MISCELLANEOUS PERENNIAL LEGUMES 565 



extreme south may be done at any time during the winter. 

 To avoid the loss of land the first season, corn may be 

 planted after setting out the kudzu, and the two do not 

 interfere with each other. 



The culture of kudzu is still in an experimental stage, 

 but for permanent hay fields, especially in the South, it 

 is likely to become of considerable importance. Small 

 experimental plots at the Kentucky and Alabama Experi- 

 ment Stations, as well as at Arlington Farm, Virginia, 

 have given promising results. At the Florida Experiment 

 Station the plot yields have thus far not been as satisfac- 

 tory as those of velvet beans. 



681. Flat pea (Lathyrus silvestris var. wagneri) is a 

 native of most of Europe and the Caucasus region of 

 Asia. The cultivated variety was. first domesticated by 

 Wagner in 1862 from the Carpathian Mountains, Austria. 

 The wild plant was unpalatable and the seeds very hard, 

 but Wagner was able to improve the plant by selection in 

 both these respects. Since 1878 the plant has been much 

 discussed, and at times very extravagant claims made for it. 



The plant is a long-lived perennial closely allied to the 

 old perennial sweet pea of the gardens. The stems are 

 wing-margined, weak and reclining without support, 

 becoming 3 to 6 feet long; leaves with a single pair of 

 lanceolate leaflets, and branched tendrils ; flowers pink, 

 3 to 10 in a loose raceme. 



It grows but slowly at first and usually does not bloom 

 till the second year. In Germany the green plant is said 

 to be eaten readily by horses and swine. 



The flat pea has been tested at many of the American 

 experiment stations, but by none has the plant been com- 

 mended nor has it won for itself a place in American 

 agriculture. When once established it may persist for 



