CHAPTER 15 

 THE FORAGE PLANTS OF THE FAMILY LEGUMINOS^ 



There are a large number of available plants of this family, which can 

 be used for forage, but the majority of them although they have been 

 introduced and tried have not been tested sufficiently to warrant their 

 general cultivation. Such are the sainfoin (Onobrychis viciaefolia), Egyp- 

 tian clover (Trifoliwn alexandrinum) , bur clover (Medicago arabica), yellow 

 clover (Medicago lupulina), Japan clover (Lespedeza striata), Florida 

 clover (Desmodium tortuosum), purple vetch (Vicia atropurpurea), and 

 velvet bean {Mucuna utilis). There are however, a number of ex- 

 tremely important species which will be discussed in the pages which fol- 

 low. They are alfalfa, red clover, alsike clover, crimson clover, white 

 clover, sweet clover, Canadian field pea, cowpea, soy, hairy-vetch and 

 the peanut. These plants are not only useful in the amount of forage 

 that they yield, but because they are used also as green manures to enrich 

 the soil and in their growth to crowd out weeds. 



Alfalfa (Medicago saliva). The original home of this plant appears to 

 have been southwest of central Asia having been cultivated by the Per- 

 sians, who carried it with them in the invasion of Greece about 490 B.C. 

 It was cultivated by the Romans at an early date for Varro in his "Rerum 

 Rusticarum Libri Tres," Book I, Chapter XLII speaks of the plant. 

 "You should take care not to plant alfalfa in soil which is neither too dry 

 or half wet, but in good order. The authorities say that if the soil is in 

 proper condition a modius (peck) and a half of alfalfa seed will suffice to 

 sow a jugerum of land. This seed is sowed broad-cast on the land like 

 grass and grain." Although we have used the name alfalfa in the above 

 account of the plant introduced into Italy from Greece, yet the name is a 

 Moorish one introduced into Spain with the Moors in the eighth century, 

 whence it reached Mexico and South America with the Spaniards. The 

 name came into current use in California, when the plant was introduced 

 across the border. 



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