Leguminous Plants for Green Forage and Hay. 203 



knowing), it acts as a plug in the intestine, interfering with the 

 vital functions, and finally, after a few hours of intense suffering, 

 the horse dies from peritonitis or some related difficulty." 



There seems no cure for this ailment. It can be avoided by 

 curing crimson clover into hay at the proper stage for making 

 that product. Hay from overripe crimson clover, and the refuse 

 left when seed is threshed, should not be fed to horses. 



296. Japan clover. This plant has proved most helpful to 

 Southern agriculture because it adds nitrogen to the soil, binds it 

 together, prevents washing, and furnishes a nutritious food for 

 stock. On sterile land it yields pasture only, while under favor- 

 able conditions it reaches a height of from twenty to thirty 

 inches, furnishing as much as three tons of hay per acre, which, 

 according to Tracy, l is equal to the best clover hay. (650) 



297. Burr clover. This plant is best known in California, 

 where, growing wild, it furnishes abundant winter pasture. Tracy 

 recommends its use in the South. Its best growth is from Feb- 

 ruary to May, after which it disappears. Harrington, of the 

 Texas Station, 2 reports the plant in favor with cattle, but not 

 relished by horses. 



298. Alfalfa or lucern. This plant flourishes in the western 

 half of the United States, and is of even more importance to that 

 vast region than is red clover to the eastern United States. In 

 the San Joaquin Valley, California, alfalfa reaches its highest per- 

 fection, yielding under the hot suns on the alluvial soils of that 

 district from five to seven cuttings of from one to two tons each, 

 annually. In Colorado and Utah two to three cuttings are obtained. 

 In the humid region, especially Kansas and Nebraska, alfalfa is 

 grown to a limited extent, interest in the crop having much 

 increased of late. It is also gaining favor in the East as the 

 farmers learn to grow it. 



299. Yield of alfalfa. At the New York (Geneva) Station,* 

 Wheeler reports the following yields of alfalfa cut four times dur- 

 ing the season for soiling: 



1 Bui. 20, Miss. Sta. 



2 Bui. 20. 



3 Bui. 118. 



