GRASS AND HAY 90 



In the sugar-cane districts of Louisiana and in parts of Missis- 

 sippi and Alabama the cowpeas are made into hay instead of being 

 pastured after the corn has been gathered. This is a very good 

 practice and is becoming general. The work is very satisfactorily 

 done with a strong wooden-toothed rake, which pulls the vines and 

 leaves them in small bunches for curing. The harvesting is also 

 done with a mower to some extent. 



In a few localities, especially in parts of Maryland, corn and 

 cowpeas are sown thickly together for hay with excellent results. 

 The seeding for this purpose is at the rate of one-half to one bushel 

 of corn and one bushel of cowpeas to the acre. The two mature at 

 practically the same time, the yield is large, and the curing is easily 

 done. 



Cowpeas and Johnson Grass. Where Johnson grass is not a 

 pest or where it is well established on a field and there is no desire 

 to clean it out, it can very satisfactorily form a part of a mixture 

 with cowpeas. At the Arlington Experimental Farm in 1906 the 

 mixtures of Johnson grass and cowpeas gave the best results both 

 in yield and in the quality of the hay produced. There is no diffi- 

 culty in killing out Johnson grass north of Tennessee and central 

 Virginia, but south of these States the difficulty increases rapidly. 



The mixture should be sown at the rate of one bushel of John- 

 son grass and one bushel of cowpeas to the acre; if the seeding is 

 done with a grain drill, care must be exercised not to cover the 

 Johnson grass seed too deeply. Where this grass is already estab- 

 lished, the land may either be plowed or thoroughly disked in late 

 spring, the treatment depending on the nature of the soil, and then 

 the cowpeas alone should be sown in June. One and a half bushels 

 of cowpea seed to the acre are frequently used, as the Johnson grass 

 makes a more vigorous growth under such circumstances than 

 when coming from seed. This latter practice is common at Au- 

 gusta, Ga., and gives excellent results. The quality of hay obtained 

 is very good and it is not as coarse as the mixture with sorghum. 

 The met that Johnson grass often becomes a troublesome weed is 

 the only objection to it in mixture with cowpeas for hay produc- 

 tion. In otner respects it is the best plant for this purpose. 



Cowpeas and Millet. German millet has often been grown 

 in mixture with cowpeas. As it matures in a relatively short time 

 it is adapted for growing only with the early varieties of cowpeas, 

 such as the New Era, and even with these the yield is rarely in- 

 creased. The millet aids materially in curing the hay, however, 

 and possibly improves its quality by adding variety. Millet should 

 never be used in mixture with the late and rank-growing cowpeas, 

 as the results obtained are not satisfactory, since in addition to ma- 

 turing too early the millet is not strong enough to hold up the cow- 

 pea vines. 



Cpwpeas and Soy Beans. But little experimenting has been 

 done in growing soy beans and cowpeas together, but the results 

 obtained have been very promising. (See soy beans.) 



Cowpeas for Pasture. The use of cowpeas for pasture is not as a 



