2l8 SOILING CROPS AND THE SILO. 



It has also been tested in a limited way by individual 

 farmers. Some who have tested this plant speak en- 

 couragingly of its value as a hay crop. In the judg- 

 ment of the Author its highest use as a food plant 

 for stock will be found in the pasture which it 

 furnishes, and this opinion is based on the results ob- 

 tained from growing it in various ways at the 

 Minnesota University Experiment station. 



It is an annual but should be sown in the autumn 

 rather than the spring in climates where it will sur- 

 vive the winter, but when sown in the spring a good 

 growth is frequently made. The plants grow but 

 slowly for a time, but when once firmly rooted run- 

 ners are thrown out in all directions and the ground 

 is covered with a dense mass of vegetation. But 

 the runners become so intertwined that it is almost 

 impossible to cut them or to pull them apart when 

 cut. Because of this the sand vetch is not likely to 

 become popular as soiling food when sown alone. 

 But if sown as a mixed crop, as with oats or some 

 other kind of grain, the grain acts in a considerable 

 degree as a support to the tendrils of vetch. When 

 thus grown, the mixed crop may be cut without much 

 difficulty and used as soiling food or as hay. 



When sown in the spring and thus used the 

 plants make much aftergrowth which may be pas- 

 tured until the advent of winter by sheep or cattle. 

 When sown alone not less than four pecks of seed 

 should be used, but when sown with another crop the 

 amount of the vetch seed to use should be decreased 

 proportionately as the seed of the other crop is used. 

 The relatively dear price of the seed in the past has 

 hindered the 7 extensive growth of this plant. 



