COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF COWPEAS, 



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COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF COWPEAS. 



In order to ascertain the status of the commercial sale of cowpea 

 seed, a letter was addressed in 1910 to a number of the principal seeds- 

 men handling cowpea seed, asking them to send a list of varieties in 

 the order of the demand for them. The results are as follows : 



The Griffith & Turner Co., of Baltimore, Md., write that they 

 handle cowpeas in about the following order as to quantity: Black, 

 Whippoorwill, New Era, Wonderful, mixed. 



J. Bolgiano & Son, of Baltimore, Md., write : 



We usually sell from two to three times as rnany of mixed peas as we do of 

 the separate varieties. Next in popularity to the mixed is New Era; third, 

 Black. Other varieties, such as Clay, Wonderful, Red Ripper, and Gray 

 Crowder, are little called for. 



T. W. Wood & Sons, of Richmond, Va., give the relative commercial 

 importance of the varieties as follows : Whippoorwill, Black, and New 

 Era. Other varieties class about as follows : Blackeye for table pur- 

 poses, Clay, Unknown, Iron, Red Ripper, and Taylor or Gray Goose. 



Wood, Stubbs & Co., of Louisville, Ky., state that their demand is 

 in the following sequence : Whippoorwill, Black, New Era, Clay, and 

 Gray Goose. They sell very few of any of these with the exception 

 of Whippoorwill and Black. 



The Plant Seed Co., of St. Louis, Mo., state that their demand is 

 almost exclusively for Whippoorwill, a few inquiries being received 

 for Clay, Black, and Unknown. A small demand exists for Red and 

 certain sections call for New Era. 



The Barteldes Seed Co., of Lawrence, Kans., state that the best 

 selling varieties are Whippoorwill and New Era. Only limited quan- 

 tities are sold of Black, Clay, and Blackeye. 



The Texas Seed & Floral Co., of Dallas, Tex., write that their 

 demand is principally for Whippoorwill, 80 per cent of their sales 

 being of this variety. The 20 per cent is made up of Clay, Large 

 Blackeye, Unknown, and Cream. 



The Amzi Goclden Seed Co., of Birmingham, Ala., state that of the 

 bunch sorts their demand in the order of importance is for Whip- 

 poorwill, Early Blackeye, and New Era; and of the running sorts, 

 Unknown, Clay, Black, Red Ripper, Late White Blackeye, White 

 Grayeye, and Small White Lady. They further write : 



So far as our own section is concerned, these varieties could be safely limited 

 to the Unknown, which is unquestionably the best of all the running sorts, and 

 for eating purposes to the late White Blackeye, the White Grayeye, and the 

 small White Lady. In bunchy sorts there is really no excuse for more varieties 

 than the Whippoorwill, and in white sorts the large Early White Blackeye. 



The J. Steckler Seed Co. (Ltd.), of New Orleans, La., give the 

 following list : Tennessee Clay, Carolina, mixed, Unknown, Red Rip- 

 per, Whippoorwill, Blackeye, Lady, and Louisiana Wild. 



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