410 



FIELD CROPS 



states it must be sown in late summer or early fall to prevent 

 winter-killing. As cultivation of orchards generally stops 

 about that time, this plant works in well as a cover crop to 

 add nitrogen. For the best growth of the orchard, it should 

 be plowed under early the following spring, for if left to pro- 

 duce seed it will take moisture and plant food from the trees. 



THE VELVET BEAN 



531. The velvet bean, Mucuna utilis, is a semitropical 

 plant which thrives along the Gulf Coast and in Florida. 



There it is an im- 

 portant forage plant 

 and soil renovator, 

 since it makes a 

 very heavy growth 

 and produces numer- 

 ous nitrogen-gather- 

 ing tubercles. The 

 vines often grow to 

 a length of 30 feet or 

 more. The flowers 

 are in clusters, pur- 

 ple in color, and are 

 followed by short 

 pods which are covered with black fuzz or down. Each pod 

 contains several mottled white and brown seeds, about 

 the size of a common garden bean. The greatest value of 

 the velvet bean is as a producer of vegetable matter rich 

 in nitrogen. The long, tangled vines make it rather diffi- 

 cult to harvest for forage. It will produce good sized vines 

 as far north as Virginia and Kentucky, but does not pro- 

 duce seed except in the Gulf states. 



Fig. 128. Velvet bean leaves, flowers, and 

 green and mature t>ods. 



