246 FORAGE CROPS. 



farther attested. It must surely be somewhat 

 difficult to harvest a plant for hay which grows 

 as the velvet bean does. But there can be but 

 little doubt as to its unusual power to grow even 

 in poor soils and to bring fertility to them. Its 

 power to produce root tubercles is marked, and 

 the mass of foliage with which it covers the 

 soil is very great, hence when this leguminous 

 plant is buried with the plow in the green form 

 it not only adds much to the fertility of the land, 

 but it greatly increases the power of the same 

 to hold moisture, at least for a time. 



BEGGAR'S TICKS. 



Beggar's ticks (Desmodium tortuosum), some- 

 times called beggar weed, is an annual, and it 

 is, moreover, a legume. It is a vigorous grower 

 and it has much power to grow on poor soils. 

 During recent years it has come into considerable 

 favor in Florida and some other parts of the south 

 as a hay producing plant, and since it grows again 

 when eaten off or cut down and is also relished by 

 live stock, it should have considerable merit as a pas- 

 ture plant. At the Minnesota University experiment 

 farm, plants from seed sown in May were coming 

 into flower in September. The plants are sturdy 

 and branching and are somewhat coarse because of 

 the space given them to branch out. 



It is at least questionable if as good results will 

 be obtained from growing beggar's ticks for pasture 

 as from growing cowpeas where the latter do well, 

 but this question does not appear to have been settled 

 as yet. Since it is able to fight its own battle in the 



