SAND, OR HAIRY VETCH 107 
with cattle, taking the cattle from it as it began to seed, 
and then allowed the seed to ripen and fall upon the 
ground, discing the field thoroughly, and the seed came 
up, giving me a fine stand. 
Vetch being rarely cultivated in America, the supply 
of seed is, as a consequence, procured in Europe and im- 
ported to this country at a cost to the farmer of 6% 
to 10 cents per pound f. o. b. shipping station. 
Fifty pounds of seed to the acre is the right quantity 
to plant. 
In corn I sow the seed with a one-horse hoe or disc 
wheat drill. In the open I sow with a two-horse drill. 
The feed gauge of the average one or two-horse drill 
entirely shut off sows just 50 pounds to the acre. 
If vetch is sown for seed, there must be sowed with it 
about one peck of rye to the acre. The rye holds up 
the vetch so it can be easily harvested. The plant is 
a trailing one, and hence is hard to harvest unless it has 
a plant sown with it to support it. 
When seed is ripe, cut and thresh with ordinary 
threshing machine and separate seed with fanning mill. 
Seed for planting can be procured from most any 
seed house. 
The vetch plant has a mass of roots penetrating the 
soil to a considerable depth. The roots are always full 
of nodules, the homes of the bacteria that obtain their 
food from the nitrogen of the air, and which it is claimed 
collect more nitrogen than they need, which surplus is 
stored into the soil. 
The clover, alfalfa and pea plants and other plants 
of the legume family are considered valuable to the soil 
