NARBONNE VETCH 437 



As a green manure crop, winter vetch is very commonly sown 

 with rye, to be plowed under the following spring. It has also been 

 found very practical to sow it with a spring grain like oats for the 

 same purpose. After the oats are harvested, it makes a very good 

 fall growth and comes on very early the next spring, in time to be 

 plowed under for a cultivated crop, such as corn or potatoes. 



Inoculation of the soil for vetch has not usually been found 

 necessary. Natural inoculation seems to be present, probably due to 

 wild vetches which are common in most cultivated soils. However, 

 if no nodules can be found on the roots, it is considered best to 

 inoculate to secure good yields. 



Harvesting. For forage purposes, vetch should be cut when in 

 full bloom. For seed, it is allowed to become ripe and handled very 

 much as common vetch. For seed purposes, it is very commonly 

 sown with rye and the two harvested together. Average yields vary 

 from six to ten bushels to the acre, with maximum yields of about 

 twenty bushels. 



Vetch seeds are quite commonly mixed and are difficult to tell 

 apart. Hairy vetch seeds are smaller and very much darker in color 

 than common vetch. Common vetch seeds are usually gray or some- 

 what mottled. The seed of common vetch, when crushed, has an 

 orange-yellow color, while hairy vetch is a pale yellow. 



Other Vetches. The horse bean, or Windsor bean, is very 

 different in appearance from the two vetches just described, and 

 will not be taken as at all related by an ordinary observer. The 

 horse bean is a strong, upright, coarse-growing plant, with large 

 seeds half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The dwarf 

 varieties usually grow about two feet high, and the large varieties 

 about four feet high. Horse beans are grown only in a cool and 

 humid summer climate. They will very seldom succeed well even in 

 northern United States or southern Canada, but are extensively grown 

 throughout northern Europe. The beans are used as human food, 

 either cooked green or when mature, and also make an excellent 

 stock feed to be mixed with cereals. 



Narbonne vetch is found growing wild in southern Europe, re- 



