124 DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 
at the last cultivation, and will furnish a subsequent crop for green 
manuring or hay.** 
Cowpea (Vigna cutjang) is grown for both forage and seed. 
The latter is used as a food for both man and beast. The plant 
reaches its highest development in the South, where it has been of 
untold value in enriching poor soils and furnishing abundant green 
and dry feed for farm animals. During the last decade experiments 
have been conducted in many States with the view to determining 
the value of the cowpea as a forage plant, and its cultivation has 
extended considerably northward as a result. It has been found 
to do well in the lower New England States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, and Kansas; in the States east and south of those men- 
tioned its agricultural value is fully established. The entire plant 
has a high feeding value, and it is generally fed, seed and all, to 
farm animals in the South. The Alabama station obtained an 
average yield of about 3600 pounds of hay and 510 pounds of peas 
in trials continued for three years.1° A good quality of cowpea 
hay possesses a similar value as alfalfa hay, and is nearly as valuable 
as wheat bran, ton for ton; hence it is often used in rations for 
dairy cows to take the place of a portion of the concentrates, as is 
the case with alfalfa. In this way it is often possible to lower con- 
siderably the cost of production of milk and butter fat. In a feed- 
ing trial with dairy cows at Alabama station’® a saving of 23 per 
cent in the cost of the ration was thus effected by substituting cow- 
pea hay for wheat bran. Experiments have shown that one-half 
of the concentrates fed to cows or fattening steers may be replaced 
by cowpea hay without decreasing the feeding value of the rations. 
The chemical composition of the different parts of the cowpea plant 
is shown in the following table: 
Composition of Paris of the Cowpea Plant, in Per Cent 
-| Nitrogen- 
Moisture Ash Protein Fiber free Fat 
extract 
Green forage...| 83.60 1.70 | 2.40 4.80 7.10 0.40 
Hays en secded in 10.70 7.50 16.60 20.10 42.20 2.90 
Silage......... 79.30 2.90 2.70 6.00 7.60 1.50 
Seed, shelled...| 14.80 3.20 |. -20.80 4.10 55.70 1.40 
Cowpeas are often planted with either sorghum or Indian corn, 
especially if the Indian corn is intended for silage; this makes a 
4 Farmers’ Bulletin 515. 
* Bulletin 118. 
* Bulletin 123; Experiment Station Record 15, p. 72. 
