164 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



It will be noted that the gains on these SO-ponnd sliDats were 

 doubled when hogs were run on a c'()wi)ea pasture. The corn required 

 to make 100 pounds of gain was very little over one-half as much when 

 fed with cowpea pasture as when fed alone. 



Its value is recognized by some farmers in this State, and their 

 experience is indicated by the following statements : 



One man in Southeast Missouri says, "I always sow a crop of 

 cowpeas and turn the hogs in when the pods are beginning to ripen. 

 Last year five acres of cowpeas fattened 23 head of spring pigs and 

 there was enough feed left for the sows and pigs for a time after the 

 fat hogs were gone. These fattening hogs received no grain except 

 the cowpeas, and made a gain of two pounds daily. I also drill cow- 

 peas in corn at the last cultivation and hog them down after the corn 

 is gathered." 



Another man from the same community says, "I use clover pasture 

 in summer and cowpea pasture in the fall. I turn the hogs in when 

 the pods are ripening, and feed corn and sometimes milk with the cow- 

 peas. I like the cowpeas as pasture better than clover." 



The value of sowing cowpeas in corn is best shown by the ex- 

 perience of some of the good hog raisers of this State. One gentle- 

 man in Northwest Missouri, who keeps his fall pigs until green corn 

 comes next fall before fattening, says: "Several times I have mixed 

 an early variety of corn with Whippoorwill cowpeas, equal parts in 

 the planter box and planted with an old-fashioned hand drop corn 

 planter. Drop at every step of the horses, or closer, thus putting one 

 to three grains of corn and two to five peas in each hill. Turn the 

 hogs into this about September 1. I have made 90 pounds gain per 

 hog in four weeks and have fattened 10 to 15 hogs per acre. I think 

 I have made over 1,000 pounds gain to the acre." 



A man in Central Missouri says: "The first corn I put out is 

 ninety day corn, and the next is Reid's Yellow Dent. When I finish 

 plowing the corn which I want to hog down, I drill cowpeas between 

 the rows with a one-horse corn drill. The cowpeas are ready to graze 

 as soon as early corn is mature. When the hogs have the corn and 

 cowpeas cleaned up well, T disk the ground well and sow rye for a 

 "v\anter pasture." 



A man in West-Central Missouri says : "Cowpeas sown broadcast 

 in corn and plowed in with eagle-claw cultivators when 'laying-by' 

 the corn, has been the most profitable experiment I have ever tried. 

 A bunch of 60 to 70 shoats allowed to 'help themselves' to five or 

 six acres and fed a small amount of cooked oats daily will make re- 



