Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 267, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1911 — VALUAVLE CLOVER HAY ORICINATING IN ASIA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VALUAVLE CLOVER HAY ORICINATING IN ASIA

Lespedexa, or Japan clover, is a native of eastern Asia that was first found In this country in central Georgia in 1846. It has spread since then so that it now coheres mors or Ism abundantly, the whole area from central New Jersey westward to central Kansas and southward to the Gulf of. Mexico. A common belief exists Jn the south that the plant Was first introduced during the Civil War. This Is erroneous, though it is doubtless true that the spread of the plant was rreafly Increased during that struggle by the movements of cavalry. .™ ? Lespedeca Is a summer annual that begins Its growth in the middle part of spring but does not reach maturity until September and October. It Is sometimes confused with the yellowflowered hep clovers, but la readily distinguished by Its purplish blossoms, which do not appear until August or later, while the hop clovers bloom early. Ovep most of Its area lespedeza grows or.ly four to six ipebes high, and there has thus arifien the common idea that it is adapted only to

Map showing the approximate area over which lespedexa Is now naturalized and within which (smaller area) it is cut for hay. grazing. Under favorable conditions, however, especially in the lower Mississippi valley on certain soils, the plants grow commonly to a height of 12 inches, frequently reaching 18 in. ehes, and in exceptional cases 24 Jo 30 Inches. Where the stand Is very thin the plants have a prostrate habit, but where It Is thick they grow upright, and the yield of hay from suca plants is large, often exceeding two tons per acre and exceptionally reaching three or even four tons per acre. Under such conditions lespedeza is a crop of very high value, which has become more and more appreciated In late years, so that many farmers now enjoy it in regular rotations, it is not Improbable that a wider knowledge of the merits of the crop will cause it to be more generally cultivated and perhaps over a considerably wider area. Lespedeza grows during practically the same season as certain other leguminous forage crops; i. e., cowpeas, soy beans, velvet beans, and beggarweed. Its desirability in any particular place will depend upon its ability to compete with the above-mentioned crops.

The value of lespedeza for grazing was early recognized, and it has been looked upon with high favor as a constituent of pastures. It grows in all types of soil, even the poorest, and thus furnishes a considerable quantity of forage in pine barrens and in gravelly soils where scarcely any other plants grow. The natural spread of the plant has made it a constituent of practically every pas ture in the region covered by its distribution. Everywhere it is valued for Its ability to grow in very poor soils, either in fields or in open woodlands, and to withstand severe drought. Its value depends upon its palatablltty, its high feeding value, which approaches alfalfa and Us ability to thrive under all sorts of conditions, and thus to furnish pasturage in the summer and fail till killed by frosts. It will withstand almost any amount, of grazing, in no sense can it be cor3idered a weed, as It quickly succumbs to cultivation. Like other clovers, it sometimes causes horses and mules to “slobber.” The best pastures in the south are perhaps those which in summer consist of Bermuda grass and lespedeza. Wl— the addition of redtop and bur clover, sweet clover, or hairy vetch, such pastures can be grazed the year around, the Bermuda grass and lespedess growing in summer, the others mostly in winter. In poor or tnixeu pastures lespedeza commonly holds its own with broom sedge and similar coarse grasses and unquestionably adds materially to the grazing, it is perbapi no exaggeration to state that it has increitsed the carrying capacity of practically all the pasture land of the south by at least 25 per cent Lespedeza, like other legumes, extracts nitrogen from the air througn the bacterial tubercles or “nitrogen balls" on the roots. Owing, perhaps, to the occurrence of numerous American species of this nlant, lespedeza Is nearly always' naturally inoculated. It is advisable, however, when planting It for the first time in new soils to provide Inoculation either b.v the use of pure cultures or by the soiltransfer method. Lespedeza Is very commonly a constituent of Hermuda-grase mead, ows, and probably the first lespedeza cut for hay was in such s mixture. The admixture of lepesdeza in Bermuda grass is in every way desirable. While It does not add. perhaps, to ths yield' of hay* it materially improves the quality. Such s meadow may persist for years, but eventually the Ingress of weeds reduces its valua It Is seldom necessary to eow the ieapedesa. as it usually finds Its way lata, the Bermuda-grass meadow quickly. ,