IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL 75 



of seed is secured, but they cannot be depended upon 

 to ripen seed much farther north. 



For the latitude where it succeeds the velvet bean 

 must be considered as a formidable competitor with 

 the cowpea for first place as a soil-improving crop. 

 It cannot, however, be used interculturally among 

 other crops as can the cowpeas, but must occupy the 

 ground alone. When land can be given up to a soil- 

 improving crop for from four to five months during 

 the summer, no other crop will produce such sat- 

 isfactory results in the way of securing nitrogen, 

 smothering foul weeds, and adding humus to the soil. 

 It thus adapts itself perfectly to the needs of winter 

 truck growers in southern Florida and the tropics and 

 to use in Cuban tobacco fields, since in Cuba tobacco 

 is strictly a winter crop and the land, as a rule, lies 

 idle during the summer. 



It is also an invaluable plant in preparing the land 

 for permanent crops like orchards or sugar cane. 



What clover is to agriculture of the North and the 

 cowpea is to the cotton belt, the velvet bean is des- 

 tined to be for the tropics, where the need for a 

 much greater use of soil-improving plants is so 

 imperative. 



Like the cowpea, velvet beans may be sown 

 broadcast or planted in drills ; in nearly all cases the 

 latter is preferable since one or two cultivations give 

 them a chance to get ahead of weeds and grass. 

 When they once begin to run, no further attention 

 is needed, since they quickly climb up and by their 

 weight bend over and drag down any chance weed 

 that happens to spring up among them. They will 



