166 THE VETCH CROP. 



directions, that " the land be ploughed up for the suc- 

 ceeding grain crop directly the vetches are cut, for if that 

 be delayed they are of no benefit to the crop that follows/' 1 

 would lead us to look for the beneficial action of vetches 

 as a preparation for the wheat crop, rather from their 

 close growth checking the growth of weeds and sheltering 

 the surface from -the drying action of the sun and wind, 

 thus keeping the land clean and with sufficient moisture 

 for the germination of the seed-corn, than from any direct 

 fertilizing effect they could have produced. This condi- 

 tion of the soil was of great importance in a country like 

 Italy, where the action of the autumn sun rendered the 

 surface dry and parched, and where their practice was to 

 sow the wheat crop early, in order to enable it to get well 

 rooted before the winter season set in. 



Vetches seem to have been grown as a crop for " forage 

 purposes" in this country from a very early period: most 

 of our early writers on agricultural subjects speak of them. 

 Gerarde (1593) describes several species, and Ray (1686) 

 informs us that in his time they were commonly cultivated 

 in almost every country of Europe as a field crop that 

 they were mostly sown in England, mixed with oats and 

 pease, for horses, but that they were also grown separately 

 for soiling cattle, and were reputed to make milch cows 

 yield much milk. 



Although grown in most countries on the Continent as 

 a crop, they appear to have been more generally cultivated 

 at home than abroad, as Thaer and others quote English 

 writers as their authorities for information and directions 

 of cultivation. 



Botanically the Vetch belongs to the order Leguminosce, 

 forming the distinct genus Vicia, of which more than one 

 hundred species have been described, most of which are 



1 " Ut si protinua sublata messe earum proscindatur, nihil in segetibus, quae 

 deinceps in eo loco serninari debent, profuturum sit." Col., lib. ii. cap. 14. 



