174 THE VETCH CROP. 



means of its tendrils, to some other plant for support; 

 its slender and succulent stem not being able to keep 

 it off the ground, it would, without this support, be 

 injured and speedily destroyed. When the common 

 vetch (annual) is sown no difficulty is experienced, as a 

 small proportion of either of our cereals is sufficient to 

 keep the crop off the ground during the period of its 

 growth. In Germany arid in France, where the biennial 

 vetch is cultivated, the custom is to sow it with a propor- 

 tion of one or the other melilots either the Melilotus offi- 

 cinalis or M. macrorhiza whose strong, erect habit of 

 growth and similarity of duration render them suitable for 

 the purpose ; but where any of the perennial species are 

 cultivated, some consideration is required as to the best 

 means of securing a support for the crop, in the shape of 

 a plant which in itself shall be suitable for forage pur- 

 poses. Beans have been recommended; but although 

 they might succeed very well for the first or second year, 

 they, like all other annual plants, would speedily dete- 

 riorate by being sown year after year in the same land ; 

 while the vetches would, at all events for the first few 

 years, increase in luxuriance of growth. It has been sug- 

 gested to sow the perennial species in wide drills, so that 

 the intervals might be dug and ploughed every winter, 

 and thus, by the addition of manure, rendered capable of 

 growing the plants necessary for the support of the vetches 

 in the intervening spaces. By this method the cereals or 

 other plants might alternate with beans in the system of 

 cropping. 



7 V. angustifolia Narrow-leaved Vetch is largely 

 grown in Germany, where it is also met with in the 

 woods and hedgerows as a native plant. It is said to 

 yield a large bulk of excellent fodder, and, although an 

 annual, to be sufficiently hardy to withstand the frosts 

 and wet, and keep good to quite the end of the season. 



