132 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



experience had converted me absolutely to the 

 cowpea, though that experience had given me 

 only the merest foretaste of its value. Now, 

 after five years of use, I'm a cowpea radical. 

 I'd let go of any other crop on our list before 

 I'd abandon this. When our friend at the ex- 

 periment station told us of it, we had made al- 

 lowance for him as a zealous advocate, maybe 

 a little shy on the judicial temperament; but 

 we know now that he stopped short of the 

 whole truth. It's hard to understand why the 

 South has been so laggard in the use of this 

 great little old plant. 



In our first year we had put cowpeas on 

 every one of those smaller fields, broadcasting 

 a bushel or more of seed to the acre, and cut- 

 ting the vines for hay in August or early Sep- 

 tember. That cutting gave us a ton and a 

 half to the acre of cured hay equal in feeding 

 value to the best alfalfa; in places, where we 

 had been able to break deeply, the yield went 

 to two and a half tons. When that crop was 

 off, a strong second growth came on from the 

 stubble. This was left upon the ground, and 

 in the fall some of it was pastured and some 

 turned under as green manure. 



There was magic in its effect upon the small 



