200 State Horticultural Society. 



contact with each other, but the roots of the clover and the peach were 

 so intermingled that they were matted together, and could not be easily 

 separated. I do not know that it is certain that other plants can make 

 use of the nitrogen prepared for the roots of living legumes, but the 

 behavior of the peach and the clover in the pots in this experiment indicate 

 that such is the case. There are other indications that point to the same 

 conclusion. Thus we know that wheat or timothy growing with clover 

 makes a larger growth than when growing alone, seeming to absorb 

 some of the nitrates prepared by the tiny organisms which convert the 

 nitrogen of the air into plant food for the legumes. The practical side 

 of all this is that legumes are not good cover crops when the object is 

 to cause trees to ripen their wood. I believe that peach trees would 

 suffer more in a cold winter with a legume as a cover crop than without 

 a catch crop of any kind. The experience of peach growers confirms 

 this opinion. P"or a cover crop to hasten the maturity of the tree, instead 

 of a legume, one of the cereals, as oats or rye, would certainly answer 

 the purpose much better. — U. P. Hedrick, Michigan Agricultural College, 

 in Rural New Yorker. 



CO'WPEAS. 



Editor Rural World : I would be glad to know through the Rural 

 World something about cowpeas. I want to plant some in the orchard 

 and cultivate them. Is the whippoorwill pea the best or as good as any 

 other, and how much seed should I sow to the acre ? How is the best way 

 to plant for pasture? My land is a clay soil, and has been in pasture for 

 some time. When is the best time to turn hogs in to pasture on the cow- 

 peas? J. C. Johnson. 



Osage Co., Mo. 



Remarks : Cowpeas, especially when planted to cultivate, make an ex- 

 cellent crop for the orchard. We would advise planting the rows about 

 thirty inches apart, so that a horse cultivator may be used on them. The 

 amount of seed sown to the acre varies, of course, with the object sought 

 when growing them. The amount of seed should seldom exceed a bushel 

 and a half to the acre, and in a case like the above, only a fractional part 

 of that amount is needed ; half a bushel to three pecks is enough. In 

 planting for pasture the method of planting varies with the kind of pas- 

 turing intended. For sheep, the peas should be sown close and thick, so as 

 to afford fine, succulent pasture, and should be pastured shortly before 

 blooming time. For cattle, sow a little thinner, and in rows not so close 



