5 



waste of the muscio-iuaking and fat -form in. i>- constituents of tiie i)lant 

 which would bring more j^rofit if turned into beef, pork, wool, cheese, 

 •or butter. 



As regards the disposal of the crop, there is a wide variation in 

 practice. The feeding value of vines and peas much exceeds their 

 fertilizing value. But as between the practice of turning the vines 

 under green in autumn and that of allowing them to lie on the 

 ground during the winter, the latter is undoubtedly sometimes to be 

 preferred, though theoretically wrong. Theoretically, to plow the 

 vines under in autumn will be to save all the available nitrogen and 

 convert the whole plant into humus. Practicall}', the turning under 

 of so large an amount of watery green herbage is highly injurious, 

 causing a too rapid decay and consequent "burning" or souring of 

 the soil. The upper soil layers, freshly stirred and mellowed in 

 autumn, lose more b}^ leaching and washing than they do in an 

 unplowed field covered by its winter mulch of decaying herbage, 

 though in both cases there is a decided loss of fertility over what 

 would result by following the peas with a crop of rye, ^vinter Avheat, 

 the turf-forming winter oats, winter vetch, or crimson clover. The 

 yields of forage are better on rich soils than on poor ones, but the 

 beneficial effects upon the succeeding crop due to the growth of this 

 one are not so marked in the former case as in the latter. 



METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND HARVESTING. 



Cowpeas are planted broadcast or in drills, vevy commonlj^ between 

 the corn rows after the crop is laid by. The amount of seed used 

 varies from 4 quarts to 2 bushels per acre, the average amount being, 

 perhaps, about 3 pecks. If sown in drills, 18 to 30 inches apart, less 

 seed is required than when sown broadcast. The seed w'ill stand being 

 covered to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, but care must be taken to plant 

 when the ground is neither too wet nor too cold, as the peas rot very 

 rapidly under such circumstances. In regard to excess of moisture 

 cowpeas behave like beans, and in the earl}' stages delight in a warm, 

 mellow seed bed. Much of the failure that has attended the attempted 

 introduction of cowpeas into the Northern States is due to planting 

 before the ground is warm enough. It must be remembered that this 

 X^lant originated in the Tropics and that when transplanted to higher 

 altitudes it makes its best growth in the hottest weather. It is even 

 more susceptible to cold and wet than is Indian coi-n. Hence, proper 

 delay in planting will permit economy in the use of seed. A\1iere the 

 vines are grown for hay, the yield will be larger if the seed is planted 

 in drills and cultivated a time or two. The yield of peas is also larger 

 Mhen only a moderate amount of seed is sown and the vines have more 

 space and light and air between them. It is also heavier from late- 

 planted vines than from the very early ones. In tests to determine 

 the relative value of different named varieties it has been found that, 



