240 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



Florida velvet bean could not be grown north of a line from Savannah, 

 Georgia, to Austin, Texas. Even the early varieties make a tangled mass 

 of vines 3 to 10 feet long, while the late-maturing sorts run 15 to 40 feet. 

 The crop is therefore difficult to cure into hay. The beans are usually 

 planted with corn to support the vines, and the crop is commonly used 

 for grazing, after most of the ears of corn and perhaps some of the ripe 

 beans have been picked by hand. (264) 



Velvet beans furnish excellent grazing for cattle and sheep, but the 

 crop has not proved as satisfactory for pigs as was first expected. (991) 

 Tracy 40 reports 20 acres of velvet beans in Florida furnishing half the 

 daily grazing for 30 cows during 27 days in winter, after which 10 tons 

 of pod beans were harvested. Eighty acres of velvet beans in southern 

 Georgia furnished grazing for 100 head of cattle 4 months. Seventy days' 

 grazing on velvet-bean pasture was sufficient to put steers in marketable 

 condition. (760) 



362. Peanut, Arachis hypogaea. Peanuts are grown chiefly for the 

 under-ground nuts (258), tho the entire plant is sometimes cured into 

 a nutritious hay. According to Piper, 41 as a hay plant the peanut 

 cannot compete with the soybean or the. cowpea, but the plant is of great 

 importance as a pasture crop for hogs, which root out the nuts. Hogs 

 finished solely on peanuts yield a soft pork, but this may be largely 

 avoided by feeding corn or other feeds. (1005) Since the nuts will not 

 long remain in the ground without sprouting, the crop must be pastured 

 soon after maturity. When peanuts are grown for the seeds, the straw 

 is used for stock feeding, the yield ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 tons or more 

 per acre. 



363. Beggar weed, Desmodium tortuosum. This annual legume, which 

 has rather woody stalks 3 to 10 feet high bearing abundant leafage, 

 is used for green forage and hay production in the sub-tropical regions 

 of our country. Garrison of the South Carolina Station 42 reports a 

 yield of over 11.5 tons of green and 2.25 tons of dry forage from 1 

 acre. Beggar weed should be cut for hay before the lower leaves drop 

 off and the stems become too woody. Such hay is relished by stock, 

 but the greatest value of the crop is for grazing. 43 



364. Miscellaneous legumes. The Tangier pea (Lathyrus tingitanus), 

 which is somewhat similar to the common sweet pea, but more vigorous 

 in growth, has given promising results as a hay and green manure crop 

 in the southern states and western Oregon. 44 Serradella (Ornithopus 

 sativus), cultivated to a considerable extent in Europe on poor sandy 

 land, has thus far attained no importance in the United States. As it 

 will grow on soil too acid for other legumes, it may be found useful on 

 acid sands in the northern states. The moth bean (Phaseolus aconiti- 

 folius), a native of India, is in many ways superior to the cowpea in 

 northern Texas, according to Conner 45 being more drought resistant 



"U. S. D. A. Farmers' Bui. 300. tt U. S. D. A. Farmers' Bui. 1125. 



"Forage Plants, p. 547. "Wash. Bui. 2, Spec. Series. 



"S. C. Bui. 123. "Tex. Bui. 103. 



