Circular No. 5. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



DIVISION OF AGROSTOLOGY. 



COWPEAS. "^s^ B O T * i« J C *. t 



( f'ifjna catjarifi.) 



(Reprinted from the Yearbook of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1S96.) 



ORIGIN AND GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The cowpea is to the South what alfalfa is to the West and red 

 clover to the North — a forage plant perfectly adapted to the needs of 

 the region where it grows. The cultivation of this crop in America 

 dates back to the early part of the eighteenth century. A Soutli Car- 

 olina planter received a quantity of seed from a foreign source, which, 

 according to certain authorities, was an English acclimatization society 

 or the captain of a trading vessel from far-off India or China. From 

 this small and obscure beginning cowpeas spread throughout the 

 South, and their cultivation has been essayed as far north as Connec- 

 ticut, New York, and South Dakota, and westward to California, 



Cowpeas grow wild in far eastern tropical lands, including India, 

 China, Siam, the Malay Archipelago, and portions of Central Africa, 

 and have become an escape from cultivation in the southern United 

 States and tropical America. From the South the plant has been car- 

 ried in recent years to South Africa and Australia, so that it is now 

 grown as a forage plant or for human food throughout all the warmer 

 quarters of the globe. Cowpeas are in their relationship and habit of 

 growth really beans, and not, as the name would indicate, peas. They 

 belong to the genus Vigna, the members of which are largely repre- 

 sented in South Africa, and are closely related to the lablab, lima, and 

 haricot beans of our gardens, as well as to numerous cultivated or half- 

 wild garden sorts common in tropical Asia and America, but little 

 . known to us. 



There are a very large number of named forms or varieties of this 

 forage plant. New forms are constantly arising, due to variations 

 in habit of growth, color of leaf, stem, and pod, and the shape and 

 color of the seed. Variations from any chosen type are constantly 

 appearing, and as one or another of these sports or forms gains suffi- 

 cient local reputation a new name is applied and sooner or later the 

 supposed new variety is placed upon the market. In this way one 

 variety of cowpea may be cultivated in a dozen different localities 

 under as many names, oi- a dozen different peas may bear the same 

 name. The whole subject of the nomenclature of varieties is in a 

 chaotic state and can be straightened out only after years of careful 



