56 4 THE farmers' handbook. 



good stand. The sorghum stalks are finer and more suited to dairy stock, 

 while the cowpea vines keep off the ground better and are easier to harvest. 

 The high price of cowpea seed is often a determining factor in the case, and 

 where the rainfall is scanty and soil poor, crops grown in rows will give 

 better results. 



About the usual quantity to sow in rows is — maize 10 lb., sorghum 6 lb., 

 and millet 3 lb. per acre, mixed with 8 to 10 lb. of cowpeas per acre. If 

 broadcasted, about one-half to three-quarters of a bushel of .cowpeas, sown 

 with 7 to 10 lb. of millet, or 15 lb. of sorghum, are usually required. The 

 variation in the size of these seeds makes the drilling of these crops rather 

 difficult. With a wheat drill the millet can be broadcasted with grass-seed 

 attachment, and the cowpeas with the drill. As such machinery is rarely 

 available in dairying districts the crops would easily be broadcasted by 

 hand. 



A system that has proved very profitable on the North Coast is to sow 

 the cowpeas down between the rows of early corn. They are sown with a 

 maize dropper or broadcasted immediately after the last cultivation of the 

 maize, which should not be later than January. 



Cowpeas by themselves usually form an inferior sample of silage, often 

 acid in character, poor in colour and smell, and more or less decomposed. 

 Ensiled mixed with sorghum, maize, or millets, a much better product 

 results. 



Undoubtedly the best plan of utilising the green crop is by feeding it off. 

 Pigs take to it more readily than cows, but the latter can be accustomed to 

 it. If it has to be cut and fed to stock, either as green feed or as hay, a 

 pea-vine harvesting attachment should be used with the mowing machine. 

 The upright-growing varieties, such as Poona, especially when grown thickly, 

 can be harvested with a scythe and sometimes with a mower. 



The cowpea will make good hay, but although the hay is somewhat diffi- 

 cult to cure, it actually stands more rain during curing than many other 

 hay crops. In the southern states of America cowpea hay is grown to a large 

 extent as a substitute for lucerne hay, in a climate of abundant rainfall, 

 similar to our North Coast. 



Growing for Seed. 



One drawback to any extensive cultivation of this crop for seed is the 

 difficulty attending the harvesting of the pods. No machinery for this pur- 

 pose has been perfected, and with present methods, the whole plant has to 

 be harvested and threshed, or the pods picked by hand. Good pickers can 

 harvest about 150 to 200 lb. of pods per day. About 250 lb. of these peas in 

 the pod give, when threshed, one bag of peas weighing 180 lb. 



Before threshing the pods are allowed to dry thoroughly, when the hull 

 becomes brittle, and the seed separates quite easily. For small lots, a bag 

 can be half filled with pods, and after tying up the mouth, threshed with a 

 flail in the ordinary way. This saves the seed from being shattered, but is 

 not so quick as threshing them loose on large sheets. 



Pea hullers can be obtained on the market, but they seem to be only 

 partially successful, their chief objection being cracking of the grain. The 

 average retail price for cowpea seed is about 30s. per bushel. 



