valuable quality added to it, namely, that of being able to change 

 into high-grade and more costly superphosphate the low-grade and 

 cheap but unavailable phosphoric acid of the untreated rock. 



THE FEEDING VALUE OF COWPEAS. 



The feeding value of cowpea vines is very high, as shown by both 

 feeding tests and chemical analyses. As hay the vines are more val- 

 uable than fed green for soiling purposes. A comparison with red 

 clover and alfalfa is made in the following table, a compilation' of 

 the averages of a number of analyses from various sources. 



Feeding value of coicpeas compared with red clover and alfalfa. 



A study of the percentages here given will show that the green 

 vines contain more water, less protein or nitrogenous, muscle-making 

 food and less of the fat-forming crude fibers, fats, and nitrogen-free 

 extracts than either the green alfalfa or red clover. The air-dry hay, 

 however, contains more protein than either of the others, less fiber, 

 more nitrogen-free extracts than the red clover, and more fat than 

 the alfalfa. As is the case with leguminous forage plants in general, 

 a ration of cowpeas, to be well balanced, requires the addition of 

 some other fodders, such as corn stover, sorghum, timothy, Bermuda, 

 or prairie hay, otherwise a portion of the protein will be wasted. 



COWPEAS FOR FORAGE. 



There is no forage plant better adapted to the needs and conditions 

 of Southern agriculture than this rank, free-growing annual. It will 

 thrive luxuriantly upon the rich, swampy cane lands of Louisiana. 

 On the driest and most sterile worn-out uplands it serves the admir- 

 able purpose of supplying a larger quantity and better quality of for- 

 age than any other bean or clover. And whenever a crop of cowpeas 

 has been taken off a field the surface soil is left richer by a good 



^Handbook of Experiment Station Work, Appendix, 1893. 



