386 



FIELD CROPS 



the winter, or hairy vetch, Vicia villosa. This is sown in the 

 late summer or early fall as a cover crop in orchards or m 

 combination with fall grain as a forage crop for hay or for 

 soiling. The vetch plant produces a trailing vine several feet 

 in length, with numerous pinnate leaves consisting of eight to 

 fourteen small leaflets. The bluish-purple flowers are pro- 

 duced in racemes in the axils of the 

 leaves. The pods are straight, about 

 l}^ inches long, and contain several 

 brown or black weeds. 



521. Culture and Uses. When 

 sown for hay or as a winter cover 

 crop and soil improver, from 1 to IJ^ 

 bushels of vetch seed are required for 

 an acre. Oats or beardless wheat are 

 good grains to grow with vetch for 

 ha}^, while as a cover crop or green 

 manure there is nothing better than 

 rye. The time to cut for hay depends 

 more on the grain than on the vetch, 

 for it continues to grow and produces 

 seed over a considerable period. Vetch is sometimes sown 

 in the fall on Johnson grass sod and cut the following sum- 

 mer for ha3^ By the time the Johnson grass is ready to cut 

 the vetch will have reseeded itself sufficiently' to produce 

 another crop the following fall. 



The greatest usefulness of winter vetch is in the South 

 as a cover crop and soil improver on poor lands, though its 

 best growth is on fertile soils. In the Central and Northern 

 states it must be sown in late summer or early fall to prevent 

 winterkilling. As cultivation of orchards generally stops 

 about that time, this plant works in well as a cover crop to 

 add nitrogen. For the best growth of the orchard, it should 

 be plowed under early the following spring, for if left to pro- 

 duce seed it will take moisture and plant food from the trees 



Figure 132. — Hairy vetch. 



