SERICEA AND OTHER PERENNIAL LESPEDEZAS 33 



SEED PRODUCTION 



Sericea is a heavy seeder. When sericea is planted in cultivated 

 rows seed will be produced the first season. Yields of 500 to 

 1,000 pounds per acre have been reported from such plantings. 

 A broadcast stand in its fifth year at Arlington Experiment Farm 

 produced 1,600 pounds of unhulled seed per acre, but conditions 

 were very favorable. Yields from established broadcast stands 

 have ranged from 300 to 900 pounds per acre. Yields are smaller 

 in a dry fall than when there is plenty of moisture. 



Seed may be taken from the first or from the second growth. 

 When the first growth is left for seed, yields are somewhat higher 

 but the material is harder to cut and thresh than when the first 

 growth is cut for hay and the second growth is allowed to seed. 

 The yield of seed from the second growth will depend on the 

 time the first growth is cut for hay. Usually the earlier the first 

 growth is cut the larger the seed crop from the second growth. 



The seeds are borne in clusters of two to four or more in a place. 

 There are two kinds of flowers, those that show a corolla and are 

 consequently conspicuous and those on which no corolla is de- 

 veloped. Both may occur in the same cluster. The flowers 

 develop mainly along the branches but to some extent also along 

 the main stem to within a few inches from the ground. 



Harvesting 



The seed pod of sericea turns brown at maturity and the crop 

 should not be cut until most of the pods are brown. In the latitude 

 of Washington, D. C, the crop matures about the end of October 

 and should be cut as soon as possible thereafter. Cutting may 

 be done with a mower having a windrowing attachment (fig. 6, 

 p. 17), with a binder, or with a combine. If the crop is cut with 

 a sharp mower in early morning and laid to one side with a 

 windrower there is very little loss of seed. It should be allowed 

 to lie in the windrows until the leaves and the smaller stems, if 

 present, have dried. The stems and main branches should be a 

 little moist, as in this condition there will be less breakage in 

 threshing. 



Threshing is best done with an overshot type of thresher having 

 a concave with two rows of teeth above, rather than below, the 

 cylinder. This makes for less breakage of the stems and it is these 

 broken stems that stand up in the screen and cause choking. 

 Feeding should be slow and the wind cut to the proper degree 

 or much seed will be blown out with the straw. 



Many growers using various types of threshers or combines have 

 found it necessary to modify the screens or to remove some in 

 order to prevent excessive choking. As a rule it is best not to 

 attempt to clean the seed in the thresher but to pass it through a 

 fanning mill. This makes for easier threshing and produces 

 cleaner seed. Small combines may be used successfully, but the 

 sericea should be riper than is necessary when it is cut with a 

 mower. The secret of successful threshing appears to be slow 

 feeding, controlled wind, and screens modified to avoid choking. 



