552 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



as they ripen, this is not a serious objection to their 

 culture. The seeds also are very much attacked by the 

 cowpea weevil, perhaps more so than any other legume 

 seeds. 



The culture of the mung bean is essentially the same as 

 that of the cowpea, ,but it is preferable to plant in culti- 

 vated rows as the young plants do not compete with weeds 

 as well as does the cowpea. If cut for hay, this should 

 be done as soon as the first pods begin to turn black in 

 ripening. 



The varieties are very numerous, differing in size, 

 habit, earliness and the shape and color of the seeds. 

 These are spherical in most varieties, green, brown or 

 marbled. The variety recently known as the Newman 

 bean is undoubtedly the same as the old Chickasaw pea, 

 and this variety has become spontaneous in portions of 

 South Carolina. The Newman bean is very late, strictly 

 erect, reaching a height of 3| feet and barely maturing 

 seeds at Arlington Farm, Virginia. 



669. Urd (Pkaseolus mungo). The urd is very closely 

 related to the mung bean, but it differs in its procumbent 

 habit, in its shorter, more hairy pods, and in its oblong 

 green or mottled seeds which have a concave hilum. The 

 urd is probably native to India, in which country it is- 

 extensively grown for human food. As a hay crop it is 

 inferior to the mung bean on account of its procumbent 

 habits which make it difficult to mow. The largest and 

 latest varieties, however, make a dense mass of herbage, 

 a single plant covering an area 3 feet square and reaching 

 a height of 20 to 30 inches. One of these late varieties 

 is used as a green-manure crop in the West Indies under 

 the name of Woolly Pyrol. There is hardly any like- 

 lihood of the urd becoming of agricultural value in 



