Lespedeza

L. sericea

was first tried in the United States by Gerald Mc Carthy of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station in 1896. He condemned the plant as without value. In 1899, seed was sent to the Department of Agriculture by Dr. Seaman Knapp, an agricultural explorer, but though the species was grown on the experimental farm no use was made of the plants.

In 1924, a new introduction was made and a few years later seed was distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the species was introduced into agriculture.

L. sericea is the only perennial lespedeza that has come into agricultural use. This is an erect plant with the general habit of alfalfa, but is larger. The stems and branches are very leafy, more than 6o% of the total dry weight consisting of leaves. The leaflets are long and narrow and gray-green in colour. Two forms have been distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under number, but they differ only in date of maturing, one being slightly earlier than the other. L. sericea is popularly known as sericea or sericea lespedeza.

Culture.

The culture of the annual lespedeza is very simple. Seeded in early spring alone or on grain, the plants are ready for grazing between June 1 and July 1, according to latitude. A volun teer stand in the extreme South may be ready for grazing early in April. When grazed, the plants will produce seed enough to pro vide a heavy volunteer crop the following year. When cut for hay, care must be taken to cut at a time that will permit a second growth for seed or the crop must be handled in some other way so as to permit of seed production. When a hay crop is wanted or when the field is to be grazed to full capacity, 25 to 4olb. of seed, depending on variety, are sown per acre. When a light stand is wanted to produce a volunteer stand the following year, as little as 51b. per acre is sufficient.

L. sericea is seeded in spring, using 2o1b. of scarified seed per acre. In some localities, the unscarified seed may be seeded in fall. Growth the first season is small and often disappointing, but it resists the competition of weeds and will come strong from the crown the following spring. A good stand will thereafter effec tively suppress summer weeds.

Agricultural

Utilization.—Lespedezas are used extensively in the United States only. In Japan and Korea, some use has been made of the shrubby species for hill-side planting to control soil erosion, but as a regular farm crop, they are used in no coun try other than the United States of America. In the South-eastern United States, west to eastern Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and north to central Illinois, one, or both, of the annual lespedezas occupies a place of the first importance as a hay and pasture crop.

The part of this general area in which the annual lespedezas have become most important consists of a belt covering the Piedmont region of Georgia and Alabama north to the Ohio river, but in cluding southern Illinois and the whole of Missouri.

The total production of hay reported for the United States in 1938 was 2,758,000 tons. Of this, more than ti,000,000 tons was produced in Tennessee, and 618,000 tons in Kentucky. The chief producing States next in order were Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Arkansas.

No statistics are available covering the acreage in lespedeza used for grazing. It is, however, known to be vastly greater than that cut for hay. In Kentucky 475,o0oac. were cut for hay in 1938 while reliable estimates showed that the crop was grown on at least 5,000,000 acres. In Missouri 2o4,000ac. were cut for hay in 1938 while State authorities estimated the total acre age at 6,0000oo. Lespedeza is the most generally grown forage plant in the South-eastern United States, and, especially in the chief production belt as already described, is grown on nearly every farm. The three species mentioned are used for hay and pasturage, for soil improvement, and as an aid in the control of soil erosion. It has been shown that crops of corn or cotton can be increased 25 to 5o% by turning under a crop of annual les pedeza or even by turning under the stubble from a hay crop. Use in Soil Erosion Control.—A growing realization of the importance of soil erosion control has led specialists and farmers to turn to the lespedezas as aids in this control on the low fertility soils of the South.