OP AGRICULTURE. 107 



or latter part of winter, and the sowing be done as 

 early in the spring as the weather will permit. Some 

 varieties may be sown in the fall, and will not only 

 live during the winter, but come forward more rapidly 

 in the spring. Their early progress often enables 

 them to escape droughts, by which the others are 

 cut short. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PEA CROP. 



We will now take up and study the pea crop, as 

 one of the highest value in -Southern agriculture, 

 There is a large class of plants which have their seed 

 enclosed in a pod. The different kinds of bean and 

 pea are examples of this class. These are called 

 " leguminous" plants. This whole class of plants is 

 remarkable for the quantity of nitrogen they contain. 

 The " ligumen " of peas is so abundant as to place 

 them above both wheat and corn in nutritive value. 

 The stalks of this plant also abounds in protiene 

 matter, and in that respect, resembles clover hay in 

 composition and value, and hence makes excellent 

 rough forage for stock, hoth horses and cattle. When 

 the vines of peas decay, ammonia is always one of the 

 products. This has also been found to be one of the 

 most valuable ingredients in guano and stable manure. 

 If, then, pea crops are plowed into the soil at the 

 proper period of growth, that is, at the time when 

 the seeds have become firm, but not dry, considerable 



