872 



COVER-CROPS 



COWPEA 



of our best fruit soils contain a large proportion of clay. 

 When the humus-content of such soils becomes low, 

 they are stiff and difficult to work and they dry out 

 and bake quickly. Plowing under cover-crops restores 

 the needed humus. This is important from the farm- 

 management point of view. The period of time dur- 

 ing which a clay field may successfully be plowed may 

 frequently be doubled by thus increasing the humus 

 supply. As the physical condition of the soil is bettered, 

 the rootlets of the tree can more easily penetrate it in 

 their search for food, and this larger feeding area means 

 a greater supply of food. Orchards that are to be culti- 

 vated should be plowed as early as the land can be 

 worked, in order to prevent excessive loss of moisture 

 through evaporation and the demands of any growing 

 cover-crop. This is especially true when rye, clover, or 

 vetch are grown. Fall plowing is seldom advisable, as 

 much of the benefit of the cover-crop is then lost. The 

 time of seeding depends upon the needs of the fruit 

 and the supply of moisture available. In seasons of 

 plentiful rainfall the cover-crop should be put in early, 

 but in a period of drought the trees need all the moisture 

 there is in the soil and the seeding should be late. In 

 the North Atlantic States, the cover-crops are planted 

 from the latter part of July to the middle of August. 



Kinds of cover-crops. 



In general, cover-crops may be divided into the legu- 

 minous or nitrogen-gathering, and the non-leguminous 

 crops. 



1. Leguminous cover-crops. Red and mammoth 

 clover, Canada field peas, and winter vetch are used 

 in the northern states; soybean, cowpea, crimson clover, 

 and vetch in the central and southern states. 



2. Non-leguminous cover-crops. Rye, oats, wheat, 

 and barley; rape and turnips; buckwheat and nearly 

 all weeds. 



Average quantity of seed per acre. 



Barley 2 to 2 H bushels. 



Buckwheat 1 bushel. 



Clover, red 10 to 15 pounds. 



Clover, mammoth 10 to 15 pounds. 



Clover, crimson 15 to 20 pounds. 



Cowpea 1M to 2 bushels. 



Millet \y% bushels. 



Oats 2 to 3 bushels. 



Peas 2 to 3 bushels. 



Rape 2 to 5 pounds. 



Rye 1^ to 2 bushels. 



Soybean 1 to 1J^ bushels. 



Turnip 4 pounds. 



Vetch YI to 1 bushel. 



Wheat 2 to 2 % bushels. 



3. Combinations of cover-crops. An ideal cover-crop 

 should possess certain characters. It should make a 

 vigorous vegetative growth by fall so as to furnish an 

 abundance of humus and to hasten the maturity of 

 the trees. The seed should be of such a nature that it 

 will catch well when planted at a time of year when 

 the soil is very dry. Preferably, the cover-crop should 

 winter over. All these characters are seldom found in 

 a single crop and, hence, combinations are desirable. 

 Thus buckwheat, which makes a quick growth, does 

 not live through the winter as does the slower-growing 

 rye, so the two combine well. The following combina- 

 tions are frequently used: 



Clover (red or mammoth). 10 pounds. 



Winter vetch 15 pounds. 



Oats % bushel. 



. Cowhorn turnips Y^ pound. 



{Buckwheat ^ bushel. 

 Oats 1 bushel. 

 Rye 1 bushel. 



o | Oats .................... \y 2 bushel. 



' \ Clover .................... 15 pounds. 



4 f Buckwheat .............. % bushel. 



1 I Oats .................... 1 bushel. 



<r 

 ' 



f Oats 

 I Rye 



\y^ bushel. 

 1 bushel. 



In the peach orchard, where large annual growth is 

 not desirable, or in apple orchards making excessive 

 growth, the leguminous crops should be used sparingly, 

 tf at alL C. S. WILSON. 



COWANIA (after James Cowan, an English mer- 

 chant, who intro. many Peruvian and Mexican plants 

 into England). Rosacese. Some 4 or 5 small shrubs 

 from the S. W. U. S. and from Mex., with small 

 crowded Ivs. and handsome white or purple fls.; rarely 

 cult, in botanical collections. Closely related to Fal- 

 lugia, but differing in the absence of bracts at the base 

 of the calyx. Cult, and prop, like Fallugia, but appar- 

 ently more tender: like that plant well adapted for 

 planting in rockeries. C. mexicana, Don (C. Stans- 

 buriana, Torr.), has small crowded cuneate 3-7-lobed 

 Ivs. and white fls. about 1 in. across. C. plicata, Don 

 (C. purpiirea, Zucc.), has incisely serrate Ivs. and 

 purple fls. ALFRED REHDER. 



COWBERRY: Usually means Vaccinium Vitis-Idxa. In parta 

 of Scotland, Comarum palustre. 



COW-HERB: Saponaria Vaccaria. 



COWPEA. Fig. 1086. The American name for the 

 cultivated forms of Vigna catjang, Walp. (1839), and 



1086. Cowpea 



Peas natural size. 



Vigna sinensis, Endl. (1848), two of 

 the Leguminosae allied to Dolichos and 

 Phaseolus; grown for forage, and the 

 seeds used somewhat for human food. 

 From Phaseolus (the common bean) 

 Vigna differs in not having a spiral 

 keel, and from Dolichos in its lateral 

 introrse stigma which lies opposite to a 

 recurved protruding terminal style 

 beak. In other than American litera- 

 ture, the cowpea is known as China 

 bean and black-eyed bean. Botanically 

 it is a bean rather than a pea. The 

 cowpea is a rambling tender annual, 

 native to India and Persia. Its cul- 

 tivation also extended to China at a 

 very early date. In this country it is 

 extensively grown in the southern 

 states, as a hay crop for stock and as 

 a dry shell bean for human consump- 

 tion. It is also invaluable as a green- 

 manure crop (seeCover-crops) . Including 

 both the true cowpeas (Vigna sinensis) 



