148 AGRICULTURE 



Cow-peas as forage. Cow-peas, when harvested for 

 hay, yield from two to three tons to the acre. The feed- 

 ing value of cow-pea hay is fully equal to that of red clover, 

 and nearly equal to alfalfa or wheat bran. It has been 

 found a better forage feed for working animals in the South 

 than grass hay. It is rich in protein, and therefore an ac- 

 ceptable substitute for corn or cottonseed-meal in the fat- 

 tening of stock. 



Since the cow-pea is an annual, it does not lend itself to 

 the making of permanent meadows or pastures as does 

 alfalfa. Cow-peas sowed in corn are profitably used as pas- 

 turage for hogs, the gain in weight being in some cases 

 more than twice as fast with a mixed feed of cow-peas and 

 corn as when corn alone is fed. Cattle also do well on a 

 pasturage of cow-peas. Bloating is likely to occur, how- 

 ever, if grazing is allowed when the cow-peas are wet. 



The cow-pea as a soil renovator. The cow-pea im- 

 proves the soil in two ways: (1) like other legumes, it is 

 able through its root bacteria to gather nitrogen from the 

 air and transfer it to the soil ; and (2) its many roots, 

 coarse stubble and stems, especially when the latter are 

 plowed under as green manure, add much humus to the 

 soil, making it more porous. 



In many parts of the South cow-peas are coming to be 

 largely used in crop rotation with cotton the principal crop. 

 The field is planted to cotton either two or three years in 

 succession, then a crop of corn and cow-peas grown, and 

 then a return to cotton. In Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, 

 Alabama and other states of this region, cow-peas are being 

 successfully used in rotation with wheat and oats. An in- 

 crease of from fifty to more than one hundred per cent, in 

 other crops following cow-peas is not uncommon. 



