the color of the ring surrounding the eye. The various "crowders," 

 yellow and white, the whip-poor-will, clay, and "yellow-eyed" forms 

 have numerous crosses and so-called hybrids in which the funda- 

 mental yellows and browns form varying mixtures. 



METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 



Cowpeas are planted broadcast or in drills, very commonly be- 

 tween 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 

 will 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 early 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 plant originated in the Tropics and that 

 when transplanted to higher latitudes it makes its best growth in the 

 hottest weather. It is even more susceptible to cold and wet than is 

 Indian corn. Hence, proper delay in planting will permit economy 

 in the use of seed. Where 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 when only a moderate amount 

 of seed is sown and the vines have more space and light and air be- 

 tween 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, as a rule, those which make 

 the heaviest yields of vines also bear large crops of peas. 



HARVESTING. 



The vines should be mowed for hay when the peas are well formed 

 and the leaves are first beginning to turn yellow. After wilting on 

 the ground or in the windrows from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, 

 the hay is placed in small thin piles, or cocks, and allowed to cure 

 for several days, when it may be carted to the barn or stacked under 

 sheds. The haymaking process is a difficult one, requiring more care 

 and attention than in the case of red clover, because the broad leaves 

 and thick stems contain a larger amount of water. The hay must 

 be placed in cocks before the leaves become brittle, and the piles 

 must be small enough to allow free circulation of air to the center of 

 each. Bright cowpea hay, clean and well cured, is worth as much 



