Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. 



269 



pea hay for fertilizer than for other purposes. A majority of 

 the cotton states do not produce as much hay as they consume. 



A ton of cowpea luiy is worth as much as a stock food as a 

 ton of wheat bran, and worth more, if a fair quantity of ripe 

 peas are saved with the hay. 



The most profitable use to be made of the cowpea plant is to 

 feed it to live stock. Cowpeas are grown, however, quite ex- 

 tensively for plowing in, and the time of plowing them in is 

 more frequently controlled by the convenience of the operator 

 than by appropriateness of time, condition of the cowpeas, char- 

 acter of soil or nature of the crop that is to follow. Having 

 grown a crop of cowpeas for its fertilizing effects upon the soil 

 the treatment should be such as to secure the best results with 

 the least harm to the crop that is to follow, and with the least 

 loss of the fertilizing ingredients of the cowpea plant. If the 

 soil is of a light sandy nature, and subject to washmg by winter 

 rains, fall plowing should be avoided unless there is an excessively 

 large quantity of pea vines to be plowed in. In the South the 

 soil is not frozen enough to prevent the decomposition of the 

 vines in the winter, and there may be a decided loss of the fertil- 

 izing ingredients, and the heavy winter rains will do more 

 damage to freshly plowed areas on rolling ground than the fall 

 plowing will do good. A decided majority of southern soils are 

 very subject to washing, and usually suffer greater loss of plant 

 food by their not being protected from washing than by the re- 

 moval of plant food in the crops taken from the soil. Such soils 

 are not benefited by fall plowing so much as they are harmed, 

 and need the protection of terraces and whatever vegetation it 

 is possible to have upon them through the winter. Soils that are 

 of a compact nature and not subject to washing are benefited by 

 fall plowing, and on such soils the cowpeas may be plowed 

 under in the fall. In either case, however, a winter cover crop 

 will aid in binding the soil against washing and take up valu- 

 able plant food that otherwise would be lost. Upon light soils 

 it is often a serious error not to follow fall plowing with rye. 

 wheat. o?it.«;. nr ^ome other winter prop. The^e catch crop'^i far 

 more than pay their cost in improvement and protection to the 

 soil, and may be harvested or plowed under in the spring to be 

 followed by whatever crop it is the intention of the farmer to 

 grow. 



