274 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



February and in this way give them time to mature in May be-( 

 fore injurious hot weather is hkely to occur. 



Rate of Seeding. 



The rate of seeding must be varied according to the size of 

 the seed and the abundance of the rainfall. In the eastern and 

 more humid sections and under irrigation, small-seeded varieties 

 like the Golden Vine shoul be sown at the rate of i^^ to 2 bush- 

 els to the acre ; for those with medium-sized seeds, 2 to 2i/4 bush- 

 els; for the large-seeded varieties, like the Marrowfats, 3 to 3^/<^ 

 bushels of seed are required. Under more arid conditions, the 

 quantity of seed used should be decreased by about one-half 

 bushel for each group. For a mixture with oats the relative pro- 

 portions should be i bushel of peas to i^ or 2 bushels of oats 

 in the humid regions, but in the dry region the relative amounts 

 of seed should be very nearly reversed. Unless the proportion 

 of oats in the mixture is decreased where the rainfall is light, the 

 oats, which starts more quickly than the field peas, will prevent 

 any growth of the latter by robbing them of available soil mois- 

 ture. Mixtures with grain are of doubtful value in regions of 

 light rainfall. 



Method of Seeding. 



The field pea is best sown with a grain drill, and if either a 

 hoe drill or a disk drill is available it should be used in prefer- 

 ence to broadcasting the seed by hand. Peas should be planted 

 from 2 to 4 inches deep, according to soil conditions. In clay 

 loam a depth of 2 inches is best, while in sandy soils a deeper 

 covering is to be preferred. Where a grain drill is not available, 

 peas may be sown broadcast and covered with a disk or drag har- 

 row. Some growers have followed the practice of plowing 

 under the pea seed, but this usually covers it too deep and causes 

 a poor or uneven germination. Care must be used to see that' 

 the feed in the drill does not crack the seed. For sowing peas, 

 a drill in which the amount of seed delivered is controlled by the 

 size of the opening in the feed rather than by the rapidity of its 



