MISCELLANEOUS PERENNIAL LEGUMES 561 



known to cause bloating. The yield of hay varies from 

 1800 to 6000 pounds to the acre, on the average about 

 3000 pounds. The yield is as a rule best in the fourth 

 year. 



On poor soils fields are reported to last 15 to 22 years. 

 On good soils, however, the better practice is to allow the 

 fields to stand 4 to 7 years, and then not plant sainfoin 

 again for an equal length of time, as soils become " sick " 

 to sainfoin in a manner analogous to " clover sick " soils. 



677. Seed. Commercial seed of sainfoin is nearly 

 always in the hull. Fresh seed should germinate 98 per 

 cent and have a purity of 80 per cent. The seed loses its 

 viability rapidly, so that after one year it is valueless. 

 On this account the commercial seed is often very low in 

 viability. After planting the seed is slow to germinate, 

 requiring 2 to 3 weeks before it has all sprouted. 



The seed is all grown in Europe, the average yield being 

 stated as about 500 pounds to the acre. 



678. American data. Sainfoin has been tested in a 

 small way at most of the American experiment stations, 

 but nowhere on the continent has it become established 

 as a crop. Long before the days of experiment stations, 

 sainfoin had been frequently tested by farmers, and there 

 are many references to it in early American agricultural 

 literature. Fields have often been planted in the irrigated 

 lands of the West, but neither under such conditions nor 

 on the unirrigated lands has it yielded as heavily as alfalfa. 

 Under irrigation the average yield for 2 years at the Utah 

 Experiment Station was but 2000 pounds to the acre, much 

 less than either red clover or alfalfa. Without irrigation 

 but one early cutting was secured. 



At the Ontario Agricultural College an average yield 

 of 12 tons green matter to the acre has been secured from 



'2o 



