26 BULLETIN 876, U. S. DEPARTMENT Of AGRICULTURE. 
SEED GROWING IN THE NORTHERN STATES. 
In the States north of Virginia the methods of growing hairy vetch 
for seed are practically identical with those employed in Michigan 
and need no further description. Hairy vetch is grown more or less 
in all rye-producing areas, also in orchards, truck-growing sections, 
and on specialized dairy farms. Some of these enterprises produce 
enough seed for their own use, but more do not. In some instances. 
seed production is not profitable, either because it competes with 
other crops in midsummer or because hairy vetch is used only once 
in three or four years and it is more economical to purchase the seed. 
Many communities which would like to produce their own seed are 
hampered by lack of harvesters and thrashing machines. 
SEED GROWING IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 
Seed growing in the Southern States is a more sporadic industry 
than in the North, although in a number of counties hairy vetch is 
used quite regularly for hay and green manuring. Nearly everyone 
who grows hairy vetch tries to save enough seed for his own use, but 
as knowledge of the best methods of handling the crop is not very 
widespread there are almost as many different practices in seed pro- 
duction as there are growers. In no one section are there a sufficient 
number of growers to give the various methods an adequate com- 
parative. trial, and it is, therefore, somewhat difficult to determine 
just what is the best practice to pursue. Conditions which affect 
seed growing apparently differ more widely than in the North, and 
the best practice for one locality is not necessarily the most desirable 
for another. 
IRREGULAR CROPS IN WARM CLIMATES. 
One factor that frequently interferes with seed production in the 
South is the tendency of the plants to “‘run to vine.” Like many 
crops, hairy vetch in the South is apt to make a heavier vegetative 
growth and to produce less seed than in the North. Seed production 
is quite irregular, the crop being heavy one year and light the next, 
depending, apparently, upon the weather. In dry seasons and on 
light soils vegetative growth is not luxuriant, and the plants set a 
high proportion of pods, frequently yieldmg as much as 10 or 12 
bushels of seed per acre. When the weather is warm and damp, 
however, especially during the blossoming period, the vines grow 
rank and heavy and the pods either do not form at all or do not fill. 
The yield may not exceed 3 pecks or a bushel, which, owing to the 
immense quantity of vine that must be handled, does not pay for 
thrashing. This condition is met less frequently in the Coastal 
Plain than in the Piedmont region, but it is likely to occur about 
one year out of three, and therefore the business of growing seed is 
rather. precarious. Sometimes, in a wet season the seed crop is 
harvested from the second crop instead of the first. The first crop 
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