466 FOEAGE PLANTS AND THEIE CULTURE 



is cut, the two are rolled back out of the way. This puts 

 the vetch in larger swaths than the first-mentioned 

 method and also somewhat reduces the loss from shatter- 

 ing. These two mower and pitchfork methods were for- 

 merly used generally, but now have been largely super- 

 seded by other methods. 



An ordinary grain binder is used by some growers, es- 

 pecially when the vetch is short and therefore quite erect 

 or when it is grown with a supporting crop, such as oats. 

 When thus harvested, the crop is put in shocks similar 

 to grain shocks and allowed to remain until thrashed. 



The most common way of harvesting vetch at present 

 is to use an ordinary mower with a swather attachment. 

 The swather, which is attached to and behind the sickle 

 bar, rolls the vetch in a swath to the outside and leaves 

 the way clear to cut the next swath. 



Whatever method is used in cutting, the vetch is put 

 at once into shocks and remains till thrashed. The most 

 important rule in the harvesting of vetch seed is to handle 

 the crop rapidly and as little as possible when cut. 



Common vetch varies considerably in the yield of seed 

 to the acre. Five bushels is considered a low yield, and 

 20 to 25 bushel yields are near the maximum. The 

 average acre yield is probably from 10 to 12 bushels. 



564. Seed. Common vetch seed has been extensively 

 grown for some years in western Oregon, and practically 

 all of this seed has been marketed on the Pacific Coast. 

 Were it not for high freight rates, all of the seed required 

 in the United States could be grown in this section. The 

 price paid to the grower has varied greatly, the maximum 

 being 1J cents a pound, but in 1909, owing to extraordi- 

 nary conditions, he realized but one-half cent a pound, at 

 which price the seed crop is not profitable, 



