FORAGE PLANTS OF THE FAMILY LEGUMINOS^E 2O1 



The flowers are white, or pale violet with three bractlets at the base of 

 each pedicel, and they are close pollinated, although the flowers are visited 

 by honey bees and bumble-bees attracted by the extrafloral nectaries. 

 The pods are long, cylindrical, cuived and usually constricted between the 

 many seeds, which are bean-shaped, spotted, marbled and speckled with 

 a dark circle around the white hilum. Some of the varieties of the cow- 

 pea are Whippoorwill, Wonderful, New Era, Groit, Iron, Clay, Black, 

 Taylor and Red Ripper (Fig. 86). 



Utility. The cowpea is the most common legume planted in the entire 

 cotton belt and it can be profitably grown much farther north. It is 

 especially suitable for combined hay and seed production, or for hay 

 alone, and it is utilized for pasture and as a green manure for soil improve- 

 ment. Cowpeas for hay production are grown advantageously in mixture 

 with sorghum, Johnson grass, or soy-beans. The yield is thus increased, 

 the quality improved, and the curing more easily done. To make good 

 cowpea hay requires a careful handling of the crop. The use of a tedder 

 is helpful, and the curing is best done in small cocks, and the hay is ready 

 for the stack, or barn, when no moisture can be wrung from the stem by 

 twisting it with considerable force. Cowpea hay is very nutritious being 

 nearly equal to wheat bran as a part of a ration. 



Rotations. The following rotations have been used in the south 

 with good results: cotton three years; corn and cowpeas fourth year 

 and then cotton again. This is satisfactory for the better soils, but 

 for the poorer soils cotton should be planted for only two years. Wheat, 

 or oats, can be grown with cowpeas each season after removal of the grain 

 [crop. The land is seeded to grain again in the fall, making two crops a 

 year from the same land. Cotton, first year; corn and cowpeas, second 

 year; winter oats, or wheat followed by cowpeas as a catch crop, third 

 year; and then cotton again. The seeds are fed to poultry and are also 

 used as a food for man. The roasted seeds form a substitute for coffee. 



Soy (Glycine hispida} is a native of Asia, where it has been grown 

 since ancient times in Japan, Korea, Manchuria and China, especially in 

 Shansi and Shantung and in India. The chief varieties grown in the 

 United States are Ito San, Mammoth, Buckshot, Guelph, Eda, Butterball, 

 Kingston, Ogemaw, Samarow and many others which have lately been 

 grown. 



Description. All soy-beans are strictly determinate as to growth, 

 reaching a definite size, then mature and die. The plants are erect and 



