LEGUMINOUS PLANTS FOR FORAGE 239 



359. Vetch. Only the hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), also called sand 

 or Russian vetch, and the common vetch (V. sativa), also known as 

 smooth or Oregon vetch, are important in the United States. Both are 

 ordinarily annuals, tho the hairy vetch especially may live for more 

 than a year. Being cool-weather plants, they are usually fall-sown in 

 mild climates, but a spring strain of the common vetch is sometimes 

 grown. While common vetch is killed by zero temperatures, hairy vetch 

 usually endures the winter in the northern states if well established in 

 the fall. Hairy vetch may be grown on poorer soil than its relative, 

 is adapted to a wider range than crimson clover, and is markedly drought 

 resistant. It is chiefly grown for hay, being usually sown with the 

 cereals to support the weak vines, which clamber from 4 to 10 feet in 

 a tangled mass. Harvested when the pods are full grown, a palatable 

 hay is secured. According to Piper 36 the yield from vetch grown alone 

 ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 tons or more of hay per acre. (619) 



In the South and in western Washington and Oregon, where the 

 winters are not severe, common vetch is preferred for soil rich enough 

 for its culture, since the seed is cheaper and the vines grow less tangled. 

 Piper places the. yield of hay at 2.5 tons in the latter district and slightly 

 less in the southern states. Smith of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture 37 reports that at Atlanta, Ga., vetch and oat hay is popular 

 with liverymen, selling on a par with cowpea hay. Besides furnishing 

 hay, the vetches afford excellent pasturage for cattle, sheep, and swine. 

 Smith reports the successful use of vetch silage for a dairy herd. 



360. Lespedeza, Lespedeza striata. Japan clover, commonly called 

 lespedeza in the South, is a summer annual which has now spread over 

 most of the territory from central New Jersey westward to central 

 Kansas and south to the Gulf. Here, even on the poorest soils, it appears 

 spontaneously as a common constituent of mixed pastures, and unless 

 closely grazed reseeds itself from year to year. On the poorer sands 

 and clays of the cotton belt lespedeza is perhaps the most valuable 

 pasture plant, adding nitrogen to the soil, binding it together, preventing 

 washing, and furnishing pasturage well-liked by all stock. This legume 

 has not been known to cause bloat. Only on rich soils does it grow tall 

 enough for hay. The crop is easily cured and in extreme cases yields 

 3 tons of hay per acre, which, according to Duggar of the Alabama Sta- 

 tion, 38 is equal to alfalfa in feeding value. (497) 



361. Velvet bean, Stizolobium spp. Especially since earlier-maturing 

 varieties of this plant have been developed, the culture of the tropical 

 velvet bean has increased by leaps and bounds, until it is now one of the 

 most important crops of the South, and is doing much to revolutionize 

 the agriculture of the cotton belt. In 1919 over 4,200,000 acres of velvet 

 beans were grown in the southern states. 39 The early-maturing varieties 

 have matured seed as far north as Pennsylvania, while the original 



88 Forage Plants, p. 472. '"Wing, Meadows and Pastures, p. 354. 



11 IT. S. D. A., Farmers' Bui. 529. a9 U. S. D. A., Mo. Crop Reporter, Feb., 1920. 



