The Hay Crop 257 



On the sandy soils of the South Atlantic States, where 

 red clover does not thrive, the cow pea is really the "clover 

 of the South." The southern farmer can do with it all 

 that can be done with red clover and can do it in one- 

 fourth the time that clover needs. It is a common prac- 

 tice in this part of the South to sow the peas among the 

 com just before the last working and then cultivate them 

 in, thus adding a fine humus-making crop after the com 

 among which crimson clover can be sown as the leaves fall 

 from the peas and make a good winter cover. 



As a hay crop in the South the value of the cow pea can 

 hardly be overestimated, since it will make a fair crop on 

 the poorest of land, and on good soil will make from two 

 to three tons of hay per acre, and hay of far higher feeding 

 value than red clover hay. There has long been a notion 

 that the hay is very hard to cure, but in a long experience 

 in the making of hay from the cow pea we have demons- 

 trated that when properly done, the curing is easier than 

 that of red clover. In the curing of the hay we adopt the 

 same method we have described for red clover hay, with 

 the exception that it is left in the field a litde longer in the 

 cocks, but still is put in the bam in a limp condition. 



The proper stage in which to cut the crop is just when 

 the pods begin to tum yellow. If cut sooner, the hay is 

 harder to cure, and if left till the pods ripen the leaves will 

 fall off, and as these are the best part of the hay they 

 should be preserved. 



Recently a different mode has been adopted in some 

 parts of the South. Stakes six feet tall are planted over 

 the field after the mower and the green pea vines are at 

 once raked and shocked around these stakes in a tall 



