132 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



FODDER AND FORAGE PLANTS. 

 (Exclusive of Grasses) 



There are in the United States over two hundred native wild 

 species of the class locally recognized as excellent forage plants. 

 More attention should be given the natives, for there is every rea- 

 son to believe that among them are many kinds fully equal in pro- 

 ductiveness and feeding value to any of those now under cultivation, 

 and possibly many superior to anything now used in their adaptabil- 

 ity to certain soils or climates or in their value for special uses. The 

 Department of Agriculture could do no better than to continue on 

 a larger scale experimentation with these varied and excellent forage 

 grasses. It is interesting to note that of the 236 species briefly de- 

 scribed below, all of which are natives (or if brought from foreign 

 lands they have been sufficiently tried at either National or State 

 Experiment Stations to receive recognition), about 150 belong to 

 the legume or clover family and about 30 are salsolaceous plants, 

 or salt-bushes. The former includes alfalfa, the vetches, peas, beans 

 and clovers, and the latter the now well-known Australian salt- 

 bush and other plants especially adapted to cultivation on alkali 

 soils. 



Many of the plants mentioned below are in some localities 

 given local names; for instance, Mammoth clover is given no less 

 than thirty-one different names in the index of Bulletin No. 2, 

 Division Agrostology, Dep. of Agr., everyone of which refers to 

 Number 288, the description of the variety just mentioned. The 

 compiler deemed it sufficient to give generally the recognized pop- 

 ular name in the vernacular (English) followed by the botanical 

 (Latin) name. The forage plants of special importance are more 

 extensively described elsewhere in this volume, while a few of 

 Btrictly local import only receive some mention in their proper 

 place. 



Abrosia (Abrosia latifolia.) A low vine with viscid stems, 

 thick, fleshy leaves and an enormously thickened spongy root. 

 Grows on the sand-dunes along the coast of Oregon and Washington 

 and furnishes some pasturage for cattle. Alaska Vetch ( Vicia sttch- 

 ensis). A native of the Pacific coast from California to Alaska; 

 valuable for forage, and deserves cultivation. Alfalfa (Medicago 

 sativa}. Described under separate head, elsewhere in this work. 

 Alfilaria (Erodium moschatum). An annual of value in pastures 

 on the Pacific slope. American Gray Bush (Kochia americana). 

 A perennial saltbush ; one of the best winter forage plants in Wyo- 

 ming. Annual Saltbush (Atriplex holocarpa) . A low, densely 

 branching annual valuable in the grazing regions of the West and 

 Southwest as far north as Colorado and Utah. Apache plume (Fal- 

 lingia paradoxd). A low undershrub of west Texas and New Mex- 

 ico; browsed by cattle and sheep. Arrowgrass (Trigloehin mariti- 

 mum). A marsh plant along the Atlantic coast which adds some 

 value to the herbage of wet plants. 



American Vetch (Vicia americana) . A smooth perennial 

 with compound leaves, elliptical or oblong obtuse leaflets, and four 



