SECTION XXX. SOME FORAGE PLANTS 



Cowpea. There are more than a score of varieties of 

 cowpeas. Some, like the Speckled, grow almost upright, 

 make a good crop of seed, and are easy to mow. Others 

 make long runners that sometimes lie almost flat on the 

 ground and are hard to mow because they tangle. Still 

 others, like the New Era, make ripe pods so quickly that two 

 crops of them can be made in the Gulf states in one year, 

 by sowing the second crop with seed ripened by the first 

 crop in July. This is helpful when seed for planting is 

 scarce. Bushy, upright cowpeas form " runners " and 

 tangle, if the seed is sown very early. Late sowing, say 

 in July, makes the branches, or " runners," of a running 

 variety shorter, 



Cowpeas may be planted at any time in May or June 

 and even later. Almost every acre of corn ought to have 

 cowpeas sown between the rows, so as to enrich the land 

 After oats and wheat are cut, cowpeas should be sown on 

 the stubble land either to be used for hay, for grazing, or 

 only for fertilizer. In corn fields and when sown alone, 

 cowpeas may be sown either broadcast or in drills. The 

 fertilizer most frequently needed is acid phosphate, or on 

 some very sandy soils both phosphate and potash. 



Crimson clover. This plant (Fig. 114) is as useful as 

 it is beautiful. It prevents leaching and loss of fertility 

 in winter. It adds to the soil about as much nitrogen as 



