654 Journal of Agriculture. [lo Nov., 1908. 



will flourish in all parts of Victoria, from, the Murray to the sea, and 

 will succeed in the poorest soils and the driest seasons. In rich soils, 

 they should be sown 2 feet apart in the row, rows 3 feet apart. In 

 ordinary soils, the plants may be closer in the row, sav 18 inches apart; 

 and in poor soils 12 inches in the row, and 30 inches between rows. 



American farmers regard cow -peas with much favour and grow Ihem. 

 largely for many uses, but green manure is the main purpose. American 

 cattle and sheep thrive well upon the fodder, the plant being rich in 

 albuminoids and carbohydrates. In the household, the green pods are 

 found to be egual to French beans, while the dry peas are iised to replace 

 haricot beans for table use. Their long pveriod of bearing^ — cow-peas 

 podding freely for three or four months during the hottest summer — should 

 commend this plant to our market-gardeners. For seed, cow-peas are very 

 profitable, yielding from 20 to 40 bushels per acre. The retail price here, 

 at present, is alx>ut 30s. per bushel, while field peas are about 4s. 6d., 

 with a similar yield of seed. This great difference should give large 

 profits to growers of cow-peas for some considerable time. But, even were 

 the price to be reduced to that of ordinary peas, the cow-pea would still 

 be the more profitable crop to grow ; its superiority being manifest from 

 its not drying up after its seed has been ripened^ and by the value of 

 the second crop of material for fodder or for manure ; material, perhaps, 

 of nearly equal monev value to that obtained for its previous crop of 

 seed. What greater inducements can Victorian farmers require to make 

 them give cow-peas a trial ? 



Although this plant is called a pea, the seed is shaped like a bean. 

 Botanicallv, it is closely allied to the Dolichos. It is described under the 

 name of Catiang Sinensis, synonym Vigna Sinensis. It has been in use 

 for food purposes for a thousand years or so; it is the Chowlee of India. 

 the Tow Cok of China, the Caffre Bean of the Cape, and now, the Cow- 

 p>ea of the United States. There are several varieties, with seeds varying 

 widely in shape and colour, white, grey, brown, and black, with many 

 intermediate shades and markings. It is one of those tropical plants, like 

 maize, which grow well in cool climates and ripen their seeds freely. 



I am not aware that any extended attention has been directed by 

 scientists to changes of colour in seeds grown under varying conditions, 

 but the changed colours under the present tests are too remarkable to be 

 passed over. All peas produced from dark-brown and from reddish seed 

 have come white ; there is not one dark seed in the produce from either 

 Iron or Wonderful. In New Era, the brown has disappeared, the produce 

 showing a rather pleasing shade of grey ; Whip-poor- Will, a dark seed, 

 has produced buff-coloured peas. As it is the red colour which has 

 vanished, the change may possibly be due to the absence of iron from the 

 soil. Cheltenham soil is almost entirely composed of a silicious sand con- 

 taining no iron ; but, as most manures contain some iron, the disappearance 

 of red from the colouring of all these peas, seems to me to indicate clearly 

 the extreme poverty of the particular soil in which thev were grown. It 

 will be interesting to experiment this season with applications of iron .sul- 

 phate in different proportions. At any rate, present results ,are so striking 

 that they should be worth placing on record, not only because they show 

 the impoverished condition of the soil, but also because thev go to prove, 

 incontestably, that cow-peas can be depended upon to produce fair crops 

 in impoverished and poor soils, even in very dry summers, t propose to 

 continue tests this year, adding three other varieties, and sowing a month 

 earlier than last season. 



