THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 247 



THE SEEDING OF COWPEAS, CLOVER AND GRASSES 



By 



M. F. Hitler. 



SEEDING OF ALFALFA 



By 



C. B. Hutchinson. 



Bulletins from Missouri Station. 



The great value of cowpeas as a feed and as a soil renovat- 

 ing crop should give them a more important place in Missouri 

 agriculture. The short period of growth also makes.it possible 

 to use them to great advantage as a catch crop between the regu- 

 lar crops in the rotation, either for hay, for pasture, or for turn- 

 ing under. They are therefore, especially suited to the man who 

 wishes to build up land rapidly while he is at the same time se- 

 curing a return from it in feed. The crop is one which will 

 undoubtedly become of much greater importance in Missouri as 

 the land is farmed more intensively. 



Time of Seeding. 



There is a wide range in the time at which cowpeas may be 

 sown, even in the same locality. In Central Missouri the best 

 time to sow them for hay or seed, is about the first of June. A 

 mistake is frequently made in sowing them early in May, since 

 a period of a few cool days after they are up is sure to stunt 

 them and prevent the best growth. The ground must be warm 

 before they are put in. They may be sown as late as the first 

 week in July in Central Missouri while in the extreme southern 

 part of the state, peas sown the middle of July will usually give 

 fair results. As a general rule they should be sown in most 

 parts of the state between the first and the fifteenth of June. 



