SHEEP HUSBANLRY IN THE SOUTH. 367 



its favor on millions and millions on the thinner and poorer soils of that 

 xone — as once admitted, it will put an end to the unprofltahlo tillage 

 practiced on them, and remove all temptation to resort to it on others, as 

 they are p;radually rescued from harrcnness. It will thus compel the 

 adoption of that pastoral system which can alone make these lands prof- 

 itable, or save tlK^m, if the forel)t)dings of those who have been reared on 

 them and are deeply attached to tiiem, can be credited, from ullimate de- 

 sertion.* 



You have another fodder crop — and \\ liich may be made a green ma- 

 nuring one, in no respect inferior to clover. The pea is to the South what 

 clover is to the North.T There is something in your soil or climate, or 

 both, which seems to be specifically adapted to the development of thi3 

 plant — for it flourishes with you under a much gTeater variety of soils and 

 circumstances than at the North. A leguminous jjlant, like clover, it draws 

 much of its aliment from the atmosjjhere ; and it is perhaps as sensibly 

 affected by the same cheap manure, plaster. Its haulm or straw, if cut and 

 cm-ed greenish, and well taken care of, makes a good, rich fodder relished 

 by all kinds of stock. Peas are greedily eaten by neat stock, swine, and 

 sheep, for which they form a healthy and highly nutritious food. The 

 white field pea of the North is considered equivalent to our corn,J by 

 measure, in fattening swine. For sheep, and particularly for breeding 

 ewes, there is probably no feed in the world etjual to nicely cured pea 

 haulm, II with a portion of the seed left unthreshed.§ It gives them condi- 

 tion and vigor — and prepares them to yield a bountiful sup2)ly of rich milk 

 to their young. 



Though the pea is an animal, it becomes in effect a perennial, South, 

 when it is desired, by suft'ering it to stand until some of the grain shells 

 out.^ It will mature in a southern climate, sown late in the summer, so 

 that one, and even two preceding crops of it might first be plowed in as a 

 manure. It will rij)en among Indian com, sown after that plant has ceased 

 to grow, and there have been successful experiments of sowing it late with 

 wheat, oats, &c., to have it obtain its growth (to be plowed under as ma- 

 nure) after those crops have been harvested. 



Sprengel gives the following analysis of the pea. 1,000 parts in the 

 common dry state yield— 



Seed. Straw. I Seed. Straw. 



Potash and eoda 15-50 2-35 | Sulphuric acid. 0-52 3-35 



Lime and magnesia 1-95 30-70 Chlorine '. -39 000 



Phosphoric acid 1-90 2-40 I Silica, iron, &c 4-40 10-85 



' Statements of this kind have been repeatedly made in the \mgea of the Monthly Fai-mer by southern 

 gentlemen. 



t I had labored under the hnpreseion that the so-called pea — cultivated as a manuring crop in the South- 

 em Statef^, was in reality a variety of the beayi ; but Mr. Ruffin in his Agiicultural Survey of South Caro- 

 lina, (see Report of 184li, p 81.) and Hon. W. li. Scabrook in his Memoir on Cotton Culture, (see Monthly 

 Journal of Auriculture, Dec., 184.), p. 287.) fspeaks of tliis crop — the former again and again— as ^ms, with- 

 out the qualilicHtion which would be expected from gentlemen of so much learning, in case they were 

 speaking of a plant by a vulgar misnomer, instead of its real name. The peculiar value of the crop at the 

 South in the particulars described, I tiiid asserted by Mr Ruffin, Mr. Affleck, and various other writers and 

 Agricultural Societies, in the strongest terms, and therefore it makes little difference, practically, whether 

 the name is correct or not , but if not, the following analyses, &c., are misplaced. The bean resembles 

 the pea in its qualities and value, but is rather inferior to it. See Appendix, B. 



i The small, hard coi-n of the North contains more nutriment per bushel than the large southern com. 



II That is, cut and cured so that it will come out of the stock or mow bright, and with the leaves looking 

 green— instead of having the ferruginous hue of over-ripe clover. 



§ If cut greenish and well cured, the greener pods will not thresh cut readily, and then they are in ex- 

 actly the proper condition for breeding-ewes. If the crop is very light, cut it when all the pods are quite 

 green, and feed it out without threshing. 



11 This i?, however, poor economy in any case. If the objcc is peas, it is wasteful to the crop, and the 

 quantity fown is uncertain : be?idcs, the haulm is ruined for lodder. If the object is manure, the loss is 

 BliU greater. Plants in dryinc lose the nitrogen contained in their sap, give up their saline matters, and are 

 "resolved more or less completely into rarboni(! acid, wliieh i >xap<s into the air, and is so fur lost."— -See 

 Liehig on this subject, and ul«o the clear and able remarks of Johnston, (.lohnston's Agricultural Cbemietry, 

 TuL ii. p. 176, it tupra.) 

 (751) 



