LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 2O5 



the states, the seed having been carried from place to place by 

 the hay and the horses. It is now naturalized as far west 

 as Texas. 



It is a spreading or ascending plant with one to three sessile 

 or nearly sessile pink or purple flowers, usually from 6 to 12 

 inches high, but on rich lowlands sometimes 30 inches or more, 

 when it may be cut for hay. Ordinarily, how- 

 ever, it is used for pasture, and takes some- 

 what the same place in the south as white 

 clover does in the north. While Bermuda japan clover seed. 

 grass and Japan clover are to the southern ^pS^tta 

 states what Kentucky blue grass and white left; naked seed on 



clover are to the northeastern states, yet they ' 



have been much less extensively cultivated. 



Japan clover is adapted chiefly to the Gulf states, where it 

 will grow on a variety of soils. It is killed by frost and 

 suspends growth during summer droughts, consequently its 

 chief pasture is furnished in spring or fall. It re-seeds on the 

 same ground year after year, and like white clover is not sown 

 much artificially. The seeds are rounded to egg-shaped, 0.05 to 

 0.07 inch long and 0.04 to 0.06 inch wide ; green, greenish brown, 

 amber, or black. They usually occur commercially in the pod 

 which in turn is enclosed in the calyx, as shown in the illustra- 

 tion. The rate of seeding is about one-half bushel of unclean 

 seed per acre. 



IV. VETCHES 



240. Kinds. There is at least a score of either introduced 

 or native species of vetch, two of which have been cultivated 

 in this country: spring vetch or tare (Vicia saliva, L.) and 

 winter, hairy, or sand vetch (V . villosa Roth.). The former 

 is widely used in England as a soiling crop for milch cows. 

 It makes an excellent food because palatable and containing a re- 



