Leguminmis Plants for Green Forage and Hay. 209 



suited for dairy cows, fatteuing sheep and fattening cattle, though 

 it is used to a limited extent for horse feeding. The large amount 

 of protein contained in the plant, either green or cui-ed, makes it 

 possible for the feeder to properly maintain his animals upon 

 alfalfa with but a limited allowance of gi-ain or other feeding 

 stuff. (822) 



309. Cowpea. — This plant is used in the South more largely 

 for renovating the soU than for forage, yet it has considerable 

 value for the latter purpose. The following yields per acre are 

 reported from the Georgia Station^ by Eeddiug: 13,020 pounds 

 of green matter, 2,618 pounds of dry matter, and 840 pounds of 



At the South Carolina Station, ^ McBryde reports a yield of 3.6 

 tons of cowpea hay per acre. Analyses showed that this forage 

 contained more than twice the digestible nutrients harvested in 

 an acre of oats yielding 40 bushels, and more than 40 j)er cent, 

 more than an acre of corn yielding 30 biishels. 



The Southern farmer has large use for this plant by sowing late 

 after oats or wheat, or in the com field as a catch crop. The cow- 

 pea vine may be mixed with corn forage for making silage. Vir- 

 ginia and Kansas mark the northern limit of profitable culture 

 for the cowpea in general, though early varieties may be grown 

 with advantage in southern Illinois, and even further north where 

 sewn on particularly warm and favorable soils. (230) 



310. The soja (or soy) bean. — According to Georgeson, » the soja 

 bean has been grov/n for six years with success at the Kansas Sta- 

 tion. A field of wheat stubble sown in July gave a crop which 

 matured before frost. The stiff stems of this plant reach a height 

 of from two to three feet, and the yield is better than the navy or 

 field bean. If made into hay, as much as three tons per acre may 

 be secured from a field of soja-bean plants. This plant is gain- 

 ing friends at the South, but is too tender to be generally useful 

 at the Forth in competition with red clover and alfalfa. (229) 



3!l. The common fieJd-pea vine. — The common field-pea is 

 grown in Canada and the Northern states for seed and human 



1 Bui. 17. 2 Rept. 1889. 



» Prairie Fanner, Nov. 9, 1895. 

 14 



