296 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE TIME TO SOW SOY BEANS AND COW PEAS. 



Wallaces'' Farmer. 



An Iowa correspondent writes: 



"I have been reading all the articles in relation to soy beans and 

 cow peas in your most valuable paper and I find that you advise culti- 

 vating, but I do not remember reading with what kind of a tool the 

 cow peas were cultivated which were planted in rows from 18 to 22 

 inches apart. I want to sow a field of ten acres next spring to soy beans 

 and oats to cut fior hay and I would like to know the month in which to 

 sow. I also want to put in some cow peas. Please advise me when they 

 should be sown, how much to the acre, and if they are to be cultivated, 

 with what kind of implements. This is asking for a good deal of advico 

 at one time, but I want to prepare early and make my first trial a 

 success." 



There seems to be a good deal of confusion in the minds of farmers 

 who have had no experience with cow peas and soy beans as to the 

 time of sowing them. Bear in mind that both these plants are hot 

 weather plans and, therefore, should not be sown with oats or any other 

 spring grain which requires early sowing. Neither of them should be 

 planted until after corn planting when the ground is warm and the 

 weather hot. We would sow cow peas broadcast, and if the ground is 

 thoroughly prepared weeds will not interfere until the cow peas take 

 full possession. 



The Kansas method of cultivating soy beans is to drill them in rows 

 wide enough apart to admit of cultivation with the regular tools on the 

 farm. Thirty-two inches is about as close as you can put them; then 

 cultivate as you would drilled corn. They should be about four inches 

 apart in the row. If any one can devise a method of cultivation at 

 narrower distances it would be better. The soy beans can be mown with a 

 mower if cut for hay, but not if grown for seed, as the stalk becomes almost 

 like wood. The Kansas way of harvesting is either with a bean cutter which 

 cuts them off below the ground, or w ith a cutting knife attached in lieu 

 of the shovels on an ordinary corn plow, which cuts them below the 

 surface of the soil. 



COW PEAS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR CLOVER. 



Wallaces' Farmer. 



In our last issue we printed a communication from a correspondent 

 of Calhoun county, Illinois, describing the growth of cow peas in that 

 section, their great feeding value for sheep, goats, and he might have 

 added hogs, and suggesting that they might be used to great advantage 

 as a substitute for clover in sections where for any reason clover does not 

 thrive. 



