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HAIRY-VETCH SEED PRODUCTION. 5 
arose for home-grown seed. As Michigan was the only State that 
was producing hairy-vetch seed in any considerable quantity before 
the war, it naturally became the leader in the suddenly awakened 
industry, and it now produces one-half or more of the hairy-vetch 
seed used in this country. In the years from 1915 to 1919 about 
1,000,000 pounds were produced annually. 
Of the total hairy-vetch seed produced in Michigan, about 5 per 
cent is used for replanting for seed,' 20 per cent is sold locally for 
general use, and 75 per cent enters the seed trade. Of this 75 per 
cent, probably two-thirds, or approximately 250 tons, is shipped 
. beyond the borders of the State and constitutes 60 to 70 per cent of the 
supply available in other States. 
Small lots_of hairy-vetch seed are available locally in Indiana, 
Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. None of these States 
is self-supporting in its vetch-seed requirements, however, nor are 
any of them important factors as producing areas. 
On the accompanying map (fig. 1) are shown the localities in 
which hairy-vetch seed is known to have been produced in commer- 
cial quantities since 1914. 
The practice of raising hairy-vetch seed at home for strictly local 
consumption is increasing and will probably continue to increase, 
especially in the South, where the price of commercial seed is highest. 
Home-erown seed usually is used just as it comes from the thrasher 
and sells for a much lower price than fancy recleaned commercial 
seed. There is no way of estimating the production of home-grown 
seed, but the total is quite large. 
SEED-PRODUCING AREAS IN MICHIGAN. 
Hairy-vetch seed is produced in Michigan in three rather distinct 
areas—the orchard districts along Lake Michigan, the sandy areas 
of northern Michigan, and the wheat-growing sections in the southern 
part of the State. Formerly the bulk of the crop came from the 
orchard districts, where hairy vetch has long been used as a winter 
cover crop and for green manure. Many of the orchardists grow seed 
for their own use and sell their surplus to the trade. Thus, seed 
from this source is simply a by-product. However, the quality 
of the seed is good and the quantity, in the aggregate, considerable. 
During the past five years a special hairy-vetch seed industry has 
developed in the sancy regions of northern Michigan, where the 
plant is grown in combination with rye. On most of the sandy 
soils the number of cash crops that can be grown is limited, and the 
addition of hairy-vetch seed to the list has been very welcome. In 
several counties this seed has become one of the major crops and as 
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1 When hairy vetch is grown for seed, only about half as much seed is planted per acre as when the crop 
is grown for forage. This accounts for the apparent discrepancy between the figures here and in Table f. 
