202 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



other hand, green and vigorously growing vines may not cure at 

 all. The following directions for making cowpea hay are given : 



The vines should be cut in the morning as soon as free from 

 dew and when the indications are for favorable haymaking weather. 

 The length of time the vines should remain in the swath depends 

 upon the quantity of vine, degree of maturity, and the weather. 

 A cloudless day, with high temperature, dry air, and high wind, 

 will induce rapid curing, and with a combination of such conditions 

 hay cut in the morning should usually be windrowed or cocked in the 

 afternoon. As soon as the more exposed leaves are well cured, but 

 not dry enough to crumble, the hay should be teddered or, in the 

 absence of a tedder, raked into windrows. Having remained in 

 windrows until the upper portion is well cured, the windrows may be 

 rolled over, that the under portion may be exposed for a time. The 

 hay is then thrown into cocks, where it remains until taken to the 

 barn or stacked. 



It is advisable to turn over the cocks a few hours before haul- 

 ing in order to expose them to the sun and hasten curing. Methods 

 of curing cowpea hay around poles are also described. The vines 

 when thoroughly wilted are stacked about poles 7 to 9 feet long, 

 driven into the ground, and remain there until well cured. When 

 longer and stronger poles are used crosspieces are nailed to them at 

 right angles to each other, about 1 foot above ground and again 

 several feet higher, and so on to the top of the pole. The green but 

 wilted vines are placed about the poles and over the crosspieces to 

 the top, where the stack is drawn to a point and capped. Curing is 

 also accomplished by piling the vines around a simple framework 

 of poles, leaving the stack hollow in the middle, and thus admitting 

 a free circulation of air through the center. These methods of cur- 

 ing, however, involve much labor and expense and are not always 

 practicable. According to suggestions by the North Carolina Ex- 

 periment Station, cowpeas should be harvested for hay as soon as the 

 first pods turn yellow, and the cutting should be done only in the 

 morning under promising weather conditions. The vines should be 

 tossed during the day by means of a tedder or by hand with a fork 

 and raked into windrows that same evening. These are turned and 

 dried the next day and cocked. After the cocks have stood for a 

 day and no further moisture can be wrung from the hay by twisting 

 a handful of it with considerable force it is ready for the barn ; but 

 if moisture still appears at the twist the cocks are turned over and 

 rebuilt to hasten the curing and the time when the hay will stand 

 the test. 



The following methods of curing cowpea hay are given by the 

 Mississippi Station: The cutting is done when the crop is fully 

 mature, which is about the time the pods begin to ripen and the 

 foliage begins to change color. The mowing-machine blade is kept 

 sharp and run as close to the ground as possible. If the pea is in 

 rows the cutting can be done much cleaner and better with a very 

 eharp hoe and at very little additional cost. 



If the weather is good, as is usually the case when the crop ia 



