210 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



are employed in many ways as food for men. They are 

 slow to soften with boiling, but if ground into meal make 

 delicious soups and porridge. We have grown them for 

 a number of years in field culture on Woodland Farm 

 and they have been profitable, yielding sometimes nearly 

 30 bushels of beans per acre. We decide finally, however, 

 that where one's soil is fitted for corn and alfalfa one 

 will usually find greater profit in these than in soybeans 

 in our latitude, except that it is desirable to have a sup- 

 ply of the beans for pushing forward pure-bred lambs. 

 In Louisiana the beans were much more profitable than 

 cowpeas and easier grown on alluvial soil. I have de- 

 voted a good deal of space to this legume because, while 

 it is not strictly a meadow plant, it is assuming con- 

 siderable importance at present, and is destined to come 

 more and more into use in general farm practice, espe- 

 cially in the South. Interested readers should have Farm- 

 ers' Bulletin 372, from which I quote : 



Comparison of Soybeans and Cowpeas. Inasmuch as the soybean 

 is adapted to nearly the same place in the farm rotation as the cow- 

 pea, a comparison of the two plants is pertinent. The soybean is 

 determinate in growth; that is, it reaches a definite size and ma- 

 tures. Nearly all varieties of cowpeas, on the other hand, are in- 

 determinate, continuing growth until killed by frost. Soybeans, 

 with the exception of a few varieties, do not vine, but grow erect 

 or nearly erect. Cowpeas, on the other hand, are viny plants, and 

 therefore more difficult to harvest. Soybeans mature all their pods 

 at one time. Cowpeas continue to produce green pods as long as 

 the plant lives. Soybeans will withstand quite heavy frosts, both 

 in the spring, when young, and in the fall, when nearly mature, 

 while the same frosts are fatal to cowpeas. Soybeans are more 

 drouth resistant than cowpeas, and in a dry season will give much 

 greater yields ; they will also withstand excessive moisture much 

 better. For green manuring or soil improving, the cowpea is far 



