aoWPEAS IN ROTATION 373 



and millet. When grown with sorghum or millet, the seed 

 is usually sown broadcast and the crop cut for hay or for 

 green forage. The addition of these plants makes the hay 

 somewhat easier to cure and also increases the yield. Peas 

 may be planted in the rows with corn and may grow along 

 with the crop, both being cut for fodder or for silage, or they 

 may be planted in the corn at the last cultivation. In the 

 latter case, they are pastured off with the cornstalks after 

 the corn is harvested, or the vines are turned under to add 

 vegetable matter to the soil. 



495. Use in Rotations. As corn and cotton are the 

 most important crops in the region where cowpeas are most 

 largely grown, all rotations are usually based on these two 

 crops. A good rotation is (1) cotton; (2) corn with cowpeas 

 sown in it; (3) winter grain sown after the corn is removed, 

 followed the next summer by cowpeas sown on the stubble 

 for hay or seed. Numerous variations of this rotation may 

 be devised, but if possible a crop of cowpeas should be turned 

 under and one harvested for hay or seed once in three years. 

 As the seasons are long and the crops make rapid growth in 

 warm weather, the plan of growing cowpeas after a grain 

 crop has been harvested is entirely practicable in the South. 



496. Insects and Diseases. Cowpeas are seldom injured 

 by insects when growing, but weevils are very destructive 

 to the seed after it is harvested. It is generally believed 

 that they damage the seed less in the pod than w hen it is 

 threshed, and so it is rather a common practice not to thresh 

 the seed till near planting time in the spring. In threshed 

 seed, they may be killed l)y fumigating in tight boxes or bins 

 with carbon bisulphide (Section 150), or by being raised to 

 a temperature of 130° F. in a tight room for 20 minutes. 



The most troublesome diseases are root knot and wilt, 

 which usually occur only on sandy soils along the Atlantic 

 Coast. The best preventive measures are rotation of crops 

 and the use of resistant varieties, such as Iron. 



