SEEDING LESPEDEZA 189 



yet it is being more and more sown with profit-, especially 

 along the rich alluvial lands of the lower reaches of the 

 Mississippi River. It is not intolerant of occasional flood- 

 ing of the ground so the water does not stand too long or 

 become too deep, hence it is adapted to poorly-drained 

 southern lands as well as to hillsides. I have seen it 

 grow luxuriantly on hard subsoil along railways where 

 every bit of the topsoil had been removed. Speaking for 

 Oklahoma, John Fields remarks that it is not worth while 

 sowing lespedeza where it does not come of itself; that 

 it is not adapted to drouth conditions. In Louisiana it 

 is often sown with winter oats, the oats being sown in 

 the fall and the lespedeza in the spring. After the oats 

 are taken off, the lespedeza uses the land effectually and 

 makes a crop of hay in the fall. The seed is best sown 

 on bare earth and either left uncovered, when it will be 

 covered by the beating rains, or else lightly brushed in. 

 It will not endure much earth upon it. It may be sown at 

 any time in spring or late winter. 



Quantity of Seed to Sow. Ordinarily the seed is sold 

 in the pod and a half bushel or more is sown to the acre. 

 If one gets at first a thin stand of lespedeza, one may 

 hope that the second year it will have thickened by its 

 own self-sown seed. In mowing lespedeza for hay, one 

 must use caution or one will lose the stand. When it 

 grows thick and tall there is danger that the mower may 

 cut off all the bloom and seed. Some growers remove 

 two or three sections from their mower knives so that 

 strips are left uncut for the purpose of maturing seed. 

 Lespedeza hay is richer in fat than alfalfa and compares 

 well with it in all points. It is probably a more valuable 



