VETCHES AND VETCH-LIKE PLANTS 463 



damage in pasturing vetch designed for a hay or seed 

 crop. 



558. Feeding value. Common vetch is eagerly eaten 

 by cows, hogs and sheep. Its high value for milk produc- 

 tion has long been recognized in Europe. At the Oregon 

 Experiment Station cows fed vetch hay for 45 days kept 

 up their milk flow unimpaired. In a feeding test with 

 steers fed for 42 days two animals fed vetch hay gained, 

 respectively, 3.07 and 2.07 pounds a day, while two fed 

 red-clover hay gained 2.56 and 2.16 pounds a day. 



559. Rotations. Common vetch is nearly always 

 grown in rotation. Continuous cropping to vetch for seed 

 production usually results in reduced yields after two or 

 three years, according to Oregon experience. The effects 

 of cutting the crop for hay seem to be far less marked, but, 

 nevertheless, continuous cropping to vetch is unnecessary 

 and undesirable. 



In Oregon and Washington common vetch is usually 

 grown after spring-sown oats. It is advantageously used 

 also in rotation with potatoes or corn. 



In the region about Augusta, Georgia, the most famous 

 vetch-growing section in the South, the crop is mostly 

 grown in rotation with Johnson-grass, this being especially 

 true on valley lands where the Johnson-grass volunteers. 

 Vetch, commonly mixed with oats or other small grain 

 is usually planted in October on well-prepared land and 

 harvested by the middle of May. After the vetch crop is 

 removed, the Johnson-grass, more or less mixed with other 

 grasses, begins to grow and commonly yields two hay 

 cuttings during the season. 



Where Johnson-grass does not permanently occupy the 

 land it is not advisable to sow it, as it is extremely difficult 

 to eradicate. In this case various summer crops can be 



