The value of tlie velvet beau as a forage plaut was accideutally dis- 

 covered about six or eight years ago. Beiug a uative of the tropics it 

 only matures seed iu Florida aud the lower half of the States immediately 

 along tlie Gulf coast. It will probably uot ripen seed uorth of a Hue 

 drawu from Columbia, S. C, 150 or 200 miles back from the coast to 

 San Antonio, Tex. Wherever it ripens seed it is considered to be equal 

 or superior to cowpeas, but where seed must each year be purchased it 

 does not equal that croxi. 



Fig. 1. — Velvet bean; a flowers, b pods, aiid c beans. 

 SEEDING. 



In Florida the seed is sown in drills 4 feet apart, dropping from two to 

 four seeds iu hills 2 feet apart in the row. The seed may be dropped in 

 furrows when the ground is plowed, and covered 2 or 3 inches deei^. 

 The crop should be cultivated several times. In orange groves and 

 orchards the beans may be sown in drills 4 or 5 feet apart and not less 

 than 5 feet away from the trees in order to keep the vines out of them. 

 They make a better mulch crop iu the orchard thau the cowpea because 

 when the vines are cut down by frost they form a tangled mass which 

 retains the leaves and protects the soil from rain and sun. The leaves 

 stay on the vines longer than on cowpeas. Farther north the seeds 

 should be sown tliicker in drills 2 or 3 feet apart, or broadcast at the 

 rate of 1 or 2 bushels per acre. Its range of profitable cultivation does 

 not extend beyond that of cotton and will not until its period of culti- 

 vation has been extended long enough to result in the origination of 

 new varieties suited to a wider range of soils and climates. 



