THE COW PEA. 15 



costs too much to provide them with a supply of manure. 

 The average farmer with a scant supply of working animals 

 or labor, and a short cropping season, cannot spare the 

 time to plough, subsoil, and fit these impoverished, waste 

 places as he would be obliged to do for clover or grass, but 

 he can rough in the hardier cow peas. 



A single ploughing or working with disc, cutaway or 

 springtooth harrow, anything that will tear up the land, 

 will be sufficient to start the cow pea. The seed may be 

 broadcasted on the rough furrows and covered with a har- 

 row or roller or even "scratched in." Such a rough fitting 

 will not give the best results, but even with this unfavorable 

 start the plant will quickly cover the ground, smother weeds 

 and subdue the soil, besides adding greatly to its fertility. 

 This plan is of special value for northern farmers in New 

 England and other sections where parts of farms have 

 passed out of cultivation. There are many instances where 

 such waste land has been changed in a single season into 

 good corn ground. The plan followed was simply to make 

 an application of the mineral elements of plant food Potash 

 and Phosphoric Acid causing a heavy growth of peas, 

 which absorbed much atmospheric nitrogen, and by it and 

 the vegetable matter improved both the chemical and 

 physical conditions of the soil. It is folly to expect poor 

 ^culture and heavy rough ground to produce the best pay- 

 ( ing results with this or any other plant. The point is, that 

 ^no farmer should reject the plant because he cannot give it 

 ,, the best of care, Its ability to thrive under hard 



