Leguminous Plants for Green Forage and Hay. 189 



corn forage as a silage crop, thereby greatly reducing the cost of a 

 properly balanced ration. 



In a feeding trial with dairy cows at the New Jersey Station^ the 

 substitution of cowpea hay for wheat bran and dried brewers' grains 

 caused a shrinkage of 7 per ct. in the milk flow, but reduced the 

 cost of the ration 30 per ct. In a feeding trial with dairy cows at 

 the Alabama Station,- substituting cowpea hay for wheat bran ef- 

 fected a saving of 23 per ct. in the cost of the ration. Cowpea hay 

 may be successfully substituted for at least half the concentrates in 

 the ration for cows and fattening steers. (442, 554, 557-8, 678, 766, 

 897) 



262. Hairy vetch, Vicia rillosa. — The hairy vetch is a legume of 

 increasing importance, attaining special prominence in Washington 

 and Oregon, where it flourishes to a surprising degree. The seed 

 should be sown in the fall with rye, the stems of which will support 

 the weak vetch vines, the latter being from 4 to 10 feet long. Vetch 

 can be used to a limited extent for pasture or extensively as soilage, 

 and finally it may be cured into a nutritious, useful hay. At the 

 South Carolina Station'* hairy vetch yielded 1.5 tons of hay per 

 acre. French of the Oregon Station* reports a yield of 19 tons 

 of green vetch per acre. Pigs grazing on vetch at that station gained 

 0.68 lb. per head daily, proving it to be one of the most valuable 

 of forage plants for swine, ranking with alfalfa. Spillman of the 

 Washington Station^ reports a yield of 1 ton of straw and over 14 

 bu. of seed per acre. (680) 



263. Velvet bean, Mucuna pruriens, var. utilis. — The tropical vel- 

 vet bean plant flourishes south of a line drawn from Savannah, 

 Georgia, to Austin, Texas. The vines, which sometimes run 75 ft., 

 are difficult to cure into hay, and are used mostly for grazing. Scott 

 of the Florida Station" reports a yield of 20 to 30 bushels of 60 lbs. 

 each of shelled beans per acre and that 3 lbs. of beans in the pod are 

 equal to 1 lb. of cotton-seed meal for milk production. Tracy^ re- 

 ports that 20 acres sown to velvet beans in Florida furnished half 

 the daily grazing for 30 cows during 27 days in winter, after which 

 10 tons of beans in pod were harvested. Eighty acres of velvet 

 beans in southern Georgia furnished grazing for 100 head of cattle 

 for 4 months. Seventy days' grazing on velvet-bean pasture was 

 sufficient to put steers in marketable condition. (555) Scott of the 



^ Bui. 174. ^ Bui. 35. « Bui. 102. 



"Bui. 123. » Bui. 41. '' U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers ' Bui. 300. 



^ Bui. 123. 



