Cow Peas for Cover. 193 



it to make a most luxuriant and satisfactory growth. 

 In fact, it is probably destined to fill the office in 

 the southern states that the red clover does in the 

 north, and, if properly used, can, no doubt, be made 

 the means of filling the burned -out soils of the 

 south with fresh life and vigor. It is killed by the 

 earliest frost, and is, therefore, not advisable at the 

 north, unless sown early or upon land which is in 

 good condition, so that it may obtain a quick start. 

 Experiments with this plant have been made at the 

 Cornell Station,* with the following results: "Six- 

 teen varieties were grown at the Station this year 

 [1893] for the purpose of ascertaining which ones 

 will mature in this latitude ; and over half an acre 

 was sown to the Black pea, which Professor Massey, 

 of North Carolina, thought likely to prove the best 

 variety for our purpose. These black peas were 

 obtained of L. R. Wyatt, Raleigh, N. C., and were 

 sown June 20. The land was clay, and variable in 

 contour, comprising two dryish knolls, with a moist 

 vale lying between them. The peas were slow in 

 starting, owing to the hard soil, but they made a 

 fair growth in August and early September. In the 

 vale, the plants grew nearly two feet high and cov- 

 ered the ground well, but on the knolls the soil 

 was not covered. The plants had just begun to 

 flower when they were killed by the first frost. 

 The leaves fell off, and the bare, stiff stems now 

 afford very little protection to the soil. 



*Bnll. 61. Cornell Exp. Sta., 334. 



