330 CHAPTER XX 



difterence need be made, except that in mixtures Hairy Vetch 

 should preferably be used with late varieties of oats and barley. 



Cultural Methods. — A fairly compact seed-bed is 

 required. They can be sown from the end of February (Hairy 

 Vetch) to the end of July (Spring Vetch). Fifteen to twenty- 

 five pounds of vetch are generally grown with forty to sixty 

 pounds of oats, barley or rye. If the vetch is grown as a green- 

 manuring crop, then thirty to forty pounds of seed is used per 

 acre. Practically all the seed is imported and is expensive. For 

 this reason thinner seedings are advocated. The Common 

 Vetch shatters its seed readily and in consequence is sometimes 

 troublesome as a weed in winter cereals. As a rule vetches 

 prefer sandy and light types of soil to heavy ones. The Common 

 Vetchs like lupines are injured by heavy applications of lime ; 

 on the other hand. Hairy Vetch prefers calcareous soils and is 

 quite the most resistant to alkali of all field legumes and is 

 besides fairly drought-resistant. Unlike cowpeas, the vetches 

 may be sown quite deeply without injury, because the coty- 

 ledons . remain where planted, the plumule becoming much 

 elongated. Two inches, however, is the optimum depth for 

 sowing. 



Experience in America points to the necessity for soil 

 inoculation ; however, in South Africa on fields where winter 

 cereals have been grown for any period, the necessity does not 

 arise, since inoculation has probably been accomplished by 

 vetches as weeds in these crops. 



When grown for seed, both species can be grown, with a 

 variety of oats which takes about the same time to mature. 

 When fully matured, the mixed crop is harvested and threshed 

 with the ordinary grain thresher, which will easily separate 

 the seeds ; the straw provides a fairly good feed. If grown for 

 seed purposes, the quantity of vetch seed in proportion to the 

 oats should be reduced and the mixture sown on poor soils in 

 preference to rich soils. 



Uses. — Under irrigation and in those parts having a winter 

 iTainfall, the vetches and field peas might well play a more im- 

 portant part. When grown alone they make an excellent green- 

 manuring crop of winter growth, and are also very useful as a 

 pasturage. As a hay crop in mixture they are easily harvested, 

 assist in maintaining the fertility of the soil, and, being 

 extremely nitrogenous and palatable, they increase the feeding 



