276 Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



In the above test cowpeas were drilled at the rate of 15 

 pounds to the acre. Plots 1 and 2 were seeded to Whippoorwill, 

 plot 3 to New Era, and plots 4 and 5 to Extra Early Black Eye, 

 plots 6 and 7 to Warren's Extra Early. Plot 8 was plowed with 

 the others when they were being prepared for the cowpeas, and 

 cultivated at the same time and in the same manner as plots 1-7, 

 inclusive. The value of the cowpeas and cowpea hay grown 

 after the wheat crop of 1901 was harvested was greater in some 

 cases than the value of the wheat crop that preceded the cowpeas. 



The average value of the crops of wheat and cowpeas 

 grown on plots 1-7, inclusive, in 1901 was $26.85 per acre. These 

 plots produced a crop of both wheat and cowpeas. The value of 

 the crop of wheat gathered from plot 8, which was not seeded to 

 cowpeas, was only $11.84. Thus the increased value of crops for 

 the one year was 126 per cent on plots with, cowpeas following 

 wheat as compared with following the wheat with no summer 

 crop. The cowpeas grown after wheat in 1901 added 1^ 

 bushels of wheat to the 1902 crop of wheat. The plots seeded 

 to cowpeas after the wheat was harvested'' in 1901 produced in 

 1902 an average of 2.43 bushels more of wheat than the plot not 

 seeded to cowpeas, an increase of 17.8 per cent. 



Cowpeas Facilitate Preparation of Seed Beds. 



Aside from the manural effects of cowpeas upon crops that 

 follow them, they afford conditions peculiarly favorable to the 

 proper preparation of the soil for the reception of fall sown seed 

 of whatever description or class. It is too frequently the case 

 that grasses, clover, alfalfa, and the like fail to succeed for no 

 other reason than that the soil was not properly prepared for the 

 seed, and that a promising growth of these hay and pasture crops 

 come to naught on account of the survival of the more fit weeds. 

 In preparing soil for hay or pasture plants one of the first essen- 

 tials to success in the suppression of all weeds, and another is the 

 thorough preparation of the soil for the reception of the seeds of 

 these crops. Cowpeas have no superior in the suppression of 

 weeds and greatly facilitate and cheapen the preparation of the 

 soil immediately preceding the sowing of pasture and hay crops. 

 The soil intended for such crops should be selected the fall before 

 the seed are sown and then seeded to some grain. The grain will 

 be ready for harvest in June, and up to this time will have pre- 

 vented the ripening of practically all weed seed that will interfere 



