THE COW PEA. 41 



labor of harvesting it. A heavy pea crop on such land 

 generally pays better made into hay than pastured or plowed 

 under. In this connection note that this book is for every- 

 day use and deals with average conditions. Of late some 

 able and scientific writers, probably blessed with ample 

 means, have been protesting against the wastefulness of 

 plowing under cow peas. It is asserted that vines, to make 

 a ton of hay, if turned under green, add only about as much 

 actual fertility to the soil as one-third of a ton of high grade 

 guano, but, turned into hay, fed to live stock and their 

 liquid and solid excrements carefully saved and returned to 

 the land, increase the fertility twice as much. All this and 

 more is strictly true and worthy of consideration and dili- 

 gent study, but vast numbers of tillers of the soil lack live- 

 stock, suitable buildings and yards, labor and bank accounts. 

 The farmer may find it much more profitable to follow the 

 less economical method of plowing under than of buying 

 complete fertilizer, converting into hay or leaving his fields 

 unfertilized. He may make the cow pea a "catch crop" 

 year after year until he thus brings his land to a high state 

 of productiveness, at no further cost to him than that of his 

 labor at seasons when his labor has no actual cash value. 



To repeat, briefly, a heavy crop of vines is more profit- 

 able grazed off or made into hay; a light crop on stiff soils 

 is more profitable plowed under green. A light crop in a 

 very sandy soil or liable to wash during the winter should 

 be left to decay on the surface of the ground. 



