144 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



sandy loams it is often cultivated for hogs, which are turned into the 

 field in autumn to root up the tubers. The tubers contain from 17 

 to 28 per cent of oil, 27 to 29 per cent of starch, and 12 to 21 per cent 

 of gum and sugar. This sedge is an important forage plant for desert 

 regions. Ground Nut (Apios tuberosa). A wild climbing bean, 

 with milky juice and straight or slightly curved many-seeded pods, 



f rowing in low grounds as far west as the Missouri River ; it is eaten 

 y all kinds of stock. The edible tubers which furnish food for 

 swine, are borne on underground shoots. Ground Plum (Astragalus 

 crassicarpus) . A prairie legume found throughout the Mississippi 

 Valley. It has straggling fleshy stems, narrow leaflets and racemes 

 of purple flowers, and produces every year an enormous number of 

 succulent pods, whence the plant received its name. Sheep and cattle 

 eat both the pods and leaves. In Texas, where the razor-back hog 

 runs at large on the ranges, the ground plum is rapidly becoming ex- 

 tinct, and is only found in pastures protected by hog-proof fencing. 

 The pods, or "plums," are sometimes used as a vegetable. The ground 

 plum appears very early in spring, long before the clovers are ready to 

 use, at a period when succulent food is needed for cows and young 

 stock. Gunaninpil (Allionia incarnata). A slender plant belong- 

 ing to the Four O'Clock family, which comes up from the seed 

 after the summer rains in the grazing region of Arizona and New 

 Mexico and furnishes nutritious food for sheep and cattle. 



Hairy Bush Clover (Lespedeza polystachya) . An upright 

 wand-like plant growing on dry hills and barrens in the Eastern 

 States, valuable as a pasture plant. Hall's Rush (Scirpus hallii) . 

 A slender tufted sedge 6 inches to a foot high, growing on the 

 borders of ponds from Texas to South Dakota; it is readily eaten by 

 stock. Hairy Vetoh (Vicia mllosa). This annual leguminous plant 

 has been cultivated for about fifty years in some parts of Europe and 

 was introduced into this country for the first time about 1847, under 

 the name of Siberian vetch. It has been tried in various parts of the 

 United States. Excellent reports as to its drought-resisting qualities 

 and its adaptability to our climate have been received from Wash- 

 ington, Nebraska, Georgia, New Mexico, South Dakota, Minnesota, 

 Montana, and Pennsylvania. Hairy vetch withstands winter cold 

 and summer drought, but it does not do well where there is an excess 

 of water in the soil. Hagy (Lespedeza bicolor intermedia). A per- 

 ennial with the habit of alfalfa, but more woody, grown at the North 

 Carolina and Mississippi experiment Stations ; it is considered to have 

 some value as a pasture plant, especially for sheep. Halls' Rush 

 (Scirpus hallii). A slender tufted sedge, 6 inches to a foot high, 

 growing on the borders of ponds from Texas to South Dakota. It 

 is readily eaten by stock. 



Hog peanut (Amphicarpa monoica). A wild bean, native of 

 the woodlands and forests throughout the region east of the Mis- 

 souri River, with two kinds of flowers; conspicuous ones borne on 

 the upper portions of the plant which seldom ripen seed, and 

 inconspicuous fertile ones borne on slender stalks near the surface 

 of the ground. The latter form fleshy subterranean pods, somewhat 



