THE MAIN SPECIES OF LEGUMES

ALYCECLOVER (Alysicarpus vaginalis) is a summer annual. In thin stands it tends to spread and be moderately branched but in thick stands it is ascending and little branched. It attains a height of about 3 feet on moderately fertile soil. The stems are rather coarse but fairly leafy. The leaves are unifoliolate, broadly oval, and borne the entire length of the stems on short leafstalks. The seed, which is quite small, 275,000 to the pound, is borne in jointed pods and weighs about 60 pounds to the bushel.

Alyceclover is native to tropical Asia from where it has spread to parts of Africa and America. It was first introduced into the United States by the Department of Agriculture in 1910. It is adapted to the area adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico and is being grown in many places throughout that area. It has been most extensively planted in Florida and Mississippi.

The principal use of alyceclover has been for hay and soil improvement but it also makes good pasturage. In limited feeding trials by State experiment stations it has given good results in comparison with other hay. Commercially it has been fed to all kinds of livestock and in the market commands about the same price as other legume hays.

The fertilizer requirements of alyceclover are about the same as for most other legumes of the South. It does not tolerate wet lands and makes poor growth on soils of low fertility. It should be seeded about the first of May or later at the rate of 15 to 20 pounds of seed per acre. When the crop is harvested for seed or when the plants are allowed to mature and shatter seed, a volunteer crop is assured for the following year. When used for green manure, the crop is volunteered several years.

Inoculation has not been needed in sections where alyceclover has been grown to date.

For hay or green manure, the crop can be handled with ordinary farm machinery. The cut hay dries readily and in good weather can be stacked or baled the day after it is cut.

When the crop is to be harvested for seed, it can be allowed to grow the entire season, or an early crop may be cut for hay and the second growth allowed to produce seed. In this latter case, the seed crop may be reduced.

Alyceclover seed shatters or drops from the plant when ripe and for this reason harvesting seed is somewhat difficult. Combines have been used but with considerable loss of seed. Although yields up to 600 pounds per acre have been obtained, 300 pounds would be a high average.

On land that has grown alyceclover continuously for several years, or has grown other crops harboring the root knot nematode, damage by this pest becomes serious. This can be overcome to some extent by proper crop rotations, but the more satisfactory way is to make plantings, as far as possible, on new land. On account of its susceptibility to nematode, alyceclover should not be seeded on fields to be used subsequently for crops that are susceptible to this pest.

PEANUT (Arachis hypogaea)

The peanut is a strong low-growing, spreading, summer annual having odd-pinnate leaves and broad, oval leaflets. The flowers, which are inconspicuous, are borne in the axis of the leaves. After the flowers fall the end of the flower stalk bends downward, elongates, and forces the fruit into the ground. The pod, which contains from one to three seed, thus develops and ripens underground.

The center of origin of the peanut is presumed to be Brazil. Several closely related species occur in that country. The Nambyquare peanut, which is grown by the Nambyquare Indians of Brazil, is equal in size to any varieties that have been in commercial production. Peanuts were unknown to white men until after the discovery of America. At that time the American Indian used them for food. The early colonists in the Carolinas and Virginia brought peanuts under cultivation; later peanuts were spread to widely scattered tropical regions.

The countries of largest production today are India, Bengal, China, Nigeria, Gambia, and the United States.

In this country more than 2 million pounds of seed have been produced annually in recent years. While peanuts are used largely for human consumption, they also furnish a large amount of forage and the seed is fed to hogs in limited amounts.

Sandy loam soils of good fertility and good drainage are best suited for peanut production. Sandy soils of lower fertility will produce good crops if properly fertilized. The use of 300 to 500 pounds of a 2-8-2 or a 2-8-3 fertilizer is recommended for most southern areas of the United States. Growing and turning under a winter green manure crop of lupines or other winter legume in rotation with peanuts will give increased yields ; this practice recently has been greatly extended. Inoculation of the peanut is not needed, but a seed disinfectant used before seeding will help good stands.

Peanuts are seeded from April 10 to May 10 or even later in the extreme South. The rate of seeding is 32 to 48 pounds per acre of unhulled seed or 20 to 30 pounds of hulled. The seed should be hulled by hand or special machinery to avoid injury.

Planting and cultivation of peanuts is similar to most row-grown crops, but harvesting of the seed is quite different since the seed is produced underground. Plows or diggers are used to remove the plants from the soil and then the plants, with roots and nuts attached, are stacked, with nuts to the center, around an upright pole 6 or 8 feet high, which has a cross bar about 12 inches above the ground to keep the peanuts off the ground.

Peanut

When dry, the peanuts are threshed and the straw, or hay, as it is called, is fed to livestock. Peanut straw has high feeding value and brings a good market price. Seldom are peanuts grown to be used exclusively for hay. The so-called runner varieties are planted to be used exclusively for hog pasture in which case both the nuts and tops of the plant are consumed.

Many commercial uses are made of the harvested seed, the ordinary roasted peanut probably commanding first importance. Peanut oil, candy, and peanut butter are other common commodities. In the tropical countries where they are grown, peanuts are one of the chief sources of food; not only are they easily grown they are among the most nutritious of all foods.

CROTALARIA (Crotalaria species)

Of the 400 to 600 species of crotalaria only a few have been brought under cultivation. These are upright summer annuals or short-lived perennials. The stems are coarse; the central stem is upright and branches quite freely, except in very thick stands. The leaflets are borne singly or in threes in the axis of the leaf and vary in shape from linear to broad ovate. The plants in general are leafy, bloom freely, and set seed in abundance. The yellow flowers are showy and the seed pods as a rule are quite conspicuous. The seed color varies from straw-yellow through brown to black.

The first crotalaria introduced into the United States came from Brazil in 1899, but it was 30 years later before the crop was recognized as having agricultural importance.

Being summer-growing plants and of tropical origin, the crotalaria are adapted only in the Cotton Belt. There are no statistics regarding the acreage of crotalaria in the United States but it is estimated at several hundred thousand acres.