100 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



rule the best farm practice, but under certain circumstances it is 

 advisable and fairly profitable. Grazing cultivated lands is likely 

 to render succeeding tillage more difficult on account of the tram- 

 pling by stock; and, unless care is exercised in pasturing cowpeas, 

 loss of animals by bloating may result, especially in wet weather. 

 Cowpeas when planted in corn are very commonly used for grazing, 

 especially with hogs. 



The Oklahoma Agricultural Experimental Station reports that 

 cowpeas planted early in July furnished two grazing periods for 

 milk cows before frost in the fall and that the flow of milk was 

 noticeably increased. At the Arkansas Station steers were fattened 

 on cowpea pasture and cotton seed, making an average gain of 2 

 pounds a day for ninety days. So long as the pea vines were green 

 and considerable seed was available, very little cotton seed was 

 eaten. The cost of each pound of gain was only 2 cents for the 

 cotton seed, thus showing the high value of the cowpea pasture. 



Feeding Value of Cowpeas. The feeding value of cowpea hay 

 has long been recognized, as it has been used extensively for all 

 kinds of stock in the Southern States. With a fair number of ripe 

 peas in the hay it has been found to be satisfactory when fed alone 

 to stock at work, and can be used very successfully as a main- 

 tenance ration for horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and even hogs. The 

 farmers in the sugar-cane districts of Louisiana make a very ex- 

 tensive use of cowpea hay for their work stock, it being prac- 

 tically the only roughage used. It is generally claimed that horses 

 or mules at work stand hot weather better when fed cowpea hay 

 than when fed a grass hay and corn. The difference in the appear- 

 ance of the animals is also very much in favor of the cowpeas. 



In a three months' test at the North Carolina Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station the rations fed two high-grade Percheron mares, 

 used as a team and receiving the same care and shelter, differed 

 only in the use of 10 pounds of cowpea hay in one and the same 

 quantity of wheat bran in the other. The horse fed bran just held 

 its own in weight while the one fed cowpea hay gained a little. The 

 cowpea ration was 5 cents cheaper in daily cost. 



At the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station two three- 

 year-old steers were fattened on cowpea hay and cotton seed in a 

 feeding trial lasting ninety days. The daily ration consisted of 

 13 3-5 pounds of cotton seed and 20 pounds 01 pea hay. The aver- 

 age daily gain was 3 pounds for each steer, and the cattle were in 

 excellent condition during the entire trial. The profit realized was 

 $21.30. The Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station found 

 that 6 to 10 pounds of cowpea hay could be substituted for 3 to 5 

 pounds of cotton-seed meal in beef production. This indicates that 

 this hay can be utilized to advantage in place of corn and cotton- 

 seed meal when these feeds are high priced. 



In the production of milk and butter, the Tennessee Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station reports that 1 1 A pounds of chopped pea 

 hay is equivalent to a pound of wheat bran, and 3 pounds of 

 chopped pea hay to a pound of cotton-seed 'meal. With bran valued 



