GROWING LEGUMES IN DRY AREAS 333 



vines. When these are grown with other grain crops, 

 they may be harvested for hay with the binder or the 

 mower. They should be cut for hay while yet a little 

 short of full maturity. 



Harvesting for seed. The common vetch may be 

 harvested for seed when grown alone as peas are har- 

 vested. It may also be threshed similarly (see p. 266). 

 When seed is wanted from the sand vetch, it is best 

 obtained by sowing it with grain as described above. 

 Grown alone it would be almost impossible to harvest 

 the crop owing to its recumbent and tangling habit of 

 growth. When grown with grain such tangling is pre- 

 vented, insomuch that the combined crop can be cut with 

 the binder. When threshed the seeds are separated. 

 Information as to yields of hay or seed are not yet ob- 

 tainable. 



GROWING THE COW PEA 



The cow pea is not specially adapted for being grown 

 in dry areas and yet it may be grown with profit under 

 conditions where the rainfall is considerably less than 

 what is considered normal in humid regions. This plant 

 has marked adaptation for conditions in which the tem- 

 peratures are higher than would be suitable for the suc- 

 cessful growth of the Canadian field pea. In the dry 

 area, therefore, one of these is in a sense the complement 

 of the other, for where the temperatures become too 

 warm for growing the Canada field pea at its best, they 

 seem to have special adaptation for the successful growth 

 of the cow pea. In the semi-arid areas, therefore, the 

 cow pea will have a mission south of the parallel 45. 

 North of the latitude named the Canada field pea will 

 give results more satisfactory than can be obtained from 

 the cow pea. 



Soils. Cow peas may be grown on any kind of good 

 soil. They are grown for the purpose, first, of providing 



