THE COW PEA. 29 



vegetable matter, decays during winter, and permits 

 early spring ploughing. Some orchardists find it pays, as 

 well as benefits the fruits and trees, to turn in hogs and 

 sheep in time for them to eat the early windfall fruit and 

 tfork up the excellent pasture into fat, marketable live 



stock. , 



SAVING FOR HAY. 



Cow pea hay is best if cut and properly cured when the 

 earliest pods begin to ripen. There is less hay, and that 

 inferior in quality and nutriment, if the harvesting be too 

 early, but stems become hard and woody, parts of the 

 leaves and seeds drop and are lost, and the hay is even less 

 valuable when cutting is too long delayed. This hay cures 

 slowly and is subject to heating similar to red clover for 

 which reason it needs to be thoroughly dry before it is 

 stacked or mowed in a barn. Unnecessary handling causes 

 loss of leaves and should be avoided. The haymaking 

 should begin only when the weather promises to be fair. 

 Curing cannot be "rushed," like that of grasses, hence it is 

 better to allow the crop to become a trifle over-ripe rather 

 than attempt to save it in rainy weather. The dry yield is 

 usually from two to three tons per acre, and no hay crop of 

 that size can be cut, dried and stored without great labor. 



Prof. E. R. Lloyd, of Mississippi, who has had a long 

 experience with the crop, describes his method of harvesting 

 and curing it as follows : 



"The mower is started in the morning as soon as the 



is of! and run until noon, or until as much has been cut 



