97 



is the cheapest source of protein for animals. Soiling is a good plan for 

 dairymen. Save the manure. Grow more legumes. They furnish the 

 cheapest manure for the soil and the cheapest food for stock, because they 

 obtain from the air the nitrogen necessary for plants and animals, which 

 costs 12 to 15 cents a pound." 



The director of the Delaware Station testifies that in one experiment 

 the yield of dry hay per acre was 2353 pounds, which contained 58 pounds 

 fat, 147 pounds ash, 320 pounds protein, 1596 pounds fibre and carbohy- 

 drates and 232 pounds of moisture. Comparing it with wheat bran it 

 was shown that the bran leads in fat, but in all other respects the dried 

 vines excel. 



"The proper stage for cutting peas for hay," says the Hon. H. M. 

 Polk, "is when the first pods begin to turn yellow and while the leaves 

 are green and the stems soft. The greatest care must be exercised in 

 curing cowpeas for hay. The vines are full of moisture and they will not 

 shed water. They should be cut in clear weather after the dew is off and 

 treated very much as clover when cut for hay. The great end to be ac- 

 complished is to cure the vines to the extent of getting rid of a part of 

 the moisture without having the leaves burned by the sun. When exposed 

 too long to the sun the leaves become dry, fall off the stems and are lost. 

 When put up too green and too compactly, they heat', and when fermen- 

 tation of the juices in the vine and unripe pods occurs, the hay is seriously 

 damaged, if not completely spoiled. Mildewed hay of any kind is very 

 poor food for stock, and when eaten at all it is only taken from necessity 

 to ward off starvation. Some planters house their pea hay in open sheds, 

 or loosely in barns, with rails so fixed as to prevent compacting. Others 

 stack in the open air around poles on which are left limbs from two to 

 four feet long, to keep the mass of vines open to the air.. The top of the 

 stack must be covered with hay or straw that will shed water." 



COWPEAS AS A SOIL RESTORER Not even clover surpasses 

 the cowpea as a soil renovator. The most badly worn and abused soil 

 may be quickly brought to a condition for profitable production by plant- 

 ing a succession of pea crops upon it. Nor are the best results obtained 

 by plowing under the pea vines when green. Careful experiments made 

 at the Georgia Station show: 



(1) That the best disposition of a crop of field peas is to convert the 

 vines into hay. 



(2) The next best is to permit the peas to ripen and gather them (or 

 pasture them.) 



(3) Turning the pea vines under green gave the poorest economic 

 results. 



To which the director adds the following note: 



"It may be truly said that the practice of turning under a crop of 

 cowpea vines read}' for the mower, and in a few days for the barn and 

 for the cattle has no more reason to sustain it than would the practice of 

 turning under a crop of wheat, oats, corn or cotton at its most vigorous 

 stage of growth. Nearly every form of stock food would be a valuable 

 and effective fertilizer if applied immediately and directly to the soil; but 

 the farmer in an economic sense can no more afford to manure his soil 



