OTHER HOT-SEASON ANNUAL LEGUMES 541 



657. Adaptations. Lespedeza has spread naturally 

 since its introduction into the United States over practi- 

 cally the whole area from southern New Jersey westward 

 nearly to central Kansas and south to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 It is only in the lower Mississippi valley that it grows 

 large enough to cut for hay, elsewhere being valuable 

 only for pasturage. It shows no marked preference for 

 soils, occurring on every type, if well drained near the 

 surface. 



Lespedeza delights in heat and does not begin to grow 

 in spring until warm weather. It does not withstand 

 frost, but it rarely begins growth until all danger of frost 

 is over. Its northern limit seems determined wholly by 

 the length of the hot season necessary for it to mature 

 seed. 



658. Culture. Lespedeza is best seeded in early spring, 

 preferably February in Louisiana and Mississippi, but it 

 may be sown up till April. From 15 to 25 pounds of seed 

 is used to the acre. Where once land has grown Japan 

 clover, it is rarely necessary to reseed it again if proper 

 precautions be used. The seed, however, is quite cheap, 

 and Lespedeza is being grown more and more in regular 

 rotations. 



It is most commonly sown perhaps with oats as a nurse- 

 crop, sowing the Lespedeza with the oats in fall or better 

 in early spring on the fall-sown oats. After the oats are 

 harvested, a good crop of Lespedeza can be harvested the 

 same season. It may thus occupy the land for two or 

 more years, reseeding itself each year, or better, be suc- 

 ceeded by corn or cotton in a regular rotation. 



The reseeding of the land to Lespedeza may be regu- 

 lated in harvesting the crop. If cut when in bloom, the 

 aftermath will ripen seed before frost, or strips of the 



