The Hay Crop 265 



farmers in various parts of the country. It can be grown 

 further north than the southern cow pea as a hay-making 

 crop, and is more easily cured into hay than that plant is. 

 The plant has been cultivated as human food in China 

 and Japan, for hundreds of years, but has been introduced 

 into this country in the last twenty-five years. 



In this country the crop is valued only as stock feed. 

 The crop in some of the earlier varieties can be grown as 

 far north as northern Ohio. The seed can be planted in 

 drills and cultivated, or can be sown broadcast for hay 

 making. The broadcast sowing makes the finest hay, as 

 those grown in rows make so much hard and indigestible 

 stalk. For hay the crop should be mown when the pods 

 are fairly formed, and before they mature, since after that 

 the stems get very woody. If grown in rows for the seed, 

 the crop will have to be cut by hand, as the seed pods 

 grow so close to the ground that the mower will leave them 

 uncut. The crop will also make good silage and when 

 planted alternately in hills with com for silage, the feed 

 will be greatly improved by the presence of the soys. 

 The crop has a high protein content and makes a very 

 valuable feed as forage, and the ripe seed are nearly as 

 rich as cotton seed, having 34 per cent, of protein. 



In Kansas they made fifteen to twenty bushels per acre 

 of seed. The variety known as the medium early yellow 

 is the best for the Middle States, and the tall yellow for 

 the South. The seed should not be planted till the 

 ground is warm in late May or early June. The growth 

 is larger in some than in other varieties according to 

 height of the plants, and of the tall growing varieties, 

 eight tons of green forage have been made, which would 



