28 BULLETIN 876, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
dead cotton stalks uphold the vines, yet are sufficiently decayed at 
harvest not to interfere with mowing. The best volunteer stands of 
hairy vetch are secured in corn, which does not cast as heavy a shade 
as cowpeas and is not worked as late as cotton. 
Following the hairy-vetch seed crop there is usually time before 
frost for a catch crop of cowpeas, sorghum, or silage corn, or some 
other crop that matures in 90 days. 
GROWING AND HARVESTING. 
The time, rates, and methods of seeding hairy vetch in the-South 
are practically the same as in the North, with the exception that in 
the South it can be seeded as late as October 1, if necessary, without 
danger of 1 injury from frost. 
ao vetch is ready to harvest for seed in the South by the ies 
part of June. This is a distinct advantage to the southern grower, 
as he thus has about three months between harvest and planting 
instead of a month or six weeks, as in the North. This gives him a 
chance to dispose of his seed without waiting an entire year and also 
allows more time for preparing the land for the new crop. 
Hairy-vetch seed is usually harvested in the South with a mowing 
machine, as neither the binder nor the reaper is common oes 
Frequently the crop is not even mowed, but is harvested by raking 
the vines together with a hayrake. As they approach maturity, the 
plants often decay close to the ground and break away very easily. 
Those which do not break usually pull out by the roots, so that by 
raking twice, first lengthwise of the field and then across, a large por- 
tion of the vines can be gathered. Harvesting in this manner is, of 
course, very wasteful of seed, the loss from shattering often amounting 
to 30 to 50 per cent of the crop. Furthermore, the crop is very dis- 
agreeable to thrash, owing to the inevitable presence of dust and 
small stones. However, this method saves time and labor and re- 
seeds the ground automatically. 
MARKETING, 
The supply of seed grown in the South is so small compared to the 
demand that practically the entire crop is sold in the immediate 
locality where it is grown. Except for a few isolated growers who 
do not have a ready market close at hand, there is rarely any diffi- 
culty in disposing of all the seed that can be grown. 
If the South should become a large producer of hairy-vetch seed, 
some better method of marketing the crop will be developed. The 
small country grain elevators and feed mills which are so common in 
the North and which handle miscellaneous farm products of this 
kind are not found in most southern communities. Cotton ginners 
and country storekeepers are not prepared to buy and sell hairy- 
vetch seed, and often no other dealers are available. Consequently, 
a grower who has a surplus of hairy-vetch seed must find his own 
