FIELD EXPERIMENTS. 



417 



Our first year's observations are mainly directed towards 

 their behavior with regard to our climate and soil. The 

 economical questions involved in their cultivation will receive, * 

 whenever desirable, during coming years, special attention. 



None of the crops treated under the above heading suf- 

 fered to any serious extent from the severe frost on the 2i)th 

 of May. 



The results of the experiments with lupine and two 

 varieties of lucerne are not stated in this report, as the 

 examination of the products obtained is not yet finished. 



The results in the field were quite encouraging. 



[A.] COW PEA. 

 DoLicnos (Sinensis?); vauiett, Clay, 

 [From Experimental Plats of Station; collected Aug. 1, 1883.] 



The seeds for these experiments were obtained through the 

 kindness of Dr. Dabney, director of the State Experiment 

 Station of North Carolina. The rates of digestibility of the 

 various constituents of the hay of the cow pea, above stated, 

 are those of clover hay, a fodder substance of a similar 

 character. The ' ' Clay " variety of the cow pea is considered 

 the best of the many varieties raised in the Southern States. 

 The merits of this plant are described by a farmer of North 

 Carolina in the followins: words : — 



" It has no tendrils but twines like beans, or runs upon its own f (jliage_ 

 It is of a rapid growth, making, in three months, on ordinary land, an 



