2,02 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



falfa yielded 1,230 pounds of protein (containing 200 

 pounds of nitrogen) per acre while maximum crops of 

 cowpeas and crimson clover yielded about 725 pounds 

 each of protein (115 pounds of nitrogen) per acre. Since 

 cowpeas and crimson clover may be grown on land where 

 alfalfa fails, they will perform its work. It is not worth 

 while growing cowpeas where alfalfa thrives, except 

 that they may help prepare the land for the better peren- 

 nial legume. In Virginia cowpeas often precede sowing 

 land to bluegrass, and with marked results. 



Comparing Cowpeas with Soybeans. I have tested 

 these plants side by side in Louisiana, and concluded that 

 in nearly all ways soybeans w^ere superior. The soys 

 made more forage and more seed and were more easily 

 harvested. Cowpeas, however, are better adapted to rude 

 methods of cultivation, and may do more to smother 

 out weeds. 



The Field of the Cow pea. To utilize the soil left 

 vacant by ripening corn and gather nitrogen for a suc- 

 ceeding crop, to prepare poor land for cultivation, to 

 yield nutritious forage hard to gather but worth the 

 effort on the southern farm, to store in the soil humus 

 and nitrogen to help a following crop, to make a catch 

 crop for feeding off the land with hogs, to furnish 

 southern farmers with a ready source of protein for 

 dairy or feedlot these are among the uses of the cow- 

 pea. It is hardly comparable with clover or alfalfa, but 

 even on farms where these may grow it will often find 

 temporary use. 



Velvet Bean (Miicnna utilis). This is a bean having 

 a liking for hot, moist weather and sandy or fakly well- 



