CHAPTER VII 

 PEAS AS FORAGE AND SOILING CROPS 



In its broadest sense, forage means any food 

 suitable for live stock, whether it be pasture, grass, 

 crops cut green and fed, matured crops with or 

 without seeds, etc. As generally applied, how- 

 ever, the term means a pasture crop other than 

 grasses. A soiling crop is one which is cut green 

 and fed directly to the animals in the green state. 

 Forage crops is a term for that practice of feeding 

 to stock in its matured form, being fed either before 

 or after the removal of the seeds. Forage, soiling, 

 and fodder crops include a large number of the same 

 plants. However, this chapter is to deal with only 

 peas in the different combinations in common use 

 among farmers. It will include a brief discussion of 

 cowpeas, the king of forage plants, in the South. 



Culture. — Whether for soiling or forage pur- 

 poses, the preparation of the land, cultivation, seed 

 considerations, etc., do not differ radically from 

 those already set forth in preceding chapters. For 

 green pasture, peas are usually sown with some 

 grain like oats. For instance, peas and oats are 

 sown at the rate of one and one-half to two bushels 

 each to the acre. Small varieties of peas are pre- 

 ferred, as they produce more forage. Seed can be 

 mixed and sown with the drill, or the peas can be 

 sown broadcast, and the land plowed three or four 

 inches deep and then the oats broadcasted or drilled 

 in. Peas are sometimes sown alone as food for 



64 



