194 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



soils or soils having been well limed. They need the right 

 bacteria in the soil to cause modulation of their roots, but 

 commonly this is naturally present. Any soil that grows 

 common garden peas well will inoculate field peas. They 

 should be sown deeply, on deeply-plowed land. Often 

 they are covered with the plow or drilled in very deep. 

 In the Gulf States they should be sown in November; 

 they will often make growth in mild winters. 



Quantity of Seed to Sow. From i to 3 bushels to the 

 acre are sown. When in drills, 2 bushels will be found 

 sufficient seed. Wheat is, in the South, a better crop to 

 sow with peas than oats, the standby of the North. Peas 

 have considerable power to enrich soils, as was shown by 

 their behavior in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Lands 

 there long devoted to wheat ceased to produce well and 

 were sown to field peas, the seed coming first from the 

 Mexicans. The peas throve and were either grazed off 

 by sheep and pigs or mown and fed in corrals in winter. 

 Afterward an astonishing rejuvenation of the soil was 

 observed. The peas also proved very profitable as fat- 

 tening feed for lambs, sheep, cattle and pigs. The 

 altitude there is about 7,000 feet. Irrigation furnishes 

 a soil always moist and the climate is cool with especially 

 cool nights. There are other valleys in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains too high for alfalfa and cool enough for peas, which 

 do not resent an occasional light frost. The dry winters 

 usual to those regions permit the feeding off of the peas 

 with very slight expense, and the manure made is dropped 

 on the land. 



In the cornbelt region peas are little used, ancl in cen-^ 

 tral Ohio they have with me proved less profitable than 



