SOUTHERN FIELD PEA. 



every necessary means for improving the fertility of 

 the land. Another striking feature about it, and not 

 the least recommendatory of it is the amount of rich 

 pasturage it (the pea) aftbrds for stock. I regard 

 this as among its highest recommendations. Stock 

 can not be raised successfully or advantageously with- 

 out pasturage in addition to well filled cribs of grain. 

 This crop should always be laid by early, tnd peas, 

 the common cow pea, or some of its varieties, sown 

 broad-cast over the land, and plowed or harrowed in, 

 which adds very materially to the value of the pas- 

 turage, as well as impioves the condition of the land. 

 ■ Under this system, or any one like it, fur- 

 nishing the amount and value of pasturage it does, 

 the raising of stock, mules, hogs, and cattle necessary 

 to supply the wants of the plantation, becomes a 

 source of absolute profit — the land is made rich and 

 continues improving in the production of the ele- 

 ments of fertility — the compost manure is made val- 

 ible, because it is trod up and mixed with the excre- 

 ments of stock kept fat on rich pasturage. * * * 

 The red man of the forest and the pioneer white man 

 ell us that they found the wild oat and native grasses 

 ivaving thick as high as a man's head, and so entwined 

 vith the wild pea-vine as to make it difficult to ride 

 iver this country. Every cotton-planter has heard of 

 li hese fine primitive pastures, and many have seen 

 ll hem. If the country or climate has been cursed by 

 08 tur appearance as planters here, it has been in the 

 »l Tasting system that we have introduced, and continue 

 H o practice." 



* As the growing of peas in connection with cotton 



* I much less practiced than with corn, it may not be 

 '™l!miss to give the results attained by Dr. Cloud. He 



" Cotton thus treated matures earlier, feeds and 

 nits more rapidly, being strong and healthy, and is 

 iss affected by insects, lice, rust, or the worm. Of 

 iurse, then, it opens earlier, and may be gathered to 

 etter advantage and in better order. It also affords 

 greater degree of certainty for a fair crop both to 

 le land and hand. This is the result of causes both 

 gitimate and philosophical: first, the land is provi- 

 id with the food in proper form and quantity which 

 le plant requires to bring it early to maturity: again, 

 lere is time and opportunity afforded to prepare the 

 nd for the reception of the seed, and the mode of 

 eding also acquires a stand, perfect, regular, and 

 liform throughout — by perfect, I mean the mathe- 

 atical arrangement by which the hills or stalks of 

 )tton are so placed on the land as to feed equally, 



.ki 



grow uniformly, and at maturity fill up the laud com- 

 pletely." 



There are as many ways of cultivating the Indian 

 pea for forage and its seed, as there are of growing 

 corn for soiling and its grain. Mr. James L. Goree, 

 of South Bend, Arkansas, recommends the following 

 plan in the April number of the Southern Cultivator: 

 " The pea-vine is an article of great value to the 

 Southern man, whether he be farmer or planter. I 

 have never fouad any production yield at the South 

 so abundant a crop as the cow pea. Sow as soon as 

 you think the vine will escape the lat« spring frost, 

 from two and a half to three feet apart in the drills. 

 When the vine grows to the length of three or four 

 feet, sow another row in the middle of the former 

 one; after which pull up the peas first planted, put- 

 ting them in convenient bundles for stacking — I do 

 not mean to tie them. During the morning, and after 

 they have wilted suSiciently to prevent them from 

 breaking, which will be in the afternoon, commence 

 stacking them in the following manner: Cut a pole 

 ten feet long and from four to six inches in diameter, 

 and bore with a two-inch auger a line of holes eight 

 inches apart, through which long arms or pins are to 

 be driven for holding and curing the vines. Another 

 line of pins or arms may be put in the pole to cut 

 the first at right angles. Hang wilted pea-vines on 

 each arm commencing at the lowest and filling them 

 regularly up to the top; cover the stack with a cap 

 of straw or corn fodder." 



One that has barn-room will place all good forage 

 under a roof as soon as it is well cured. 



As to the quantity of seed to be sown, drilled, or 

 planted, to the acre, it ranges from a peck to two 

 bushels, according to the notions of the planter, the 

 price and scarcity of the seed, and the strength of 

 the land. Less seed is required in hills among com 

 than in drills; and less in drills than broadcast sowing. 

 For a field crop in a large way, and especially in 

 the absence of a good drilling machine, they should 

 be sown broadcast, and covered with the plow or 

 cultivator, just as good Northern farmers put in Eng- 

 lish peas. If the land is badly cultivated, or full 

 of gri^ss or weeds, no one has a right to expect any 

 other than a bad, small crop. The stem of every va- 

 riety of the vicia is more woody, like that of com- 

 mon beans, than European pea-vines, which are softer 

 even than red clover. The vicia also resembles the 

 bean in the length of its legume or pod, which 

 in some varieties contains ten or twelve seeds or 

 more. 



