FOR BETTER CROPS IN THE SOUTH 



57 



varieties for use in the South, and it is always economical to use 

 the very best seed which can be found, even though it is high 

 in price, as low-priced seed is always low in vitality, and is 

 usually badly mixed with seeds of troublesome weeds. Inocula- 

 tion is needed on most soils excepting those on which melilotus 

 or burr clover has been grown within the last two years. Inocula- 

 tion may be given either with soil from a field on which alfalfa, 

 melilotus or burr clover is growing, or by using the inoculating 

 material which is furnished by most seedsmen, and often by the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. Soil inoculation is preferable, 

 and is accomplished by scattering soil from the old over the new 



Hairy vetch and sorghum cane produce an abundance 

 of forage 



field at the rate of about 200 pounds per acre. This should be 

 done just before the seed is sown, and the ground harrowed 

 immediately, as exposure to a hot sun or a drying wind will soon 

 kill the bacteria in the inoculating soil. If soil is not available, 

 it is best to use the material sent out by seedsmen, who give full 

 directions for its use. 



Lespedeza — Though an annual legume, lespedeza re-seeds so 

 freely that it is usually treated as a perennial. It grows best on 

 a rich, clay loam, where it reaches a height of two feet or more 

 and makes a yield of two or three tons per acre of hay worth 

 fully as much as that from red clover. It will also grow on very 

 dry, hard clay along roadsides and other waste places, but there 

 its growth is so flat and spreading that it cannot be cut for hay, 



