LESPEDEZA 



LUPINE 



397 



The seeding also may be done in the spring in any 

 of the small grains, and preferably harrowed in ; 

 and the seed has been used successfully in grass 

 mixtures for pastures. 



Lespedeza should occupy the land for two to four 

 years. It can follow cotton or any other late fall 

 crop. 



Harvesting and uses. 



Hay. — For hay, Japan clover should be cut 

 before it is over-ripe ; a good practice is to mow 

 when about half of the lower crop of seed has 

 matured. This provides for reseeding the next 

 year on the same field, or by spreading the manure 

 as above suggested. When the saving of seed is no 

 object, the plants should be cut when in full bloom. 

 On good land one to three tons of hay per acre 

 will be secured. The hay may be cocked after 

 thorough wilting on the day it is cut ; one or two 

 days in cocks is sufficient before final storage. It 

 should be handled carefully to prevent loss of 

 leaves. Tracy found lespedeza, with cotton seed as 

 the grain feed, to be the cheapest milk-producing 

 ration. The hay commands a ready sale in the 

 market. On the hill lands near Baton Rouge, 

 Louisiana, it is one of the leading hay crops. 



Seed. — For seed production, half-ripe hay may be 

 threshed with a loss of value to the hay, or the 

 seed may be gathered from siftings of the hay. To 

 get the most seed, however, the crop should stand 

 until a large part of the seeds are ripe. The self- 

 rake reaper is used for harvesting, although the 

 mower can be used when the stems are sufficiently 

 erect. 



Pasture. — Lespedeza affords valuable pasturage 

 for cattle, horses, hogs or sheep, though they must 

 be accustomed to it in order to relish it. By some 

 it is considered the best pasture plant for the 

 poorer clay soils of the cotton-belt. As it will not 

 start till the soil is warm, the pasturage will seldom 

 be available before May. Under favorable moisture 

 conditions it will continue until frost. It can be 

 planted to advantage in all permanent pastures, 

 where it will reseed itself if not pastured too 

 closely. 



Soil renovation. — Lespedeza is a valuable reno- 

 vator of poor lands, ranking with the other legumes 

 in this regard. It is frequently used to fit poor, 

 waste lands for exacting crops. 



Enemies. 



Lespedeza is almost devoid of serious enemies in 

 the way of weeds, insects, or parasitic fungi. It 

 combats successfully almost all the weeds. A 

 species of Colletotriehum (a fungus) has been found 

 on it in Tennessee, but as yet it has caused no 

 serious injury. 



Literature. 



Dodson, Louisiana Station, Bulletin No. 72, 

 Second series, 1902 ; McCarthy, North Carolina 

 Station, Bulletin No. 70, 1890, and No. 133 ; Shaw, 

 Clovers, New York City ; Tracy, Mississippi Station, 

 Eeport No. 1, 1888 ; Report No. 3, 1890 ; Bulletin 

 No. 20, 1892. 



LUPINE (Lupinus). Leguminosm. Fig. 595. 



By H. N. Vinall. 



A large group of leguminous plants mostly con- 

 fined to western North America, a few species 

 occurring in eastern United States, in the southern 

 states and in the Mediterranean region, some of 

 them valuable for green-manuring and forage. 

 Upwards of one hundred species are found in the 

 western United States. Most of the species are her- 

 baceous annuals or perennials, although a few are 

 shrubby. The agriculturally valuable species are 



FiK. 595. Yellow lupine (Impinus luteus). 



all annuals. Those most cultivated are native of the 

 Mediterranean region. All are showy plants with 

 conspicuous flowers in terminal racemes or spikes, 

 borne on long peduncles. The flowers are blue, 

 white or yellow, or a union of these, papilionaceous 

 and free-blooming. ' The leaves are usually digitate, 

 with five to seventeen entire leaflets. 



Lupines are grown primarily as a green-manure 

 crop. Their great value for this purpose depends 

 on their ability to thrive on poor sandy soils and 

 on their high nitrogen content. In Europe, large 

 tracts of sandy soils have been brought into con- 

 dition for profitable cultivation by green-manuring 

 with lupines and fertilizing with phosphates and 

 potash salts. As a forage crop, the cultivated 

 lupines are of no great importance, and are but 

 little used for this purpose. All of the species are 

 rather coarse for fodder. 



Lupines are but little cultivated in the United 

 States. In Europe and North Africa there are four 

 species in cultivation, namely, the white (L. 



