24. BULLETIN 876, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
s ‘hairy vetch.” In some sections, weed seeds are a frequent 
impurity and the hairy-vetch seed is either docked or refused entirely. 
Sometimes seed is offered that is not fully ripe or that contains 
broken or shrunken grains. Although there is no evidence to show 
. that greenish or greenish gray seed is not just as good as black seed 
the trade prefers hairy vetch that is dull black and of uniform size. 
DISPOSAL OF THE STRAW. 
Hairy-vetch straw is often used as winter roughage for cattle, 
horses, and sheep, for which purpose it is considered equal to clover 
straw or somewhat better than bean straw. Sheep especially are 
fond of the hairy vetch, seeming to relish it better than coarse hay 
or sweet-clover straw. When mixed rye and vetch straw is fed the 
animals eat more or less of the rye along with the hairy vetch and 
maintain their weight or even make appreciable gains when wintered 
principally on this feed. There seems to be little or no difference in 
feeding value or palatability between mature hairy-vetch straw and 
that which is slightly green. 
Hairy-vetch straw is sometimes oe under for soil improve- 
ment, especially on farms in need of organic manure. This practice 
is not the best, as dry hairy-vetch straw decays slowly and tends 
to dry out the soil, besides interfering with cultivation. However, 
it contains practically the same amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric 
acid, and potash as the green plant, and where no better means is 
available for its disposal, it should be plowed under. The very 
best way to dispose of the straw is to feed it to live stock and plow 
under the manure. 
SEED YIELDS IN MICHIGAN. 
Under favorable conditions hairy vetch yields as high as 10 to 12 
bushels of seed per acre. A high yield, however, is not necessarily 
the most profitable, for it usually involves the handling of such an 
excessive quantity of tangled vines as greatly to increase the cost of 
production per bushel. Most growers do not seek high yields, but, 
in fact, carefully avoid them. Occasionally a large yield of seed is 
obtained from plants which are small in size but heavily set with pods. 
Such a crop is, of course, highly profitable, but the conditions which 
produce these plants are not well understood and they are apt to be 
the result of chance rather than skill. 
A moderate yield of hairy-vetch seed is usually considered more 
profitable than a high yield and is the standard generally sought. 
Particularly is this true when hairy vetch is grown with rye. Rye 
containing a small quantity of hairy vetch can be grown with no 
more trouble than rye alone, and the vetch seed obtained is re- 
garded as clear gain. This is probably the cheapest method by 
which hairy-vetch seed can be grown commercially, and it is also the 
most satisfactory method for the producer. 
§; Ne 
