VETCHES AND VETCH-LIKE PLANTS 465 



200 pounds of acid phosphate and 100 pounds of muriate 

 of potash to the acre. 



561. Lime. Vetches, like lupines, are injured by large 

 applications of lime, but are not so sensitive to small 

 amounts. Ulbricht in Germany found that in pot 

 experiments the application of lime diminished the ability 

 of the plant to assimilate phosphorus and nitrogen, but 

 not potash. 



Field experiments have given mixed results, but in gen- 

 eral it appears clear that liming is not advisable for vetches. 



562. Silage. Vetch has been several times preserved 

 as silage at the Oregon Experiment Station, where cattle 

 preferred it to that made of red clover. Smith reports 

 that it is also used for silage at a large dairy in South 

 Carolina with entire satisfaction. 



563. Seed-production. Common vetch seed is pro- 

 duced in large quantities in the United States only in the 

 Willamette Valley, Oregon. The methods of handling the 

 seed crop vary, due partly to difference of opinion as 

 to the best method, but more largely to the machinery 

 possessed by the grower. 



It is the general practice to cut vetch for seed as soon 

 as the lower pods are fully ripe, at which time the upper 

 pods will be fully formed and the plant will be carrying 

 a maximum quantity of seed. Later cutting occasions 

 more shattering of seed, while earlier cutting results in 

 a considerable percentage of immature seed. In a few 

 places, where but little seed is raised, the crop is cut with 

 an ordinary mowing machine. Two men with pitchforks 

 follow the mower and roll the vetch back from the uncut 

 area so as to enable the machine to get through when 

 cutting the next swath. Sometimes the first swath cut 

 is rolled on the uncut vetch, and when the succeeding swath 



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