HUNGARIAN VETCH. 9 
not digested by livestock. After cutting, the hay should be put in 
the windrow and shocked as soon as possible. It should not be 
allowed to become too dry, as in this condition there is a loss of leaves 
and small branches in handling. Hungarian-vetch hay when handled 
properly can be cured so that its color is practically the same as when 
green. This color is very difficult to obtain with any other variety 
of vetch. When the vetch is grown with a small-grain crop it should 
be cut for hay at the time it is in the condition just described. At 
that time the grain will be in the milk or early soft-dough stage and 
will make good hay. Some growers make a difference in the time of 
cutting vetch or vetch and grain hay. according to the class of live- 
stock to be fed. For horses it usually is allowed to get riper than for 
either cattle or sheep. 
HARVESTING FOR SEED. 
The seed habits of Hungarian vetch are much better than those of 
common or hairy vetch. The crop does not shatter readily, but 
some precautions must be taken in harvesting or a greater or less 
quantity of seed will be lost. The vetch should be cut for seed when 
the pods on the lower half of the plant are ripe. At this time the 
plants will be carrying the maximum number of seeds. The seed 
crop at Corvallis. dreg., usually has been harvested from July 15 to 
July 30. In cutting, either a reaper or an ordinary mower with 
swather attachment can be used. On account of the nonshattering 
habits of the seed pods there usually is but little seed lost in using the 
mower with a swather attachment, and this perhaps is the fastest 
way. After cutting, the vetch should be put into good-sized shocks 
and allowed to remain until thoroughly dry and ready for threshing. 
If the thresher is not available at once it is advisable to stack the 
crop rather than to allow it to remain in the field in the shock. If 
the vetch has been sown with a grain crop and only a small growth 
made, the crop can be harvested fairly satisfactorily with a binder. 
When using the binder, however, the vetch should be cut a little 
greener than otherwise would be the case, as there will be some shat- 
tering of the pods caused by the canvases and packers. 
• THRESHING. 
An ordinary grain thresher can be used for Hungarian vetch when 
grown alone or in combination with a small grain. Vetches thresh 
somewhat slowly, and the cost per bushel is much greater than in the 
case of either wheat or oats. The charge for threshing vetch seed is 
usually by the hour. It is sometimes necessary, in order to prevent 
cracking the seed, to remove a number of the concave and cylinder 
teeth of the thresher and to reduce the speed of the cylinder one- 
fourth, or to about 900 revolutions per minute. The adjustments 
that may be necessary seldom can be told beforehand and must be 
determined by the appearance of the threshed material as it comes 
from the machine. The screens that come with ordinary grain 
threshers can be used by properly adjusting them. However, the 
seed as it comes from the thresher will not be sufficiently clean for 
marketing and will have to be run through special cleaners in order 
to secure a first-class product. ♦ 
