LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 127 



up again and again. Figure 17 represents sheep pas- 

 turing on sand vetches, October 30, 1897. The 

 mass of vine held aloft by the young man who 

 appears in the picture represents a single plant. 

 \Yhen the growth has become well advanced, sheep 

 do not care to eat the stronger and more woody por- 

 tion of the tendrils. 



Observations. i. Where the common winter 

 vetch can be grown successfully, it will probably be 

 found superior to the sand vetch in providing soiling 

 food and fodder, since it is more upright in its habit 

 of growth, is much more easily harvested and is less 

 tough in the stems. 



2. When sowing sand vetches along with win- 

 ter rye or other winter crops, the plan of sowing the 

 combined crops" at the same time would seem to be 

 a good one. 



3. The sand vetch could possibly be utilized in 

 crowding out ferns that overshadow more useful 

 forms of growth in Washington and Oregon, by 

 simply scattering the seed and not grazing too 

 closely. And in the southern states it may yet be 

 made to serve a similar purpose with other forms 

 of weed life. 



4. The seed of the sand vetch cannot be grown 

 successfully in any of the northern states of the 

 Union east of the Rocky mountains. At the Min- 

 nesota experiment station only a few of the pods 

 matured seed. 



THE COWPEA. 



The cowpea (Dolichos Chinensis) is proving an 

 unmingled blessing to the agriculturists of the 

 United States, and more especially to those of them 



