EXERCISE 50 

 A STUDY OF LEGUMES 



Fig. 63. A typical young red clover plant 



Courtesy of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture 



Statement. Wherever legumes thrive, and wherever many members of this great plant family 

 grow wild, the farmers are almost certain to be prosperous. Wherever legumes do not thrive farming 



is likely to be conducted under great difficulties and is generally 

 unprofitable. 



Object. To study the legumes adapted to the community and 

 the uses to which they are put. 



Materials. Collecting case ; spade ; access to the farms of the 

 neighborhood. 



Directions. 1. Early in the fall or late in the spring take the 

 class to the country and study the growth habits of both wild and 

 cultivated forms of legumes present. Have the students make a 

 collection of representative plants of each for detailed study in the 

 laboratory. Make careful note of the types of soil upon which each 

 is found growing most abundantly and also the types upon which 

 each thrives least well. Make note of the place of the legume in 

 the crop rotation and 

 explain the reason for 

 the rotations followed 

 by the farmers. 



2. In the laboratory 

 make a detailed study 

 of the more important 



types of legumes collected, compare their leaves, stems, seed 



pods, seeds, roots, and root tubercles. 



3. Make a list of all the legumes, domestic and wild, 

 found growing in the neighborhood, together with a state- 

 ment of the value of such as have economic importance. 

 Name the more important cultivated legumes of the United 

 States and state the principal uses to which each is put. 



4. Explain in detail how you would proceed to secure a 

 stand of red clover and alfalfa, and how you would manage 

 each to secure the best results. 



Questions. What do you consider the two greatest 

 values of legumes? Give reason for each answer. What 

 legume is of most importance in the local community and 

 why ? What other legumes than those grown locally should 

 be introduced? At what place in the rotation does the 

 legume usually come? What crop usually precedes the 

 legume in the local farm practice ? At what stage of devel- 

 opment would you cut red clover for hay ? At what stage 

 would you harvest alfalfa for the largest yield ? 



References. Waters, H. J. Essentials of Agriculture, pp. 78-79, 204-206. Ginn and Company. Burkett, 

 C. W. Soils, pp. 143-152. Orange Judd Company. Hopkins, C. G. Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture, 

 pp. 210-214. Ginn and Company. 



[1001 



Fig. 64. A typical young alfalfa plant 



Courtesy of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture 



