LEGUMES FOR SEED 



259 



CYLINDER 



CONCAVE HEAD 



cowpea vine hay increased in protein from the stage of full 

 bloom and reached its maximum when peas were formed. 1 Al- 

 though varying with the variety and the weight of the crop, 

 on the whole, the best time to cut for hay is when seeds are well 

 formed and the leaflets and pods have begun to turn yellow. 



322. Method of Harvesting. When cowpeas are sown in the 

 maize at the time of "laying by" they are usually not harvested 

 for hay, on account of the difficulties necessarily involved, al- 

 though occasionally they are pulled 

 by hand. Ordinarily men and boys 

 pick the ripened pods and place 

 them in sacks. Sometimes on ac- 

 count of the differences in time of 

 ripening a field is gone over twice 

 in this way. The pods are left in 

 the sacks until threshed. If in small 

 quantities, hulling or threshing is 

 done with a flail and cleaned with a 

 fanning mill; with larger quantities 

 the cowpea huller is used. If planted 

 in drill rows three feet apart, up- 

 right varieties could without doubt 

 be successfully harvested with the 

 bean harvester (269) and the whole 

 plant, when properly cured, threshed in an ordinary grain 

 thresher. Such practise is not common, due doubtless to the 

 fact that cowpeas planted between rows of maize are ample to 

 furnish seed required. 



Those varieties which produce the largest yield of vines are 

 those in which the trailing habit is most pronounced, and con- 

 sequently offer the greatest difficulty in harvesting. Generally, 

 however, the ranker growing varieties are used as soil ren- 

 ovators and for pasture; while bush varieties are recommended 



Parts of a 



uiller 



1 South Carolina Sta. Rpt. (1899), p. 170. 



