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On Clover Allies as Fodder Plants. 
can yet be grown without. Its yield, however, docs not entitle 
it to rank with the common vetch ; neither does that of the 
V. sepium. experiment I have found the seeds of both 
varieties most uncertain in coming up, and though possibly con- 
tinued cultivation may greatly alter both plants, I can see no 
reason to expect them ever to be of the value of the first species. 
II. — Faba — Bean. 
The use of the seeds of the F. vulgaris, common bean, is 
well known, but the value of the whole plant as fodder is little 
understood. The Scotch farmers, when growing beans for pulse, 
cut them at least three weeks earlier in their ripening progress 
than is done in England, and they find that the haulm is valu- 
able for fodder, whereas in England it is commonly considered 
to be all but useless. This might form a subject for experi- 
ment ; my reflections, however, took a different turn. Crops of 
beans are often found in which the formation of pods is reduced 
to a minimum ; therefore to let the plant blacken upon the land 
only to be cut for rough litter is extremely wasteful. In a case 
of this kind in the dry summer of 1863 I cut down the stalks 
soon after the abortive flowers had dropped, some of which, in 
the green state, were eaten by horses and cattle, which relished 
and seemed to do well upon them ; while the rest, dried into 
hay and cut up with the chaff, were eaten greedily, and appeared 
to be a valuable food. Indeed, I believe that the bean would 
make a valuable plant to grow for fodder, yielding, as it might 
tlo, a crop of hay twice the bulk and weight of clover in time to 
be succeeded in the same season by turnips or late rape, to be 
followed by either barley or spring wheat. 
III. — PisuM — Pea. 
The Pisum arvense in all its varieties is probably derived 
from the wild sea-side pea found sparingly on our shores, as also 
in parts of Europe, Asia, and America. The P. maritimum, 
with its purple flowers, more nearly approaches our purple field 
varieties than those of the garden, though the white garden peas 
are extending into arable culture. 
The pea, like the bean, has been grown almost exclusively for 
its seed, but probably it may in many cases be more profitable to 
gather it as a great fodder plant before the seed arrives at ma- 
turity ; as stock will eat the green plant most greedily. An 
analysis of the whole plant shows how valuable the dried herbage 
must be, more especially for growing animals, owing to its high 
percentage of nitrogenised, or flesh-forming substances ; it is 
also rich in sugar and the supporters of respiration. 
