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AGRICULTURAL VARIETIES OF THE COWPEA, ETC. 



It may be that we have here a partial explanation at least of the 

 general worthlessness of Old World, especially of Asiatic and Afri- 

 can, varieties of cowpeas as compared with the American. There the 

 average quality of the varieties is kept to a mediocre standard by 

 quite general cross-pollinating and the lack of any continued selec- 

 tion ; while in the United States cross-pollination is quite unusual, so 

 that varieties once selected remain fairly true. 



NATURAL CROSSES. 



Natural crosses of the cowpea occur but rarely in the field in most 

 localities. At Arlington Farm from 30 to 100 varieties have been 

 grown in rows side by side during the past five years and yet no 

 noticeable contamination of the varieties has occurred. Of the 

 crosses that occur naturally, perhaps the commonest are the varieties 

 known as Watson's Hybrid and Holstein, both of which arise from 

 crosses between Black and Blackeye. It is also not uncommon to find 

 crosses between Black and Clay indicated by the seeds being more or 

 less flecked with these two colors. 



Under certain conditions crosses between varieties of cowpeas do 

 occur freely. Two notable instances of this sort have come to our 

 attention. The first was on the farm of Mr. J. W. Trinkle, near 

 Madison, Ind. Mr. Trinkle has been growing cowpeas since about 

 1895. His original stock of seed consisted of Black, Whippoorwill, 

 Blackeye, Lady, Cream, Warren's Extra Early, Clay from Mis- 

 sissippi, and a Crowder, perhaps Michigan Favorite, the last three 

 being lost or discarded later. 



In the year 1904 Mr. Trinkle says his collection contained 40 or 50 

 varieties, all having appeared in the few years preceding. He thinks 

 no new varieties appeared in his plats during the first five years. In 

 the spring of 1907, Mr. Trinkle sent the Department of Agriculture 

 five varieties; namely, Black, Brown Coffee, and three black-and- 

 white blotched varieties resembling Holstein. The Brown Coffee he 

 supposed to be a hybrid between Black and Clay, but as this same 

 variety is known elsewhere it was probably due to an admixture in 

 his orginal seed. In January, 1908, Mr. Trinkle sent to the Depart- 

 ment samples of all of his original varieties and 17 which he re- 

 garded as probably hybrids. Among these were Brown Coffee, 

 Clay, and Taylor, well-known varieties that most probably came 

 from admixtures in the original seed. All or most of the others 

 seemed to be hybrids, a number of them with seeds very different 

 from any previously obtained. In these hybrids five varieties, as the 

 sequel proved, had been concerned, namely, Black, Blackeye, Taylor, 

 Cream, and Lady, which had crossed in almost every possible way. 

 Among them were seeds similar to Watson and Holstein known to 



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