Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. ^^'^ 



with the future hay or pasture crops. Immediately after the grain 

 is harvested cowpeas should be sown thick enough to quickly 

 cover the soil and further prevent weed growth. The cowpeas 

 may be sown broadcast or in drills — if in drills cultivation should 

 be of such thoroughness and frequency as to prevent the growth 

 of the weeds until the cowpeas have complete possession of the 

 soil. The cowpeas must be cut and removed in sufficient time for 

 thorough preparation before the seed of the next crop are to be 

 sown. The deeply penetrating roots of the cowpea have a sub- 

 soiling effect upon the land, and the dense shade promotes intrifi- 

 cation and improves to a marked degree the texture of the soil. 

 Immediately after the removal of the cowpeas the soil should be 

 prepared by frequent manipulations with such tools as discs, har- 

 row, etc. If the treating and preparation for the preceding grain 

 crop and for the cowpeas have been well done, going over the 

 field three or four times with a good disc harrow^ wall give an 

 ideal preparation for grasses and clover. Such treatment on 

 well-tilled soil has given better results with winter wheat than 

 were secured from deep breaking, with a turning plow when no 

 rain had fallen between the breaking of the land and the sowing 

 of the wheat. Experience in a number of instances has proven 

 the value of cowpeas for furnishing good conditions for fall 

 sown crops and particularly for grasses and clover, both alone 

 and in mixtures. 



Varieties of Cowpeas. 



In the early spring of 1902 the Station collected from vari- 

 ous sources 123 samples of cowpeas, embracing about thirty 

 varieties under about forty-five names. These were planted on 

 123 plots of equal size, each plot receiving the same number of 

 seed and the stand finally reduced to the same number of plants 

 for each plot. The seed were planted in drills 3^ feet apart, 

 with a space of 7 feet between each plot. All plots were culti- 

 vated until the vines covered the ground. It was necessary that 

 the field be gone over twice to turn back the vines of many plots 

 to prevent their encroachment upon the territory of their neigh- 

 bors seven feet away, while others barely met across the 3^- 

 foot rows. The extremes in production of both hay and shelled 

 peas is remarkable, varying from 8700 pounds of hay per acre 

 to 700 pounds, and from 40 bushels of shelled peas to no peas 

 at all. 



