HAY AND PASTURE PLANTS RECOMMENDED. 69 
SANFOIN (Onobrychis sativa). 
This is a deep-rooted perennial that was tested in 1899 and 1900 
in the station garden with satisfactory results. Seeds which were 
sown May 4, 1899, in thin, gravelly soil on a hillside germinated well, 
and the plants grew to be 12 to 18 inches high. During the severe 
drought of that year they held their own better than the clovers, 
vetches, or alfalfas,and quite as well as the sulla. When the autumn 
rains began (October 26), the roots which had failed to some extent 
soon revived, and before the winter freezes began a rather vigorous 
new growth had developed. The hghter frosts and freezes did not 
injure the plants at all, but during the months of January and Feb- 
ruary, 1901, there was some severe weather which injured the foliage. 
By March, however, the roots again began to revive, and March 19 
the new growth was from 6 to 10 inches long. Plants once well rooted 
will live a great many years if the soil is rich and the seasons favora- 
ble. Sanfoin produces a fair quantity of an excellent quality of forage 
that continues green during the late autumn and the early winter 
months, when green forage is scarce. It stands droughts remarkably 
well, and though the plants when young are liable to be winterkilled, 
when they are well protected they will not be killed in central Texas 
by any but very severe freezes. It is claimed for it that it is a superior 
hay plant, but the tests in the station garden rather indicate that it is 
much more valuable for pasture purposes. For the reasons stated its 
cultivation is recommended. 
Sweet Potato (Convolvulus edulis). 
An interesting experiment was made in 1900 in connection with the 
station work with a view to determine if sweet-potato vines could be suc- 
cessfully baled and in that shape kept sweet for the purpose of winter 
feeding. From a field belonging to Mr. P. O. Forbus, near the sta- 
tion, some of them were secured when the tubers were almost or quite 
matured. ‘They were cured about as readily as the vines of the several 
varieties of peas, but in curing they shrunk very much in bulk, and 
when cured were not nearly sufficient in quantity to make up a bale. 
The dry product, however, was kept dry, and late in the autumn was 
fed to cattle, which ate it quite greedily. The vines are known to be 
rich in fattening properties, and since the plant can be grown very 
cheaply throughout central Texas and converted into hay with but 
little trouble, and doubtless can be baled and in that shape as easily 
preserved as alfafa, vetch, or pea vines, it is suggested that stock- 
men and farmers should save every vine grown by them for forage 
purposes. 
TaLtLtow WEED (Actinella linearifolia) . 
The writer has long known this excellent forage plant in Texas. He 
first saw it in Tom Green, Concho, and Crockett counties when his 
