The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-20
The Forage Plants for the South.
WINTER VETCH.

WINTER NEICH.
If it were not for the difficulty of sowing
the seed of vetch it would be one of the
most popular of southern forage plants. It
belongs to the legumes, and the little pods
that bear the seed pop open as soon as they
get a little dry and scatter the seed over the
ground. On account of the care involved
in sowing seed there is comparatively little
seed saved, and the price is such as to deter
most farmers from sowing it. If a crop of
vetch is allowed to seed once on a piece of
land a crop can be made for number of
years in the same manner that crop of
burr clover is renewed.
Vetch and burr clover are much alike in
habit: Springing up in the autumn, thriv-
ing in the winter time, yielding fine pasture
or good moving in the early spring, making
seed and dying down completely, as gem
eral rule, before the hot weather of June
The seeds lie in the ground with no DISPOSE
tion TO sprout until the fall rains occur.
Along in September or October, sometimes
as early as August, the seeds terminate after
saturating rains, and where the land is rich
q good pasture will result some weeks before
Christmas Stock should not be turned on
20 it until it gets well established, and if the
full benefit would be derived from it never
Let stock run on it when the ground is wet.
Such a practice will soon spoil good pas
ture and work decided injury to the soil.
Let the soil get fairly dry before turning in
the stock. Our farmers generally are very
reckless in the treatment of their pastures,
seemingly oblivious of the injury that fol-
lows the tramping of stock on land while it
is soft from the presence of surface moist
IRE. This reckless pasturing of soils
through all kinds of weather i'll the winter
and spring has mad much to do with the
impoverishment of them. Such practice
should be followed no longer. One should
be especially careful in the treatment of a
winter pasture.
The southern stock grower and dairyman
will fad the vetch very useful plant, even
along with those previously commended for
their quality and permaneucy. Like few
others, such as burr clover, sapling clover
aud white clover the vetcn makes an excel
lent Combination" plant. Like pease and
clover 1t is ameliOrating to the soil, is easy
T. manage and 10 very nutritious-making
the rlcuest of milk and butter. If seed
uld be secured readily aud cheaplV it
would always be in order TO SOW some vetch
with the oats and rye and barelev that are
sown for early cutting for forage. 1t can
be grown on Bermuda sward the same as
white OF burr clover, alternating with the
Bermuda doing it no harm, but rather good.
Where the vetch occupies land to itself after
II dies down in the early summer a crop of
corn can be made on the land, and in the
fall the vetch will come up again after the
corn and renew the pasture and be the
means OF supplying humus to the soil
Narrowed in with IA heavy shRrp-tooth har-
row on Bermuda sward III October it makes
very good pasture in the early spring.
and as soon as it dies down in May or June
the Bermuda will renew its growth more
vigorously than it would have done without
the vetchs influence for good.
Mixed crops make more per acre, and
mixed food is better for stock of all kinds.
| have never seen weather severe enough
in the winter to damage vetch where it was
sJwn early enough to catch a good hold be-
fore freezing weather. On good land rye
aud vetch together give very heavy crop
of forage very early in the season.
These remarks apply exclusively to the
winter vetch. S. A. C..