252 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



312. Quantity of Seed. The amount of seed used in ordinary 

 practise varies from less than one peck to three or more bushels 

 per acre. A greater quantity is used for hay than for seed, 

 and for late than for early planting. The size which the plant 

 attains,' the size and germinating ability of the seed, the fertility 

 of the soil, and the manner of seeding enter into the problem 

 It is a practise with some, where the germination is as low as 

 50 per cent., to double the quantity of seed. Since germination 

 is affected largely by stage of maturity, weather, and method 

 of handling, it is usually good economy to grow one's own seed. 

 In heavy soils, poor stands are not infrequently due to a crusting 

 of the surface that prevents the plants from coming up. Other 

 things equal, the richer the soil and the better the seed-bed, 

 the less the seed required. 



The Arkansas Station in one trial with Whippoorwill sown May 4 at one, 

 two, three, four, six, and eight pecks, obtained a yield of 3,314 pounds of 

 hay and 31.4 bushels of peas when one peck of seed was used, the yield of 

 both hay and peas decreasing with each addition of seed, eight pecks of seed 

 producing^ 1,749 pounds of hay and 16.4 bushels of peas. On May 20 a series 

 of plats was sown with quantities of seed varying from 12.5 to 100 pounds 

 per acre. The largest yield of hay, 2,675 pounds, and the largest yield of 

 peas, 36 bushels, were obtained from the smallest seeding, but the decrease 

 in yield from the thicker seeding was not uniform. The largest seeding 

 produced 2,275 pounds of hay and 20 bushels of seed per acre. 1 The Illinois 

 Station reports that the New Era cowpea was planted in rows three feet 

 apart with the following yield of peas: 3 inches apart in the row, 27.5 bushels; 

 6 inches apart, 32.5 bushels; 9 inches apart, 42.5 bushels per acre. 



In a favorable season the Delaware Station 2 planted on June 7 Whippoor- 

 will seed at the rates of one, two, three, four, and five pecks per acre. The 

 yields on all plats were practically the same for both vines and peas, except 

 where one peck was sown, in which case the yield of vines was considerably 

 below the average. The Mississippi Station 3 secured from 60 pounds of seed 

 per acre 2,520 pounds of hay per acre, and from 30 pounds of seed 2,440 

 pounds of hay per acre. 



313. Mixtures. The need of some grass to grow with cow- 

 peas for hay in order to assist in handling and curing peas has 



1 Arkansas Sta. Bui. No. 70 (1901), p. 99. 



2 Delaware Sta. Bui. No. 46 (1900), pp. 23, 24. 



3 Mississippi Sta. Bui. No. 83 (1904). 



