules but were not well inoculated. The 

 varieties selected for comparison were the Medium Green soy, the New Era 

 cowpea, the Yicia globosa and the June clover, not the Mammoth nor the Alsike. 

 Another soy, the Ogemaw, was also examined and its composition is recorded 

 below. Its roots were free from nodules. Of the two samples of clover, one 

 was from a field from which the hay had been cut and removed July 2 and 

 the second crop allowed to grow and the other from a field seeded in wheat in 

 the spring of 1903, the wheat harvested July 15. All samples were taken Sep- 

 tember 23, 1903. The soy beans, cowpeas and vetches were in rows 18 inches 



