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RIE TIES 
Lespedezas for food and cover 
Biologists in the Southeast for years 
have been examining the crops of quail 
to find out what they eat. They found 
that the quail like the seeds of several 
lespedezas. And fortunately, the spar- 
rows, blackbirds, doves, rats, and mice 
that destroy most of our grains and 
other bird foods do not like them. 
Some of the lespedezas furnish cover 
for quail, both from the weather and 
from their enemies. ‘This cover value 
is lost, of course, when lespedeza is cut 
or grazed. 
Annual lespedezas have been rec- 
ognized as good quail food ever since 
Herbert L. Stoddard made the first 
bobwhite quail studies in the 1920's. 
Quail eat the seeds of all the annual 
lespedezas—Korean, common, and 
Kobe. Korean lespedeza seeds are 
better quail food than the others be- 
cause they are larger and the hulls are 
thinner. But you can depend on only 
part of your annual lespedeza acreage 
for quail food, since grazing and hay- 
ing remove the seeds, and plowing, of 
course, covers them. 
Native perennial lespedezas were 
once recommended for quail. Later 
studies have proved that all 15 of them 
are among the poorest of quail foods. 
Sericea lespedeza makes good 
cover for quail where it is not cut or 
grazed. It is the one oriental per- 
ennial herb lespedeza that has this 
value. But seldom are the seeds of 
sericea, or similar oriental perennials, 
eaten by quail. For this reason, you 
305341°—54 
can’t depend on sericea as a source of 
quail food. 
Shrub lespedezas are becoming 
well known as a source of food that 
can be depended on. All the shrub 
lespedezas are perennials that grow 
from 4 to 8 feet high and satisfactorily 
prevent erosion wherever they are 
planted. But they are too coarse and 
woody for hay or for cover crops in a 
field rotation. 
The seeds of the shrub lespedezas are 
larger than any of the other lespedeza 
seeds. Another advantage for feed is 
that quail eat these seeds from the hull. 
With the other lespedezas they must 
swallow the hull along with the seed. 
The individual lespedezas discussed 
in detail in this Leaflet are perennial 
shrub, or bush, lespedezas. 
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Shrub lespedezas prevent erosion. 
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