2 PEAS AND PEA CT'LTI'RE 



possess a large amount of oxalic acid, which makes 

 plant unfavorable for feeding horses. It is an an- 

 nual, with vetchlike loaves growing 12 to 18 inches 

 high. Pods are one-half to three-fourths inch long, 

 and contain one or two wrinkled peas slightly larger 

 than the common garden pea. The slight growth 

 makes it undesirable for a forage plant. At the 

 Colorado experiment station chick peas were planted 

 in rows 30 inches apart and 6 to 12 inches distant 

 in the row. A fine growth resulted. The cost of 

 production was about one cent a pound. 



Cowpea (Vigna Catjang), really more of a bean 

 than a pea, is a wonderful soil renovator and has 

 ])een used in the South for a century and a half. 

 While the plant is sensitive to frost, it is being 

 grown as far north as Massachusetts and Wiscon- 

 sin. A special chapter is devoted to peas and cow- 

 peas as forage plants on a later page, which see. 



Partridge Pea (Cassia Chamcc crista). — Some- 

 times called sensitive pea and Magothy Bay bean. 

 This was once popular for plowing under, and was 

 used largely in the South, notably in Virginia and 

 Maryland. There it was sown with oats in the 

 spring, and after the oats were harvested peas came 

 on to maturity. The cowpea for the South is so 

 much superior for green manuring that the partridge 

 pea is being used only occasionally. Plants have a 

 conspicuous yellowish purple flower. 



Square Pod Pea (Lobus Tetrogonolbus) is a fine 

 soil renovator, owing to its pronounced tendency to 

 produce root tubercles. Plants grow rapidly, but 

 unfortunately will not stand our climate. In Cali- 

 fornia it produced 24 tons herbage to the acre, but 

 will not stand either frost or drouth. 



