236 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



and humus supply of the soil, especially on farms keeping little 

 live stock ; but upon a stock farm a green manuring crop should 

 not be expected to replace barn-yard manure but rather to sup- 

 plement it. Upon stock farms where cow-peas are grown as a 

 catch-crop after wheat or oats for soil improvement it will be 

 found more profitable to pasture the cow-peas rather than to plow 

 the entire crop under. Little of the beneficial effects of the cow- 

 peas is lost by this practice, since by pasturing the droppings of 

 the animals remain upon the field and even when the cow-peas are 

 cut for hay and fed there may be but little loss of fertilizing ele- 

 ments if care is taken to preserve the manure and return it to the 

 land. 



As a Rotation Crop. 



When grown for seed or forage, cow-peas are a valuable 

 crop to use in rotation with other crops. Preferably cow-peas 

 should be used to precede potatoes, corn, Kafir-corn, cane and 

 other rank-growing forage crops, rather than small grains, since 

 in the more favorable seasons, in fertile soil, small grain is apt 

 to- lodge when grown after cow-peas. Also, since cow-peas are 

 harvested late, the soil may be left too dry to start fall wheat well. 

 Rotation experiments carried on at this Station for five years 

 with cow-peas or soy-beans and wheat have given the following 

 results : 



Wheat Rotation with Soy-Beans or Cow-Peas. 



Previous crop. Wheat — yield per acre, bushels. 



1904. 1905. 1906 1907. 1908. Av. 



Wheat (continuously) 17.13 24.40 40.40 37.68 20.53 29.83 



Soy-beans or cow-peas (alter- 

 nate years) 21.10 26.54 31.10* 38.03 25.16 28.39 



Wheat followed soy-beans in 1904-1906, and cow-peas in 1997-1908. 

 ^Lodged badly, which accounts for lower yield. 



The rotation experiments with corn and soy-beans have re- 

 sulted in increasing the yield of corn after soy-beans, the aver- 

 age annual increase in yield being over fourteen bushels of 

 shelled corn per acre, as an average for four crops. The re- 

 sults are given as follows : 



