658 



VELVET BEAN 



VETCH 



nor is it subject to other diseases. It makes a very 

 large growth of vegetable matter to be resolved 

 into humus. On the basis of ten tons of green 

 vines per acre, the crop contains 150 to 200 pounds 

 of nitrogen with ten or twelve pounds in the roots 

 alone. The nodules produced on the roots by the 

 nitrogen-collecting bacteria are much larger than 

 those found on the roots of our common legumes. 

 They are brownish black in color, warty, broad, 

 flat, and frequently measure an inch and a quarter 

 across. The interior is greenish white or greenish 

 pink in color. 



As an ornamental. — The rapid growth and the 

 large clean foliage of the velvet bean gives it dis- 

 tinct value as an annual ornamental covering for 

 trellises and for porch screens. In fact, it was as 

 an ornamental that the velvet bean was first used 

 in this country. 



Literature. 



Bulletins Nos. 35 and 60, Florida Experiment 

 Station ; Bulletins Nos. 104 and 120, Alabama 

 Experiment Station; Farmers' Bulletin, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Nos. 102 and 

 300 ; Hume, Citrus Fruits and Their Culture, pages 

 290-293 ; Shaw, Forage Crops, New York City. 



VETCH. Vieia spp. LeguminoscB. Fig. 891, 892. 



By /. F. Duggar. 



The vetches are of importance as cover-crops 

 and as stock-feed. They have never become very 

 popular, partly because of the low trailing habit, 

 and partly because of the high price of the seed. 

 Most of the seed is procured in Europe. When over 

 two years old it sometimes germinates poorly. 



Botanical characters. 



The vetches, with few exceptions, are slender, 

 climbing plants, bearing tendrils at or near the 

 extremity of each pinnate leaf. They are herba- 

 ceous plants with weak stems, requiring the support 

 of other plants, such as the small grains, when 

 grown for hay. The numerous branches springing 

 from a crown near the surface of the ground are 

 usually two to five feet or more in length. Excep- 

 tions are found in the broad bean (Vicia Fdba, 

 which see) and Narbonne vetch (F. Narbonensis), 

 which are erect, without tendrils, and with leaflets 

 much larger than the typical vetches. The stipules 

 are entire or half sagittate, or variously notched 

 or cleft, and in many species marked with a dark 

 reddish spot. The flowers are axillary, few or in 

 racemes, chiefly shades of pink, violet, purple and 

 white. The style is slender and its summit is 

 capped with a bunch of hairs. The calyx tube is 

 somewhat oblique, obtuse at base, with teeth about 

 equal. The flattish or roundish pod, containing 

 numerous roundish seeds, bursts open when dry, 

 splitting into two parts and spreading the seed 

 widely. Britton gives the number of species as 

 about 120, describes eleven as occurring in the 

 northeastern part of North America, and notes that 

 about twelve others occur in southern and western 

 North America. 



Species of vetches. 



The three species of vetch most extensively 

 employed in agriculture are hairy or sand vetch 

 {Vieia villosa), common or smooth vetch, or spring 

 tare {V. saliva), and narrow-leaved vetch (F. angus- 

 tifolia). They are all annuals in the southern states, 

 making their growth between September and May, 

 and are treated either as winter or as summer 

 crops as we go northward. 



Hairy or sand vetch (F. villosa, Fig. 891) is dis- 

 tinguished by its dense coat of gray hairs covering 



Fig. 891. 



Haiiy or winter vetch (Tida villosa). Enlarged 

 flower, side view, on left. 



every part of the plant and by its racemes crowded 

 with numerous slender, deep purple flowers. The 

 seeds are small and black. It has usually afforded 

 larger amounts of forage than other well-known 

 vetches. 



"Vicia sativa (Fig. 892) and V. angustifolia have 

 larger, more spreading flowers, borne singly or in 

 pairs ; on the stipules are dark, glandular spots. 

 They differ in that the former has obovate or 

 oblong leaflets, while the latter has longer and 

 narrower leaflets. V. angustifolia has black seeds 

 and pods. F. angustifolia is specially valuable by 

 reason of its greater earliness. 



Vicia sativa, the spring vetch, is native in 

 Europe and western Asia, and was cultivated by 

 the Romans. It was introduced into America a 

 hundred years ago, and was formerly cultivated in 

 the northeastern part of the United States, where 

 in certain sections it has proved successful. It is 

 used as a soiling crop in northern Europe and 

 Great Britian. It may be sown at the rate of five 

 to eight pecks of seed per acre in April or May, 

 with a bushel of oats or rye as a nurse crop. An 

 acre of vetch and oats yields ordinarily six to eight 



