THE COW PEA. 25 



fruit and work up the excellent pasture into fat, market- 

 able live-stock. 



SAVING FOR HAY. 



Cow pea hay is best if cut and properly cured when the 

 earliest pods begin to ripen. There is less hay, and that 

 inferior in quality and nutriment, if the liarvesting be too 

 early, but stems become hard and woody, parts of the 

 leaves and seeds drop and are lost, and the hay is even less 

 valuable when cutting is too long delayed, than when it is 

 done before any pods are ripe. This hay cures slowly and 

 is subject to heating — similar to red clover — for which 

 reason it needs to be thoroughly dry before it is stacked or 

 mowed in a barn. Unnecessary handling causes loss of 

 leaves and should be avoided. The hay-making should 

 begin only when the weather promises to be fair. Curing 

 cannot be ''rushed," like that of grasses, hence it is better 

 to allow the crop to become a trifle over-ripe rather than 

 attempt to save it in rainy weather. The dry yield is usual- 

 ly from two to three tons per acre, and no hay crop of that 

 size can be cut, dried and stored without great labor. 



Prof. E. R. Lloyd, of Mississippi, who has had a long 

 experience with the crop, describes his method of harvest- 

 ing and curing it as follows : 



"The mower is started in the morning as soon as the 

 dew is off and run until noon, or until as much has been cut 

 as can be handled in the afternoon As soon as the top of 



