Vetch
Categories:
OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS
A variety of vetch known as winter, sand, or hairy vetch is
coming into great usefulness as a catch crop. It is a winter annual,
and being a legume, it has special value as a fertilizing crop. It is
more hardy than crimson clover, and is grown as far north as winter
wheat. The seeding is made in August in the north, and when grown for
hay or seed, it needs rye or wheat to hold it up. Rye and vetch make a
rich and early
green forage crop, and the proportion in which they are
seeded varies widely in practice. Six pecks of rye and 15 pounds of
vetch make an excellent seeding per acre.
When grown for seed, one to two pecks of rye and 20 to 30 pounds of
vetch may be used. The rye can be fairly well separated from the vetch
by use of a fanning-mill or an endless belt of felt so inclined that
the round vetch seed will roll down, while the rye sticks to the felt
and is carried over.
Vetch is excellent as a fertilizing crop, adding a great amount of
nitrogen to the soil when plowed down in May. If the seed were cheap,
its use would become much more common. Thirty pounds should be used
when seeding alone after summer crops or in corn. Farmers should
produce the seed for their farms, and use it freely. When sown for
seed, September first is a good date for the north. The seed matures in
June.
As vetch matures with wheat, it may easily become a weed on farms
devoted largely to small grain, but it is not to be feared where tilled
crops and sods are the chief consideration. Inoculation is needed for
best results, as in the case with other legumes new to a region.