Btjreatj of Ageiculttteb. 251 



If any one wants to grow this plant he will have no 

 dilBoTilty in doing it. It thrives in very unpromising 

 soils, sometimes on clays that will produce little else. 

 It grows to a height of five or six feet, and produces a 

 good quantity of forage. If one wishes to bring up a 

 clayey soil, and cannot get a more palatable species, he 

 may under some circumstances find it profitable to sow 

 this plant for the humus and nitrogen it will produce. 



Sweet clover naturally suggests alfalfa, one of the 

 most valuable of all forage plants, both for the hay it 

 produces, and for its good effect on the soil. If we could 

 grow it everywhere in Kentucky, we could afford to let 

 red clover go. Once established, it is as nearly perennial 

 as any of the clovers. The yield is sometimes far in 

 excess of anything ever secured from red clover, and the 

 quality of the hay is as good, some think even better. 

 I have kept small plots of this plant on the farm for six 

 years, and at times secured hay from them at the rate 

 of from six to ten tons per acre. Three cuttings, and 

 sometimes four, may be taken from the plant when in 

 good condition. But after several years of extraordinary 

 success with it in 1907, it all but failed in the plots, and 

 proved very unsatisfactory in the hands of other people. 

 A farmer from Nelson county who has for years de- 

 pended on the plant for fattening beef cattle told me in 

 the fall of the year that he had never before had such 

 unsatisfactory experience with it. It appeared to be a 

 result of the wet season partly, and was partly due to 

 attacks of a small leaf hopper (Empoasca mail). 



But if we can grow alfalfa for periods of six or 

 seven years at a time, this is an improvement on red 

 clover, and we can afford to plow it up and start again, 

 and I sincerely hope Kentucky farmers will not give up 

 trying alfalfa because of its failure during very wet 

 springs. It is well worth struggling for. 



There are a few annual leguminous plants that must 

 be considered in any account, however imperfect, of Ken- 

 tucky forage. 



The Eussian or sand vetch (Vicia villosa) is a trail- 

 ing plant that does well in Kentucky, often persisting on 

 land spontaneously, from dropped seeds. It is, from its 



