454 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



slight extent in California. In the latter state it was 

 uninjured by a temperature of 13 Fahrenheit. 



As a spring-sown crop the chick-pea has done fairly 

 well in Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Iowa and Ontario. 

 At the Ontario Agricultural College it has produced an 

 average annual yield of 35.6 bushels seed and 1 ton of 

 straw to an acre, and the average yield obtained by 56 

 farmers was 19.8 bushels to an acre. In cold seasons, 

 however, it does not thrive. The seeds are free from 

 attack by the pea- weevil. 



The hay or straw of the plant is not liked by animals on 

 account of the acid secretion, which is said to be injurious 

 both to cattle and horses. In any case its very small 

 yield does not justify growing the plant for hay. 



GRASS-PEA (Lathyrus sativus) 



546. The grass-pea, vetchling or chickling vetch, is 

 native to the Mediterranean region eastward to central 

 Asia. Its culture, which is very ancient, probably began 

 in the region south of the Caspian Sea. Seeds have been 

 found in the ruins of Troy, in ancient Egyptian graves and 

 with human remains of the stone age in Hungary. In the 

 Old World the plant is more or less cultivated in India, 

 western Asia and the south of Europe. The seeds are 

 used as human food, but it is said that if eaten continu- 

 ously they are likely to cause paralysis. This deleterious 

 character is, however, probably restricted to the varieties 

 with colored seeds. 



The plant is an annual and has much the same adapta- 

 tions as the pea, which in a general way it resembles. 

 The stems are wing-margined and grow 2 to 3 feet high ; 

 the pinnate leaves have but a single pair of narrow lanceo- 

 late leaflets and tendrils at the tip ; the long-peduncled 



