262 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



325. Use. As forage either green or dried, it is readily 

 eaten by cattle and sheep. The dried forage is similar in com- 

 position and digestibility to alfalfa hay, and has been found 

 especially valuable for milch cows, reducing the amount of 

 bran and other concentrates required in the ration. (230) 

 It makes an excellent pasture for swine, but is less desirable 

 for cattle and sheep on account of its liability to produce bloat. 

 The seeds, either green or dried, are for domestic uses, when 

 cooked, equal in taste and nutritive qualities to field beans, and 

 may be fed to all classes of live stock without cooking, for 

 which they have high value. The Tuskegee Station has prepared 

 and tested 25 receipts for cooking the dried and green seeds 

 and the green pods, including soups, salads, fritters, and griddle 

 cakes. The roasted seeds are a substitute for* coffee. 1 



Since the whole plant has a high feeding value, there is no 

 need of separating the seed when feeding to domestic animals. 

 During three years the Alabama Station compared the yield 

 of seed and of hay made by Wonderful cowpeas, obtaining 510 

 pounds of peas and 3,608 pounds of hay. 2 Since well-cured 

 cowpea hay is in composition, digestibility, and feeding value 

 similar to wheat bran, hay rather than seed production is most 

 profitable. The office which the plant performs in protecting 

 bare land and in renovating soils by supplying both humus and 

 fertilizing constituents is far-reaching. 



326. Value. The cowpea has many points which make it a 

 valuable cultivated crop: it furnishes palatable and nutritious 

 food for both man and domestic animals; it will give a sat- 

 isfactory yield over a wide variety of soils and conditions of 

 soil; it is easily grown and at comparatively little expense; the 

 seed can readily be produced on farm, at least seeming to reduce 

 the cost of seed; it fits into crop rotations; it universally pro- 

 duces an abundance of root-tubercles, and has undoubted value 



1 Tuskegee Sta. Bui. No. 5 (1903), p. 10. 



2 Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 118 (1902), p. 31. 



