1903 
A TALK ABOUT HAIRY VETCH. 
A Very Useful Cover Plant. 
Will you give me some information in regard to vetch? 
What time in the season is it sown, what time is it 
ready to plow under, is it ever cut and fed, and at what 
time of the year? If fed what is Its value in relation 
to other legumes? Is it of the same value as other 
legumes as a nitrogen gatherer? How far north has it 
been successfully grown? What is the price per bushel, 
and where can it be purchased? d. w. p. 
Conneaut, O. 
The English farmer has long recognized two types 
of cultivated vetches. These are Spring vetch and 
Winter vetch. The latter has considerable value as a 
soiling crop for late Fall or early Spring use. It has 
recently come into prominence on account of its 
adaptability for orchard cover-crop purposes. In this 
connection I have known it very favorably for six or 
more years. Some of the experiment stations in this 
country have had it on trial for a longer period. 
Vetches .are, of course, legumes—belonging to the 
pea and bean tribe, and possessing the nitrogen-col¬ 
lecting characteristics of these plants. Hairy vetch 
will grow on poorer soil than almost any plant I am 
acquainted with. On rich soil the amount of forage it 
will produce in a season is remarkable. A strain of 
this Winter form was imported from Russia by the 
Department of Agriculture at Washington some years 
ago, and has proved hardier than the ordinary type. 
At the present time, however, I think it would be 
difficult to secure a pure sample of this strain except 
perhaps through some of the prominent stations. It 
Is hardy, wintering successfully In Iowa and at Ot¬ 
tawa, Canada. As a “nitrogen trap” it seems to sur¬ 
pass any of the legumes, and to be far ahead of cow 
pea. Analyses of the stems, foliage and all the roots 
that could be extracted from a given area of ground 
occupied by cow peas and vetch, were made of plants 
grown on the Cornell Experiment Station two years 
ago by Prof. G. W. Cavanaugh, with the following re¬ 
sults: Cow pea, nitrogen per acre 52 pounds, vetch 
256 pounds; cow pea, phosphoric acid per acre, 25 
pounds, vetch 56 pounds; cow pea, potash per acre, 21 
pounds, vetch 55 pounds. This truly is a remarkable 
showing. The vetch roots were traced downwards 
more than four feet. Towards the surface they were 
thickly marked by large, irregular, often liver-shaped, 
nodules. The crop was sown the first week in August 
on stiff clay soil in a 12-year-old orchard, and the an¬ 
alyses made early in November of the same year. A 
bushel of seed of each was used per acre. For best 
results in orchard work the vetch should be sown 
early in July. Where it is desirable to cultivate the 
orchard later than July the crop may be sown in drills 
V-k feet apart This will allow the cultivator to be 
used till August 15, or perhaps later. The growth of 
the vetch will be stimulated, and by Fall under fa¬ 
vorable circumstances, the ground will be covered 
with a dense mat of live vegetation. The soil cover it 
affords is of the most perfect kind. Growth starts 
promptly in Spring; so promptly that it should be 
turned under early. This is readily accomplished by 
using a rolling coulter. As an orchard cover crop 
where nitrogen is needed, this plant undoubtedly 
stands at the head of the list. 
AS A P'ORAGB CROP.—This year we cut and fed it 
to cows in the green state. It was eaten with evident 
relish. Beyond this I know nothing personally of its 
feeding value. J. H. Brinton, Chester Co., Pa., writes 
that he has ground together equal parts of rye and 
vetch seed, and “fed to all the different stock—pigs, 
calves and horses. It proved to be a very nutritious 
diet, and as far as I could judge, perfectly healthful.” 
The same man writes later that his greatest success 
was attained by growing vetch and clover together. 
“I sowed half a bushel of vetch seed broadcast with 
clover this season (1901), and had the finest crop of 
hay from it that could be desired. The vetch and 
clover grew' and cured beautifully together. I got it 
in during a hot spell and never saw finer hay.” Un¬ 
der date of November 29 of the same year Mr. Brinton 
writes again as follows: “My son tells me that since 
he has been feeding the vetch hay to the cows he has 
given up the bran part of the ration, using cornmeal 
and plenty of vetch hay. which is about half vetch and 
half clover. He says his cows never gave better ser¬ 
vice than on this feed. The hay is easier to cure than 
all clover, and I think we now have found out how to 
grow it successfully as a forage plant—keep the le¬ 
gumes together.” 
practical difficulties.—M uch of the seed 
offered has a low germinating capacity. It is high 
priced, and since it has been talked about somewhat, 
the price has advanced to an almost prohibitive figure. 
This year it cost about $7 per bushel of 60 pounds.. 
The seed does not mature well where sown alone. The 
plants lie on the ground and the pods mold and de¬ 
cay. It must have something to hold it up. If sown 
with rye, it is diflicult or impossible to separate. Per¬ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
691 
haps Mr. Brinton’s suggestion of using clover is a so¬ 
lution of the problem, but I Imagine that it is better 
from the standpoint of hay than from that of seed. Of 
course each farmer can much more than get his seed 
back from an acre, but this is hardly satisfactory. I 
have found that when the crop is allowed to mature, 
then cut and hauled off, there is always enough seed 
left satisfactorily to reseed the piece. In orcharding 
one may always leave a part for this purpose, and 
thus secure seed for additional cover. We have re¬ 
seeded our pear orchard twice in this way with per¬ 
fect satisfaction. In the drier regions of Washington 
and Oregon the plant grows to perfection and matures 
large crops of seed. It seems probable that we shall 
have to look to our western friends to keep us sup¬ 
plied with seed of this valuable forage and cover crop 
plant. I have no fears on the score of it becoming a 
weed in wheat fields, as suggested by Prof. Smith 
recently in The R. N.-Y. Annual plants are usually 
not difficult to manage. It should not prove a serious 
problem. I do not know of any legume which may be 
regarded with apprehension in the North by the 
farmer who fears noxious weeds. A picture of a 
typical plant is shown at Fig. 259. .john ckatg. 
Cornell University. 
DISKIN6 AN OAT STUBBLE. 
Memorandum of work done on nine-acre oat stubble 
Fall of 1903: August 13, 14 and 15 disked with 
FLOWERINtt VINE OF HAIRY VETCH. FiO. 259. 
Clark’s Cutaway disk harrow, giving half lap. August 
17 disked again crosswise; no lap this time over. Had 
disk weighted with about 200 pounds stone and abour 
150 pounds man weight, the ground being very hard 
and dry; August 24 a light rain during night. Au¬ 
gust 25 commenced work with spring-tooth harrow, 
going crosswise of last disking. Hard rain at noon 
August 25, stopped work for the day. August 26 af¬ 
ternoon finished spring-tooth harrowing first time 
over. August 27 about four inches rain, which again 
stopped work until September 3, when work was 
again resumed with spring-tooth harrow, going twice 
over September 3 and 4. From September 8 to 11 
rainy weather, which kept ground too wet to work. 
September 14 resumed work with spike-tooth all- 
steel harrow, going twice over. September 15 sowed 
Mealy wheat, six pecks per acre, with 300 pounds 
fertilizer per acre, half being raw bone and half acid 
phosphate with four per cent potash, mixing the 
phosphate with the bone meal. The ground was in 
excellent condition for drilling, being as fine and soft 
as an ash heap. 
Why did I not plow this field? For several rea¬ 
sons. I came in possession of this farm in the Spring 
of 1902 and I found it was literally covered with plan¬ 
tain. This field was in corn last year. The plantain 
seed which germinated this Summer in the oats has 
now been killed with disk and spring-tooth harrows. 
The seed we turned down when we plowed for oats 
will not germinate until the field is again plowed, 
which will be either for corn or potatoes, and by 
giving thorough culture then we can keep plantain 
from seeding in those crops, which will again be fol¬ 
lowed in Spring with a heavy seeding of clover, mow¬ 
ing only once and then again following with corn or 
potatoes. We hope to eradicate our plantain quicker 
by following this rotation, and expect to make a little 
profit on our work at the same time. This is the 
main reason that I had in not plowing. I do not 
know that I have saved any labor. But I think that 
I have my ground in the best possible condition for a 
crop of wheat, being very fine and mellow several 
Inches on top, and more solid in bottom than I could 
have made it had I plowed the field. s. u. f. 
Seville, 0. 
EXPERIENCE WITH DUST SPRAYING. 
I should like to know whether any R. N.-Y. readers 
have succeeded in controlling the San Josd scale by 
means of the dust spray. I have missed seeing the 
account of it in the back numbers, if any have re¬ 
ported. I have used the dust spray two years with 
very good success for everything else, but for this pest 
I cannot say that I am entirely satisfied, although t 
believe I can do so by being persistent. I nave two 
hand sprayers for 25 acres of fruit. My formula is 
as follows: One bushel fresh unslaked lime, eight 
pounds bluestone, two pounds concentrated lye (pot¬ 
ash), eight pounds flour of sulphur, two pounds Paris- 
green. Break lime into small pieces in a tight box, 
set on ground or cement floor; dissolve the bluestone 
and lye in five gallons of hot water and sprinkle on 
the lime; let stand half an hour, then run through 
fine sieve, also run the sulphur and Paris-green 
through, and mix thoroughly. Make sieve to work 
in box, like the ash sifters; keep covered, and work 
with a long handle. The dust is ready to use at once, 
and can be used at any time without injury to the 
foliage. I begin in February, and continue until 
within a month of the ripening of fruit. Some of my 
trees have been sprayed 20 times this Summer. I 
have increased the bluestone, potash and Paris-green 
for the scale louse, on account of the frequent rains. 
One gallon of dust will cover 50 to 75 large trees, and 
from 100 to 200 small ones. May 22 I sprayed alone 
with two gallons dust in 1% hour 12 rows of two-year- 
old peach, 35 trees to the row, as a test to see what 
I could do. With one gallon in half an hour I sprayed 
150 trees. I am a firm believer in the dust process, 
but as 1 said I want to know how others like it. I 
have never heard of anyone quitting it for the liquid 
sprayers. d m f 
Bridgeport, Pa. 
WAVE POWER.—E’er many years inventors have 
tried to utilize the power of the ocean waves for 
pumping or turning machinery. We understand that 
hundreds of patents have been taken out for machines 
which were to handle this mighty force, but all proved 
worthless. The San Francisco Chronicle tells of a de¬ 
vice now working at Santa Cruz, Cal. The inventor 
is Wm. Armstrong, and this account of the device 
is given: 
which rises 30 feet above high tide, the Armstrongs sank 
two wells in the sandstone down to six feet below the 
ebb, and opened them at the bottom Into the ocean. In 
the foremost well they placed a float; in the second a 
common force pump. The float and pump are fastened 
at the end of a 60-foot timber conterbalanced over a 
pair of small car wheels on the bank. The rush of the 
wave fills the wells, raising the float. Then, as the water 
recedes, the 1,600-pound weight of the float falls upon the 
piston of the pump and the water is forced into a tank 
above the sea level. The plant is the property 
of the city, and the water is used only for sprinkling 
purposes. This machine, which is in charge of the in¬ 
ventor, has been Improved in several details since its 
erection in 1897, and now develops about four horse¬ 
power, though a float equal to 16 horse-power could be 
put In. There is an average of 70 feet of down stroke 
per minute in ordinary weather, which often increases to 
100 feet and over in rough weather, and never falls below 
30 feet. The device may be considered practicable up to 
25 or 30 horse-power at a cost of about $100 per horse¬ 
power for installation, but as the sites are Innumerable 
along the coast the units could be indefinitely multiplied. 
The cost of maintenance is almost nothing, and the motor 
may be readily stopped at any time by filling a small 
counterbalancing tank with water, which raises the float. 
A plug pulled from the bottom of the tank gradually 
puts the machine into action. 
It is wonderful to thiink what will happen in the 
world’s industrial development when the power of 
the ocean wave is actually harnessed. That would 
break down the monopoly of power which steam 
through coal has held so long. 
TESTING NEW METHODS.—At the New York 
State Fair there was a lively discussion among fruit 
growers over the plan of orchard culture advocated by 
Grant G. Hitchings. Several neighbors and nearby 
farmers who have known the farm for years said that 
the soil was naturally rich and that anything would 
grow there. Cattle and sheep long used the hillside 
where the orchard now stands for a pasture. The 
trees are now living on the plant food which was 
banked up for them years ago. All this may be true, 
and yet be no discredit to the orchard. It simply 
proves anew what scientists and practical men have 
tried to tell us. An orchard must be well fed if we 
expect it to produce good fruit. Mr. Hitchings takes 
naturally rich land and leaves all the grass on it— 
thus giving his trees all the plant food they need. 
The thing to be understood is that this cannot be 
done on poor land without adding manure or ferti¬ 
lizer. The man who thinks he can stick a tree into a 
poor pasture sod and have it grow to profitable fruit¬ 
ing without feeding or care, will be badly disappoint¬ 
ed. One man who has planted trees in sod said that 
he could not afford to carry through the mulch 
method, as he needed the ground for other crops. 
He could not afford to let the ground stand in grass, 
but must plow it and grow other crops while the trees 
were coming into bearing. All these things show that 
fruit growers are quite capable of getting down to the 
bottom of a new proposition. When we begin to talk 
about “mulch culture” we were told that great dam¬ 
age would be done, because growers would abandon 
the old and tried methods and rush headlong into the 
new. It has not worked that way. Fruit growers are 
sizing up the situation and they understand the limit 
of “mulch culture” so that they will make few mis¬ 
takes. 
