1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



93 



and raising from the ground, they are carried 

 home, and in a pen built of common rails, (a lew 

 armfnlls of dry straw laid in the bottom, which is 

 a tight noor,) I throw the pea vines, which are 

 pressed down by the weight of children, into a 

 layer of about twelve inches thick — over this layer 

 1 scatter a few handling of fine salt, not being 

 careful about giving too much, as there will be 

 none lost ultimately; whatever goes to the bottom 

 will be arrested by the floor, and answer the next 

 season lor cattle. A lew handfuls of dry straw 

 are again added, sufficient to separate the layers 

 of pea vines; then pea vines, salt and straw, until 

 my pen is full. On commencing to fill my pen, I 

 place a keg in the centre, which is drawn up as I 

 progress, so that when the pen is filled, a hole is 

 formed in the centre, admitting the escape of gas, 

 and the entrance of atmospheric air. Over the 

 whole I now place a tight roof of clap-boards, 

 securing their remaining as placed in the usual 

 B manner. I will leave to your readers to guess, as 

 they would have to do were they in Connecticut, 

 at the reason, but the straw used in this process 

 of saving pea vines, is eaten with singular avidity 

 by all kinds of stock, as it is taken from amongst 

 the peas. For sheep, this kind of winter provision 

 cannot be excelled — given to milch cows, its valu- 

 able effects is soon discovered on the flesh, milk, 

 and butter. It is also excellent for producing a 

 fat kid. Any peas dropped by the cattle or sheep, 

 are well accounted for by the pigs — nothing is lost. 

 The pindar vines are disposed of in the same way 

 — and the vines of my sweet potato crop, of which 

 I make the richest of forage for cattle. 



About the time of digging my potato crop, with 

 a proper reference 1o the weather, by the aid of 

 the common sickle, or a knife constructed for this 

 purpose, I cut the vine from the hill or ridge, draw- 

 ing them partially together, for the purpose of 

 raising them as much as possible from the ground 

 to admit the action of the sun's rays, and the oper- 

 ation of drying winds. On the succeeding day, I 

 turn them partially over, and repeat the same on 

 the third; hauling them home on the fourth, to 

 dispose of them in the manner before stated, res- 

 pecting preserving the pea vines. In the article 

 of salt to the potato vines, a little more liberality 

 is bestowed, and they are pressed down in the pen 

 only by their own weight, observing to lay them 

 as regular in the layers as possible. This offal, 

 when cut and steamed for milch cows, is certainly 

 superior. 



The frequent difficulty of saving those two crops 

 of offal, by a sudden change of wet weather, must 

 be acknowledged: I have found, however, that 

 the cure is redoubled activity — if a heavy shower 

 only takes place, neither the one nor the other is 

 gone — raised up and turned over a little more fre- 

 quently, and the effect of one wetting is soon got 

 clear of. If the misfortune of a wet season hap- 

 pens, I haul home, bring up every thing that will 

 eat vines, and feed away under sheds-, in my sta- 

 bles and dungstead — keeping up my stock, prin- 

 cipally, until all is consumed: consequently, I save 

 in the manure account. 



My potatoes I dig and haul home, saving in 

 the usual way. In my former statements respect- 

 ing this part of the crop, I find myself guilty of an 

 omission that would induce a reader to ask where 

 I got a sufficiency of seed to plant a large field? 

 I lay off the part of the field to be planted in po- 



tatoes, find how much seed I have, and how far 

 it will go — plant every third, fourth, fifth or sixth 

 row of corn hills, as the case may make neces- 

 sary. As the potatoes throw out vines, 1 cut 

 them, and plant the slips so obtained until my 

 field is tilled out. The balance of the potato crop, 

 after digging and gathering that remains in the 

 ground, serves effectually to keep with the help of 

 the pindars, a handsome twist in the fails of my 

 growing stock hogs during the winter, putting 

 them in during part of the day, and penning at 

 night, on account of obtaining from them a por- 

 tion of Arator's "gold dust." 



Having now gone through the making and 

 saving, as also the manner in which I dispose of 

 my corn crop, with its accompaniments, you will, 

 with your readers, be fully enabled to judge whe- 

 ther my system is a productive system of husban- 

 dry, or whether I have succeeded in making the 

 "two stalks stand where one stood before" — or 

 whether it is, or is not better to cultivate a small 

 field well, or a large body of land in the "old way" 

 — wear, tear, seed, labor, production, &c, con- 

 sidered. Or whether or not, a manuring system 

 is the key to all very successful agricultural pur- 

 suit — or whether a man will sleep sounder after 

 the recollection that his capital, his land, is dete- 

 riorating, or increasing in fertility. These and 

 several other items can be readily, I think, settled, 

 from the foregoing, as they have been by 



AGRJCOLA. 



Alabama, April 10, 1S35. 



CHICKASAW PEA PEA FODDER. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Columbia, S. C, May 11, 1835. 



I send you here enclosed a few of the peas 

 mentioned in your last number, [page 752, Vol. 

 II.] as a dark bottle green pea, the smallest of the 

 tribe. I prefer it to all others for fodder. Not 

 being a running vine, but rather a bush, it is much 

 more manageable than the common cow pea. 

 My horses prefer it to all other fodder, and when 

 they have it, never leave a bit, eating it all to the 

 oldest and dryest stalk. The best practice in 

 curing pea vines here, is not to let them remain as 

 long in the sun as your correspondent J. M. G. 

 intimates is necessary; but they are cut one day 

 and housed the next, taking care not to let them 

 be packed too close, but kept open by poles or rails 

 being put here and there between them, and kept 

 so for three or four weeks, when the poles or rails 

 are withdrawn, and the fodder maybe then packed 

 as close as convenient. Or a pen is made with 

 rails, is filled up with a few sticks between, and 

 the whole covered with a few boards. The pea 

 herein sent, is called Chickasaw pea; by whom 

 and why it was so called, I do not know; but I 

 sent many years ago one or two gallons of them 

 to the Editor of the American Farmer in Balti- 

 more, and having forgotten this circumstance, he 

 sent me a few in a letter by the name of Chicka- 

 saw pea. I do not think it a native of this coun- 

 try, but have reason to believe it came from the 

 East Indies. This is the plant that would make 

 a most excellent and convenient green dressing for 

 land, were it not as good as it is for fodder. The 

 best way of plantim? it is in beds two or three feet 

 apart, and ten to fifteen inches in the beds. I 



