cow PEAS 495 



stage of maturity needs to be selected in order to compare 

 varieties. The dates that have been most used are when 

 the first pod is ripe and when the majority of the pods are 

 ripe, the latter date usually ten to fifteen days later than 

 the former. 



The length of the life period varies slightly according to 

 season, but markedly depending on date of planting. 

 Thus, at the Tennessee Experiment Station, Mooers 

 found that the Whippoorwill cowpea varied in life period 

 as follows : Planted April 15, 183 days ; May 1, 168 days ; 

 May 15, 153 days ; June 5, 132 days ; June 17, 113 days ; 

 June 29, 101 days. 



In general, early varieties of cowpea will mature their 

 first pods in 70 to 90 days ; medium varieties, in 90 to 100 

 days. Beyond this are all degrees of lateness, some tropi- 

 cal sorts not even coming to bloom under conditions in 

 Virginia, Mississippi or northern Florida. 



605. Pods and seeds. The greatest variation in cow- 

 peas occurs in the pods and seeds, characters of importance 

 in distinguishing varieties. Considering only the true 

 cowpeas that is, excluding the catjangs and asparagus 

 beans they may be divided by their pod and seed char- 

 acters into two groups ; namely, kidney and crowder. 

 Kidney cowpeas have their pods somewhat compressed, 

 and reniform or subreniform seeds. Crowder cowpeas 

 have thick-walled, terete pods, and globose, or, if much 

 crowded, somewhat disk-form, seeds. The crowder varie- 

 ties are not as numerous as the kidney, but nearly every 

 color of seeds that occur in the latter may be found in the 

 former. Cowpea pods are usually straw-colored, but in 

 a few varieties are purple, and in a single known variety 

 purple streaked. 



The seeds closely resemble the common kidney-bean, 



