MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. '211 



grown to provide pasture for sheep and green food 

 for horses and cattle. It has special adaptation for 

 dry calcareous soils. 



Sainfoin bears no little resemblance to alfalfa 

 in its habit of growth. Like alfalfa it will pro- 

 vide two or more cuttings of soiling food or 

 of hay in a single season, and when established 

 will retain its hold upon the soil for a number of 

 years, though not for so long a period as alfalfa. 

 The same care is also required in making it into 

 hay, or many of the leaves will be lost while it is 

 thus being cured. Because of its early and quick 

 growth it is ready for being cut earlier than red 

 clover. It is thought to be adapted to conditions 

 more dry than would be suited to growing alfalfa 

 in the absence of irrigation. It is rather adapted to 

 mild than to cold climates. 



But little can be gleaned from the reports of the 

 agricultural experiment stations with reference to 

 the growth of sainfoin. It would almost seem as 

 though it had entirely escaped the attention of experi- 

 menters in this country, and yet there is likely to be 

 a place for it in our agriculture as a pasture and also 

 as a soiling crop. It is claimed that when pasturing 

 it there is no danger from hoven or bloat as when 

 pasturing alfalfa, or red clover. 



Sainfoin has been grown with much success in 

 the neighborhood of Deer Lodge, Mont., and it is 

 not improbable that it can be grown with equal 

 success in nearly all the Rocky mountain valleys 

 northward from Montana and also between the 

 coast range and the Pacific. The seed is frequently 

 sown while yet in the sac, and when thus sown from 



