22 CIRCULAR 863, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Hughes adds: 



Since the weather has been very warm I imagine these samples have lost as 

 much as 8 to 10 percent of the carotene present at the time you prepared them. 

 It is rather interesting that your sun-cured samples run so high in carotene. 

 Sun-cured alfalfa from Colorado and certain sections of California runs about 

 th.s h gh in carotene, while the sun-cured alfalfa in this section of the country 

 runs only about half. 7 



The Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station (23) found that 

 sericea leaves ranked high in vitamins A and G. 



Table 5. — Vitamin A in terms of carotene in three lots of Lespe- 

 deza cuneata groivn near Spartanburg , S. C. 



Cutting 



Amount of carotene in 

 100 gm. of— 





Leaves 



Stems 



Second, 10 inches high, sun cured 



First, 18 inches high, sun cured 



Second, 12 inches high, dehydrated 



Milligrams 

 11.916 



9.19 

 27.001 



Milligrams 

 2.1 

 1.179 

 3.679 



Minerals in Sericea Hay 



From the limited number of analyses available (table 4), it 

 would appear that sericea hay has about the same phosphorus 

 content as other legume hays but that the calcium content is 

 lower than that of alfalfa, clover, or cowpea hay. It is, however, 

 considerably higher than in grass hay. As a result of a fertilizer 

 trial with sericea on sandy land at the Agricultural Research 

 Center, the Bureau of Plant Industry found that the phosphorus 

 content was increased by the application of phosphate fertilizer. 

 Since sericea is grown mostly on soils low in calcium the small 

 amount of this element in the hay is readily understood. 



Yields and Leafiness 



Yield data have but limited value since the figures show only 

 the results secured on a particular piece of land and with a 

 certain stand cut at a definite time. Yields have been reported 

 by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station (26) where from 

 1 ton to more than 3.5 tons per acre were harvested. In Ten- 

 nessee (21) the recorded yields at Knoxville averaged 3.56 tons 

 per acre over a 3-year period. Unfortunately nothing is said in 

 either the Illinois or the Tennessee record of the growth stage 

 at which the hay was cut. That this can make a great difference 

 is shown by data obtained at the Arlington Experiment Farm 

 in 1929 on hay taken from a uniform stand. Each plot was cut 

 only once. The plot cut June 4 yielded 3,200 pounds per acre; 

 June 17, 3,647; July 1, 5,211; and July 15, 7,223 pounds per acre. 



7 Quoted by C. B. Fretwell in letter to the author Nov. 9. 1936. 



