128 LEGUMINOUS CROPS 



affords protection for the tiny vetch plants. This com- 

 bination crop furnishes excellent fall and winter pasture, 

 and can be grazed down late in the spring without injury to 

 the crop. After the stock is taken from the fields, the rye 

 and vetch plants come on rapidly. The rye stems shooting 

 up above the vetch plants, act as a support for them, thus 

 keeping the vetch from trailing on the ground. The crop 

 is harvested for hay much more readily than when grown 

 alone. The hay cures much more easily and is of superior 

 quality. 



Uses. Vetches can be grown for hay, for seed, as a 

 pasture or soiling crop, as a cover crop in orchards, and as a 

 soil improver. The vetches do not cure so easily as do the 

 clovers and often have to be left in the cock for several days. 

 It is good practice to use caps for the proper curing of the 

 hay. When used as a soil improver, the winter vetch and 

 rye are turned under in the spring after several inches of 

 growth have been obtained, in time to use the ground for 

 potatoes or corn. 



Seed Production. Most of the seed used for growing 

 vetch in this country is imported from Europe. Since it 

 does not seem to yield well in America, it has not as yet 

 been produced here in large quantities. There are some 

 localities near the Pacific Coast and in other parts of the 

 United States, where considerable progress has been made 

 in vetch seed production. 



The seed is round and of a dark purple color, somewhat 

 resembling a small pea. It also resembles the seed of the 

 pernicious wheat cockle. The fields in which vetch is 

 grown should be followed by a cultivated crop for at least 

 two seasons before sowing small grains, thus preventing 

 the mixture of small grains and Vetch. 



