COWPEAS, OR KAFFIR BEANS. 155 



After the plants are up, cultivation between the rows 

 should be given, and continued until the plants begin to throw 

 out vines. 



Harvesting. — If used for forage, the crop is cut when the 

 first pods are well formed. In some cases (the erect varieties) 

 the crop may be cut with a mower; if viney, hand-cutting is 

 necessary. Curing the hay is rather difficult on account of the 

 thickness and succulency of the stems. When wilted, it should 

 be cocked, and if necessary the cocks may have to be opened 

 again, but as soon as it has cured thoroughly the hay is stacked. 



If the forage is to be used for enriching maize silage, the 

 best practice is to have a separate wagon carrymg the freshly 

 cut cowpeas. Small quantities are thrown from this on the 

 cutter as the maize is being cut up. This ensures better dis- 

 tribution of the cowpeas in the silage, as it is a somewhat 

 difficult crop to ensilage alone. 



When harvesting for seed the difficulty lies in deciding 

 when to harvest, since the plant is of indeterminate growth ; 

 usually the best time is about a fortnight after the first pods 

 ripen. In South Africa the pods are usually picked by hand, 

 and, if so, the field should be gone over two to three times in 

 order to obtain the late maturing pods at the correct maturity. 

 However, if the whole plant is harvested by means of bean 

 harvesters, this must be done when the majority of the pods 

 are mature and before much loss from the early ripening pods 

 occurs. Care must be taken in drying, as overheating quickly 

 spoils the beans. 



Threshing with the ordinary grain thresher is possible, 

 although a large percentage of seed is usually cracked. This 

 may be obviated to a certain extent by lowering the number of 

 revolutions per minute and removing the teeth of the concave. 

 Until more specialised machinery is introduced, tramping out 

 the seed with animals or beating with flails is likely to be pre- 

 ferred in this country to utilising the ordinary threshing 

 machines. 



If the crop is to be used as a green manure it will be found 

 advisable to cut the vines by means of sharp and weighted disc 

 harrows, so as to enable easier ploughing under. Disc ploughs 

 are often used for turning in the crop. The aftermath will 

 often give sufficient growth for a good green-manuring crop 

 if the hay is cut early. 



Mixtures. — For hay, Sudan grass and cowpeas promise 

 to be an excellent mixture. The former give support to the 



