58 SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 



should be returned to the soil in some form. The French 

 convert them into ensilage. Cattle and other animals 

 are remarkably fond of the recent foliage, and it will be 

 worth while for those who cultivate the crop for the 

 tubers to experiment in the saving of the herbage in 

 silos, either by itself, or mixed with corn or some other 

 plant, that its valuable constituents may be returned 

 to the land in the manure. 



In the agriculture of the Southern States the Cow Pea 

 largely takes the place occupied by clover on northern 

 farms, both as a crop to be plowed under for green ma- 

 nuring, and as food for domestic animals. 



The crop is not one that is cured into hay without diffi- 

 culty, as the large stems and foliage are very succulent 

 and heavy, and lie so compactly that there is danger of 

 moulding and decay. When made, the cow-pea hay needs 

 to be handled with care, as the leaves readily break away, 

 and every time it is moved the finer portions of the hay 

 become scattered ; consequently caution is required in 

 feeding it, or the rations will be very unequal. The por- 

 tions from the upper part of the mow will be little besides 

 bare stems, while that lower down will have more than 

 its proper share of the foliage. By preseiving the cow- 

 pea in silos these difficulties would be avoided, and the 

 southern farmer will be thus enabled to provide his ani- 

 mals with this rich fodder in a vastly better condition than 

 is otherwise possible. 



It is not necessary that the value of the cow pea, as an 

 ensilage crop, should be confined exclusively to the South- 

 ern States. Though it cannot be depended upon to ripen 

 its seeds in northern localities, it will, in the climate of 

 southern New York, yield an abundant crop of most 

 nutritious herbage. This plant is one which should re- 

 ceive the attention of those interested in ensilage. There 

 are some twenty or more named varieties of the cow pea 

 in cultivation in the Southern States, varying almost 



