20 



Notes on Forage Crops. 



[Apr., 



Harper Adams College it has often been growing luxuriantly, 

 and flowering profusely in November. It is more hardy than 

 the Common Vetch, makes an earlier growth in spring, and is 

 more productive of foliage and flower, but the stems are harder 

 and covered with hairs : also the plant appears to have a less 

 watery com.position . It yields seed abundantly in England, and 

 owing to the small size of the seed a large number of plants are 

 produced per bushel. Further, the plants branch profusely and 

 fill up open spaces in the crop. Like the Bush Yetch, it will 

 not hybridise with the Common Yetch. 



Vetches. — From the earliest times the Common Yetch has 

 been a favourite forage crop, and at the present time 

 is one of the best of British fodder crops. It is especially 

 valuable for providing keep for sheep, and it makes an 

 excellent food for horses after the watery period of growth is 

 past. For cattle and pigs, however, it is inferior to pea forage, 

 and it has no significance as a seed crop. Yetches need more 

 support than peas and are more difficult to harvest in good 

 condition. A very heavy crop of vetch and cereal forage is 

 liable, especially in wet weather, to rot near the ground, some- 

 times to the extent of a third of the crop, and to be laid 

 flat. Makers of silage should consider the Harper Adams 

 Soiling Crop No. YI, which does not lodge, and can be cut and 

 carried without difficulty. The writer has not the experience to 

 offer an opinion as to whether peas and beans are as suitable for 

 this purpose as vetches, but in America oats and peas are 

 commonly used. 



Another member of the Vicia family which is worthy of the 

 attention of the plant improver is the Narbonne vetch which 

 has erect stems and does not require the support of other plants. 

 In appearance it resembles the bean plant more closely than 

 the other meml^ers of the vetch family: it is fairly productive, 

 but somewhat delicate. 



Yetches are not well suited for making into hay owing to their 

 rapid deterioration under adverse weather conditions, the slow 

 rate at which drying takes place, and their tendency to be 

 over-run wath mould in the stack. Well made vetch hay is 

 good fodder, but pea hay is much superior. Yetches pulverise 

 the soil but to a les^s extent than peas. Tw^o British varieties 

 are marketed, winter and spring, but the writer cannot 

 distinguish between them. In 1916 the winter vetches 

 sown in September w^ei^e killed by frost, those sow^n in 



