FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 285 



oats or wheat and when so grown the combination makes an ad- 

 mirable hay mixture, especially in those regions where clover, 

 alfalfa or other hays are not generally grown. The vetches 

 flourish best in moist, clay loam soils of free working texture. 

 The spring vetch should be sown for forage as soon as the 

 ground is dry enough to be worked without injury. The winter 

 vetch ought to be sown long before winter to enable it to become 

 firmly established that it may the better withstand the rigors of 

 winter. The seeding may be broadcasted but it is better sown 

 with a grain drill if sown alone or along with other seeds. It 

 sliould be buried about as deeply as the cereai grains. The hay of 

 the common vetch is about as nutritious as common clover and is 

 rehshed even more. On account of the high value of seed it is 

 never fed to live stock, although it is excellent food. 



A Mixture For Soiling or Hay. 



Oats and Canadian field peas seeded together make an ad- 

 mirable soiling mixture, or hay. The peas use the oats for sup- 

 port and when cut in ^^le green state both are at their best. The 

 chief value of the Canadian pea is for forage. They like a 

 porous moist clay loam. About two bushels of oats and one 

 bushel of peas are used tO' the acre. They may be mixed before 

 seeding and sown broadcast or with a drill. The peas do better 

 if deeply covered. Some growers first disk in the peas to a 

 depth of three or four inches and then seed the oats by hand or 

 a grain drill. When grown as a dual crop the harvesting is 

 done about the time the oats are in milk stage. As a hay it is 

 both appetizing and nutritious, and as a food for dairy cows is 

 unsurpassed. In many dairy sections the custom prevails of 

 seeding each spring a small acreage to oats and peas to get an 

 early soiling crop. When the crop reaches a height of a couple 

 feet daii> cuttings are made and these are given to the cows as 

 green forage. If the clover or alfalfa crops are available, or the 

 pasture is ready before all the oats and peas are used up, it is 

 customary to' cut the remaining part for hay. 



