^'^^ Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



its last cultivation has uniformly given slightly better yields of 

 peas, but less hay than the Warren's Extra Early. 



The practice of growling cowpeas with corn is deserving of 

 high commendation. The peas curtail the yield of corn to a very 

 slight extent or not at all. The value of the shelled pea is not 

 infrequently equal to the value of the corn gathered from the 

 same area, and added to this is the value of tjhe pea vines for 

 cattle feed and the fertilizing value of the cov^pea roots and 

 stubble, shading and protecting from washing. In 1901, two 

 plots of corn averaged but 8.6 bushels per acre, while cowpeas 

 drilled between the corn rows yielded 18.9 bushels of shelled peas 

 per acre, the drouth severely cutting ofif the yield of corn and 

 apparently inducing greater fruitfulness of the peas. 



It has been stated that no account was taken of the value of 

 the pea vines grazed from plots 4 and 5. This was not done be- 

 cause no determination was made of the effects upon the animals 

 that were employed in grazing the plots. The object of the test 

 being to compare the effects upon the next crop of corn, of the 

 grazed pea stubble with the mown pea stubble. This makes the 

 total value of the crops grown upon plots 4 and 5 appear less 

 than it really was, and it is perfectly fair to add to these figures 

 the value of the hay gathered from plots 2 and 3, and to assume 

 that the yields of hay on plots 2 and 3 were the same as on plots 

 4 and 5. This raises the total value of plots 4 and 5 to $60.20 

 per acre, $48.43 per acre, respectively, the drilled peas giving a 

 value of $11.77 per acre more than the broadcast peas. Plot 1 

 without cowpeas yielded $22.96 worth of corn in two years, and 

 plot 4 with drilled cowpeas (the peas gathered and the vines 

 grazed), yielded with the corn $60.20 in value, an increased 

 value of 162.1 per cent. Compared with plot 1 the broadcast 

 peas of plot 5 gave an increased value of 110.9 per cent per acre 

 of corn, peas and hay, by comparison with plot 1 planted to corn 

 with no cowpeas. 



Since the plots upon which cowpeas were grown in 1901 

 produced from 3.19 to 39.2 bushels of corn, and with no cowpeas 

 produced only 24.4 and 26.1 bushels per acre in 1902, it is reas- 

 onable to suppose that the former plots are in condition for better 

 crop production in 1903 than the latter. Thus the planting of 

 cowpeas may be credited with four items of profit: (1) With 

 an increase of 22.8 per cent in the yield of corn; (2) the value of 



