2 



our agricultural industry, than it has proved elsewhere. The best 

 interests of the dairy business call for an efficient protection against the 

 serious influences of drought, during past years, on the yield of 

 meadows and pastures. The cultivation of fodder crops, growing 

 upon different kinds of soil, and maturing at different periods of the 

 season, have proved of valuable assistance in that direction. Some 

 of the results of our trials with cow pea, serradella, vetch, etc., will 

 be reported within a few subsequent papers. 



172. COW PEA. 



Dolichos (sinensis?) ; var. Clay. 

 From Experimental Plats of Station ; collected August 1, 1883. 



The seeds for these experiments were obtained through the kind- 

 ness of Dr. Dabney, Director of the State Experiment Station of 

 North Carolina. The rates of digestibility of the various constitu- 

 ents of the hay of the cow pea, above stated, are those of clover 

 hay — a fodder substance of a similar character. The " Clay" varie- 

 ty of the cow pea is considered the best of the many varieties raised 

 in the Southern States. The merits of this plant are described by a 

 farmer of North Carolina,* in the following words : " It has no ten- 



*See Report of North Carolina Experiment Station for 1879, page 111. 



