% tkfe COW PEA. 



the labor ^i harvesting it. A heavy pea crop on such land 

 generally pays better made into hay than pastured or 

 ploughed under. In this connection note that this book is 

 for every-day use and deals with average conditions. Of 

 late some able and scientific writers, probably blessed with 

 ample means, have been protesting against the wastefulness 

 of ploughing under cow peas. It is asserted that vines, to 

 make a ton of hay, if turned under green, add only about as 

 much actual fertility to the soil as one-third of a ton of high 

 grade guano, but, turned into hay, fed to live stock and 

 their liquid and solid excrements carefully saved and re- 

 turned to the land, increase the fertility twice as much. All 

 this and more is strictly true and worthy of consideration 

 and diligent study, but vast numbers of tillers of the soil 

 lack live stock, suitable buildings and yards, labor and bank 

 accounts. The farmer may find it much more profitable to 

 follow the less economical method of ploughing under than 

 of buying complete fertilizer, converting into hay or leaving 

 his fields unfertilized. He may make the cow pea a " catch 

 crop " year after year until he thus brings his land to a high 

 state of productiveness,, at no further cost to him than that 

 of his labor at seasons wh.en his labor has no actual cash 

 value. 



To repeat, briefly, a heavy crop of vines is more profit- 

 able grazed off or made into hay ; a light crop on stiff soils 

 is more profitable ploughed under green. A light crop in a 

 very sandy soil or liable to wash during the winter should 

 be left to decay on the surface of the ground. 



