LEGUMES FOR SEED 263 



in soil improvement not only from what the harvested crop 

 leaves upon the soil, but also from the character of the manure 

 produced when the crop is fed. Aside from diseases and insect 

 enemies, its one great drawback is the difficulty of harvesting 

 the crop, whether for seed or for forage. 



"An enormous increase in the acreage of cowpeas would do more, we 

 think, than any other immediately practicable reform to cure the ills of 

 southern farming, to enrich the soil, to raise the acreage yield of all other 

 crops, to build up the live stock industries, and to promote diversified farming." 1 



327. FEEDING VALUE. The cowpea is especially rich in protein, hence a de- 

 sirable feeding stuff. While it makes an excellent silage readily eaten by live 

 stock, the great difficulty is in preserving it. When so used it has been found to 

 be good practise to grow the peas with maize in order to facilitate the process 

 of ensilaging and to enhance its keeping qualities. Silage of this sort is 

 reported to contain from 10 to 25 per cent, of protein. Maize and cowpea 

 silage was found by the Kansas Station - to be more profitable than growing 

 these two crops together either for forage or for pasture. 



At the Oklahoma Station 3 shoats weighing 115 pounds were divided into 

 two lots. Lot 1 was fed a mixture of kafir corn meal and maize meal, taken 

 in equal quantities, and in addition, cowpea hay ad libitum. Lot 2 was fed 

 only the grain mixture. For each pound of gain, lot 1 consumed 4.75 pounds 

 of grain; while lot 2 consumed 8.2 pounds of grain for each pound of gain. 

 In another trial this station found that cowpeas seven weeks old on wheat 

 stubble furnished good cow pasture, that after being eaten low, and the cows 

 taken off, the second growth furnished equally good grazing.* 



The Alabama Station 5 made two tests, each 30 days in length, of sub- 

 stituting cowpea hay for wheat bran in a ration for milch cows. The results 

 showed the average cost of food for one pound of butter to be 12.3 cents 

 with the cowpea ration, and 15.9 cents with the wheat bran. .ration. The cow- 

 pea ration showed a saving of 23 per cent, in cost of food per pound of 

 butter when wheat bran cost $20 per ton. It was shown in the tests that a 

 ton of cowpea hay was equal in feeding value to 86 per cent. (1,720 pounds) 

 of a ton of wheat bran. 



The Maryland Station 6 obtained better results with cowpea silage than 

 with either cowpea hay or maize silage. When maize silage was fed with 

 cowpea silage, equal parts by weight, the yield of milk was greater than when 

 cowpea hay was fed, but less than when cowpea silage alone was fed. 



1 Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 118 (1902), p. 6. 



2 Kansas Sta. Bui. No. 123 (1904), pp. 220-8. 

 Oklahoma Sta. Rpt. 1899-1900, p. 48. 



* Oklahoma Sta. Bui. No. 48 (1900), p. 10. 



5 Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 123 (1903). 



6 Maryland Sta. Bui. No. 98 (1904), pp. 63-72. 



