LESPEDEZA 5 



quently been recorded in North Carolina and Tennessee. The best 

 practice appears to be to grow lespedeza for 2 or 3 years, utilizing it 

 for hay or pasture, and to follow with 1 or 2 years of seed crops. 



When land has become so worn as not to be worth cultivating it 

 is often " turned out," Lespedeza comes in, but it takes several 

 years to cover such poor ground through natural spread. A better 

 plan is to disk and level after the last crop of corn or cotton and 

 seed down to lespedeza. Superphosphate or basic slag, 300 to 400 

 pounds per acre, will help the lespedeza materially, and the lespe- 

 deza can be used for hay or pasturage, or, if the farmer has no use 













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FiGl'KE 1. — Harvesting lespedeza seed with a pan. 



for it, left on the ground to reseed and enrich the soil for a year or 

 two. 



Seed Production 



The seed of common, Kobe, and Tennessee No. 76 lespedezas is 

 harvested with a seed pan (fig. 1). This is a shallow metal pan 

 bolted to the rear of the cutter bar. The back is 6 to 8 inches high, 

 with sides sloping to the cutter bar. The hinged cover is made of 

 metal perforated with holes just large enough for the lespedeza seed 

 to fall through. 



When the ripe lespedeza is cut, a man or a boy walking behind 

 the ,pan rakes the material over the perforated cover, thus dislodg- 

 ing the ripe seed. Not all the seed is secured this way, but the best 

 seed is pan-caught. For home use but a small acreage is required 

 to supply the farmer's needs. Yields vary widely, but a good field 

 of common or Tennessee No. 76 should yield 10 bushels of pan- 

 caught seed per acre, and Kobe 10 to 12 bushels. 



The seed of Korean lespedeza does not shatter so readily as that 

 of common, and the use of a pan is profitable only when the seed is 

 high in price or when the crop is overripe. Yields of Korean vary 



