Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. 257 



thoroughness and frequency, usually resulting in 50 per cent in- 

 crease in the yield of peas and a profitable increase in hay. Culti- 

 vation before the plants blossom is of far greater benefit than 

 later. 



Until the last few years the great bulk of the pea crop was 

 planted in corn and usually between the rows and after the last 

 cultivation. Some were planted earlier in the corn rows and cov- 

 ered with the hoe when the corn was hoed the last time, one man 

 being able to plant from one to three acres per day, the area 

 planted depending upon the weediness of the corn field at the time 

 of planting. 



This plan of planting cowpeas in corn cannot be too highy 

 recommended, the cowpea crop not infrequently being equal to 

 from one-half to the full value of the corn crop (see Bulletin No. 

 70, p. 104), while the cost of the crop of peas thus grown need 

 not be greater than the cost of the seed and the cost of planting 

 them, all of which should not exceed one dollar per acre. Cow- 

 peas sown in corn should be grazed, after the corn has been har- 

 vested, first by hogs, and later by horses, cattle or sheep. This 

 plan saves the cost of cutting, curing (often a risky undertaking), 

 and housing the hay, and the subsequent labor of handling in 

 feeding, while practically all the fertilizing value of the vines, 

 except that utilized by the animal in its increase of weight, re- 

 mains on the soil for the benefit of the next crop and the perma- 

 nent improvement of the land. (See Bulletins Nos. 58, 62, 66 

 and 68.) 



As the value of the cowpea becomes appreciated it is found 

 that it is readily adjustable to any system of rotation, and in 1902 

 the area sown in Arkansas was commensurate with the available 

 supply of seed, notwithstanding the fact that the price of seed was 

 higher than ever before. 



In the southern portions of the State cowpeas may be planted 

 from the first of April to the middle or latter part of August. In 

 the northern part of the State they can rarely be planted before 

 the first of May or later than the middle of August. This gives in 

 the southern portions of the State four and a half months open to 

 planting and three and a half in the northern portion. Thus the 

 cowpea may follow the crops that mature in the spring or early 

 summer, may precede those that are sown in the fall, and may be 

 sown with or in several crops that occupy the soil from April or 



