184 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



and they can be sown broadcast by hand, though the dis- 

 tribution is irregular and inconvenient. 



173. Methods of planting cowpeas in drills between 

 corn. — The methods employed in drilling cowpeas are 

 numerous. Among them are the following : — 



(1) Dropping a hill of cowpeas between each pair of 

 corn hills, covering the seed either with a hoe or with the 

 earth thrown toward the corn in cultivation. The use of 

 a hand planter should supplant this method. 



(2) Drilling cowpeas by hand in one of the siding fur- 

 rows near the corn row, covering the seed with soil thrown 

 by the next outer cultivating furrow. The chief incon- 

 venience of this method is the inalnhty in later fillings 

 to run the cultivator close to that side of the corn row. 



(3) Drilling by hand or planter a row of co\\'peas in the 

 water-furrow exactly halfway between the two adjacent 

 rows of corn. 



Of all drilling methods, the last mentioned is apparently 

 the most common and practicable. It is usually done at 

 the next to the last or even at the third from the last cul- 

 tivation. The subsequent tillage of corn serves also to 

 cultivate the cowpeas. 



(4) A combination may be made of plan 3 with either 

 1 or 2, or with both, thus giving several rows of the legume 

 between the two adjacent corn rows. 



By using a combined planter and fertilizer distributor for 

 sowing cowpeas, the crop can he fertilized at the same time. It 

 will probably he profitable in most cases thus to fertilize cowpeas 

 in the corn fields wherever they would profit by fertilization if 

 sown alone ; 100 to 200 pounds of acid phosphate per acre will 

 usually be sufficient. 



