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TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



son's word for it, so thickly was it covered 

 with a luxuriant growth of peas. These 

 fields are a sight, and we know as cer- 

 tainly as we can know anything, that the 

 i.itrogen which will be assimilated from 

 the atmosphere by such a growth of a 

 leguminous plant, must immensely enrich, 

 the soil ; besides, the return of the mass of 

 vegetal)le growth to the land will supply 

 that humus in which all our lands have, 

 through successive croppiugs, become so 

 deficient. It is a great object lesson 

 to see such a large acreage carrying 

 such a wonderful growth of such a 

 dark green colour. Other fields we 

 saw, where the various varieties 

 of cow-peas were growing on land in 

 which mealies had been previously 

 planted, and, as the mealie stalks gave the 

 peas something to climb on, instead of 

 their having to run backwards and for- 

 wards on themselves, the effect was even 

 more striking. In places not a sign of 

 mealies could be seen, the peas have 

 grown right over the tops of them, and a 

 level mass of luxuriant foliage nearly six 

 feet high was the result. The peas cover 

 the mealies after the cobs are formed, and 

 to some extent dried, and the pea foliage 

 will wither off so that there will be no 

 difficulty in getting at the mealies. The 

 Louisiana cow-pea is not such a climber as 

 the other varieties, but grows more on the 

 ground, and is, therefore, suitable for 



growing between canes, or in orchards. 

 In Louisiana these peas are planted be- 

 tween the rows in ratoon canes, and have 

 an almost immediate effect on the crop, 

 and Mr. Polkinghorne tells me that he has 

 grown them between his plant canes this 

 last season, and is so satisfied with the 

 experiment that he iatends treating a 

 larger acreage in this manner during the 

 coming season. 



This is the fourth year that Mr. Wilkin- 

 son has grown cow-peas, but he has not 

 yet taken off any canes from cow-pea 

 lands ; there is, therefore, only the luxuri- 

 ance of appearance to judge by, and, on 

 this test, Mr. Wilkinson places the Bour- 

 bon first, then the Louisiana cow-pea, then 

 the Indian, and the Florida velvet bean 

 next, but, of course, as nitrogen gatherers, 

 and consequently as fertilizers, this order 

 may be changed upon actual test. In 

 plantiiig cow-peas and mealies, the mealies 

 are planted about a month before the cow- 

 peas, and cow-peas can be planted in 

 normal seasons up to the end of January. 

 Any land prepared early, that is land 

 which may be ploughed and be perfectly 

 clean in March or April, Mr. Wilkinson 

 plants with a field-pea, the same that the 

 Indians grow, to sell as green peas. This 

 keeps the ground clean, and enriches it, 

 and the crop will go a good way towards 

 paying expenses, and these peas can be 

 planted up to the middle of May. 



Mustard and Rape for Sheep. 



»iT1ARMER," in the 2V»/^.s writes :— I 

 J] had an opportunity recently of 

 inspecting a forty-acre field of mustard 

 and rape grown' by Capt. Mackay's man- 

 ager, Mr. B. Sykes, at Dalton, Weenen 

 County. Mr. Sykes, who had valuable 

 experience of English farming befoi'e 

 emigrating to Natal, is greatly impressed 

 with the value of mustard and rape to the 

 sheep-farmer, and for two seasons uoa\ he 

 has demonstrated to my satisfaction that 

 this crop can be grown to perfection here, 

 and at a very trifling cost, compared with 

 turnips, winter oats, and other feeds 

 usually grown for sheep. 



No manure was given dii'ectly to the 

 mustard and rape, l)ut one portion of the 



field was manured last season for mealies, 

 and the other portion had a similar dress- 

 ing two seasons ago. Yet both plots are 

 exceedingly good, and contain an enor- 

 mous quantity of feed of the very best 

 description for fattening sheep upon. I 

 estimate that the yield will be quite equal 

 to a good crop of swedes, without count- 

 ing the second growth, which will doubt- 

 less be heavy if the season continues 

 favourable. The crop is in two stages for 

 convenience in feeding. One portion was 

 sown about the middle of February, and 

 the other almost a month later. The 

 earlier sown plot will, of course, be fed 

 off first, and by the time that the second 

 plot is fed down, the first should be 



