CHAPTER XLIII 



COW PEAS, SOY BEANS, FIELD PEAS, VETCHES, 



PEANUTS 



COW PEAS 



Cow PEAS are much more closely related to the bean family than 

 peas both in appearance and adaptation. 



Cow peas are the most important leguminous crop south of the 

 Ohio River. They are of tropical origin and require hot weather 

 for best growth. They are also of great value as green manure be- 

 cause of their ability to grow on rather poor soil, and there is no 

 crop in the South more important for building up impoverished land. 



Origin and History. Cow peas (Fig. 180) probably originated 

 in tropical Africa, where the wild form is now found very commonly. 

 They were extensively cultivated in ancient times, the seeds being 

 used for human food and the vine for stock forage. However, since 

 the introduction of the kidney bean from America, the use of cow 

 peas as human food has declined. Cow peas seem to have been intro- 

 duced into the United States at least by 1775, and were quite well 

 known along the Atlantic Coast as far north as Virginia by 1800. 

 From the first they have generally been cultivated for forage and 

 green manure in the United States. 



Classification. The cow pea is extremely variable in character. 

 Many varieties have a long, trailing vine and an indeterminate 

 growth; that is, they continue to grow until killed by frost. Cow 

 peas have been grouped in various ways, of which the following are 

 examples : 



1. According to habits of growth, as trailing, bushy, or erect. 



2. According to the shape of the seed and pod. The common 

 cow peas are known as kidneys, while another form, with long, 

 slender pods in which the peas are closely crowded together, are 

 known as " crowders." 



3. According to time of ripening. Those that mature in from 

 seventy to eighty days are known as early, from ninety to one hun- 

 dred days as medium, and all that require more than one hundred 



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