298 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In southern Illinois and Missouri it can be drilled in at the rate sug- 

 gested by our correspondent, a bushel per acre, following a crop of fall 

 wheat or rye where the land has not been seeded to grass, and after har- 

 vesting the crop in any of the ways above suggested, the land can be 

 plowed for the corn the next year, and while it may not add as much fer- 

 tility as a crop of second year clover, it will not be far from adding as 

 much fertility as a crop of yearling clover, which, as above stated, will 

 be worth at least the cost of the seed. 



As farmers in northern Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa come to under- 

 stand the value of cow peas, there will be a great demand for seed. Here- 

 tofore farmers who have experimented with seed have been obliged to 

 get it from the southern states. Our corresponedent's suggestion that 

 seed from Missouri and southern Illinois will be far better for northern 

 farmers than seed grown farther south is entirely correct. 



As to the varieties, perhaps there is none better than the whip-poor- 

 will. There are about fifty varieties of the cow pea, which is really not a 

 pea but a bean, and as the plant moves north there will be a still wider 

 variation and a general adaptation to northern conditions. We shall hear 

 a great deal more of cow peas in farm institutes in the future than we 

 have in the past and its cultivation opens a very fine opportunity for 

 experimentation. 



G. CATTLE. 



THE CATTLE INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Paper of Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, read before the 

 Central Short-Horn "Breeders' Association, Kansas City, February 4, 1902. 



The condition of the cattle industry in the United States at this 

 time is a subject for congratulation. There is a demand for all classes 

 of cattle at prices far above those which have ruled in recent years. 

 Beef cattle, dairy cattle and pure-bred cattle all may be marketed on 

 terms favorable to the breeder and feeder. 



When we consider the depression and encouragement which existed 

 in this industry but a few years ago, we can only marvel at the change 

 which has been brought about in so short a time. And this change has 

 occurred, no|t as a result of disasters to the industry, not as the result 

 of losses! or sacrifices of animals, but in spite of the fact that we have 

 maintained a stock of cattle unexampled in the history of the country 

 for numbers and values. 



The preliminary census figures which have been made public are 

 surprising. They show a much larger number of cattle than many 

 writers anticipated. They demonstrate that during the years of the last 

 decade, when it was supposed the stock of cattle was being depleted, it 

 was really increasing. And now it would appear that we actually have 



