42 THE COW PEA. 



COW PEA HAY. 



According to chemical analysis, well matured cow pea 

 hay ranks with, or even surpasses, clover and alfalfa hay, 

 both of which have feeding values about equal to wheat 

 bran. This is explained in the following more scientific 

 chapter, " Food Elements and Values." Here is simply and 

 briefly shown the comparatively great feeding value of this 

 particular hay on farms where stalks and ordinary cured 

 grasses yield the chief fodder and are often supplemented 

 by feeding with them corn meal or corn on the cob. A 

 fodder or forage to be economical must be something more 

 than cheap in money cost. It must be composed, in cor- 

 rect proportions of all those elements of food necessary for 

 producing and sustaining animal growth. To give too 

 much of one kind of food and not enough of another is cer- 

 tainly wasteful, and may mean even starvation. Corn, corn 

 fodder and dried grasses generally are fat producers ; cow 

 pea hay is a riiuscle, structure and vigor producer. In the 

 South where crab and such other natural grasses grow and 

 are cut and cured with the cow pea, the resulting mixed hay 

 contains very nearly the correct and proper proportions of 

 muscle and fat-producing elements. At the New Jersey 

 Experiment Station, an acre of cow peas produced muscle- 

 ihaking food (protein) equivalent to that contained in 2,500 

 pounds of wheat bran. 



FOOD ELEMENTS AND VALUES. 



The most important and -valuable parts of food are: — 

 First, mineral substances, which serve for the development 



