LEGUMES FOR SEED 



247 



other legumes, such as to make cross-fertilization possible, it 

 is probable that self-fertilization most commonly occurs. 



304. Composition. The following table compiled from differ- 

 ent sources gives the water-free composition of different parts 

 of the cowpeas as ordinarily used: 



Table Showing Composition of Cowpeas 



305. Digestibility. With cattle, cowpea silage is slightly less 

 digestible than maize silage, contains about one-third less 

 digestible fat and over twice as much digestible protein. Com- 

 pared with the digestibility of clover when fed to sheep, it is 

 somewhat more digestible with about the same relative propor- 

 tion of digestible constituents. When fed to cattle, cowpea 

 silage is nearly as digestible as when bran is fed to sheep, but 

 in each one hundred pounds of dry matter eaten cowpea silage 

 contains less than two-thirds as much digestible protein.* The 

 Delaware Station reports an experiment, which showed that 

 with milch cows, when cowpea vine silage was displaced by 

 its chemical equivalent in the form of bran, the yield of milk 



1 Arkansas Sta. Bui. No. 24 (1893), p. 126. 



2 Oklahoma Sta. Bui. No. 6 (1893), p. 36. 



3 Illinois Sta. Bui. No. 43 (1896), p. 204. 

 * Illinois Sta. Bui. No. 43 (1896), p. 205. 



