112 



AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



vating not to cultivate when the leaves are wet with dew, for 

 this sometimes injures the leaves. Soy-beans are cut for hay 

 when the pods are about two-thirds grown and before any of 



the leaves begin to 

 turn yellow. When 

 the soy-bean plant 

 gets ripe all the 

 leaves fall off, so if 

 hay is to be made it 

 must be done while 

 the plants are yet 

 green. Soy-beans 

 are also good to 

 plow under for 

 green manuring. 



Vetches. — There 

 are several kinds 

 of vetch. The most 

 common are spring 

 vetch and sand, 

 winter, or hairy 

 vetch. The hairy 

 vetch is more suc- 

 cessful than the 

 spring vetch. It is 

 sown in the autumn, usually with rye or wheat, and cut the 

 next spring before the wheat or rye is ripe, thus making a 

 mixed hay. Vetches do particularly well on poor ground. 

 It takes about three pecks of seed with a bushel of wheat 

 or rye to sow an acre. Vetch should not be allowed to 

 ripen seed or it may become a troublesome weed. 



22. 



A TYPICAL SOY-BEAN PLANT 



Notice the nodules at the base of the plant and 

 on the roots. These are full of bacteria which 

 gather nitrogen from the air 



By courtesy of the Indiana Experiment Station 



