BEGGARWEED. Desmodium tortuosum, D. C. Leguminoscc. (The name Illeibomia is now often substituted for Desmodium.) Giant Beggarweed, Florida Clover. Figs. 305, 306, 307.
By H. Harold Hume.
A strong, upright, branched annual, grown far South for hay, forage and cover-crop, reaching a height of six to eight feet, with broad, trifol ioliate leaves and small inconspicuous flowers in panicled racemes. The seeds are small, yellow ish, flattened, and resemble red clover in weight, and in size, shape and color ; they are borne in hispid, jointed pods, which break apart at maturity and cling to the coats of animals or cloth ing of persons. It is closely related to the beggar-lice of the North. Beg garweed is a leguminous plant, in its general value and characteristics re sembling the clovers. Most plants of this genus are weeds, this particular one being the only species grown as a cultivated crop. It is found as a native plant in the West Indies, and throughout northern Florida and south ern Georgia, while in culti vation it is found all over Florida and elsewhere in the southern states.
Culture.
The seed is slow in starting, usually not germinating until June, and unless the land is cultivated early in the sea son to destroy weeds of different kinds, it may be crowded out. The seeding should not be done till the ground is warm and moist. When seeding is resorted to on new land, seed with the hulls still attached is preferable, as the pods, because of the adhering dust, carry the nec essary bacterial inoculation with them ; otherwise, the clean seed is preferable to the pods, because of the more uniform germina tion. Ten to twelve pounds of seed, sown broad cast, are required per acre. When grown for seed, five or six pounds of clean seed per acre is sufficient. When the stand is thick, the plants produce single stems. When growing apart from each other, they are much branched, stout and coarse. Hence, to produce the best quality of hay, a liberal amount of seed should be used. The seed must not be buried deeply, and need not be covered at all if planted at the beginning of the summer rains.
As a hay crop, it succeeds best on land contain ing a considerable amount of moisture. On high, dry lands it may also be grown, but the yield is not so heavy as on the lower lands. When once well established, but little care is needed to secure a crop from year to year. It re-seeds itself with
out fail, and will continue to occupy a piece of ground unless destroyed by cultivation, or close cutting, whereby seed development is prevented. When, for any reason, it is desired to remove the crop from a piece of land, this may be easily ac complished by cutting sufficiently late to prevent seed formation, and by cultivating during the time the young plants are coming up.
Place in the rotation.
Beggarweed fits well into the rotation with farm crops. In corn lands it may be allowed to grow after the corn is laid by, the early cultivation of the corn crop interfering in no way with the after crop of beggarweed. An excellent rotation in many sections is: First year, corn and beggarweed ; second year, cotton ; third year, beggarweed.
Harvesting.
The beggarweed crop may be cut twice during t h e summer. The cuttingsshould be made just as the plants begin to bloom, when they should be three or four feet high. The sec ond crop is produced from buds on the stubble le f t after the first cutting, a n d should be cut at the same stage. After this, the crop should not be molested, but should be allowed to grow at will, bloom, and produce seed for the next season. The second cutting should not be made too late, else the third growth may not have sufficient time to mature seed before the November frosts destroy the plants ; and if it is cut after full bloom, there will be considerable loss, due to the falling of the lower leaves. Fair yields are one ton per acre for each cutting, though not uncommonly the two cuttings will make four to six tons. The hay is easily cured by the ordinary methods of handling.
Uses.
As a cover-crop. — As a cover crop for orchards in sections where it will succeed, beggarweed has no superior. It is a vigorous grower, a good nitrogen- gather er and is free from the nema tode worms which produce root - knot. For the last reason it is particularly desirable as a cover- crop for peaches, figs and other fruits susceptible to in jury from nematodes, and its self-sowing habit makes it cheap.
As a forage.—Beggarweed is rich in protein and makes a good quality of forage, relished by farm stock. Its nutritive ratio is about the same as that of red clover. It is most effectual when fed with a coarse forage rather strong in car bohydrates.