16 AGRICULTURAL VARIETIES OF THE COWPEA, ETC. 



at Arlington for five successive years. A careful study of these 

 plants during the season failed to show any marked differences. 

 They were as nearly identical both in habit and time of maturity 

 as the plants of the same variety that had been grown at Arlington 

 Farm for the preceding five years. 



In 1909 seed of Whippoorwill or supposed Whippoorwill was 

 obtained from 101 additional sources in the following States: Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Geor- 

 gia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas. These were planted 

 in rows at Arlington in 1910 for comparison with several pedigreed 

 lots that had been grown there for at least three years. With a 

 few exceptions, the striking thing about these lots was their exceed- 

 ingly close likeness with respect to habit, size, and date of maturity. 

 Indeed, it was difficult to select rows that showed any evident supe- 

 riority. There can be no question as to their representing the same 

 agricultural variety. No evidence whatever was shown in these 

 lots of any tendency for northern-grown seed to mature earlier or 

 for extreme southern-grown seed to mature later. Six numbers of 

 the lot were found to be somewhat earlier and of lower stature, and 

 these all proved to have diverse seeds, varying in some cases from 

 marbled to brown, even in the same pod. As this is exactly what 

 occurs in certain Whippoorwill crosses, the hybrid origin of these 

 lots is scarcely to be questioned. Indeed, they match certain known 

 hybrids of Whippoorwill almost exactly. Two lots were identical 

 with Peerless, S. P. I. No. 26495, the seeds of which are scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from Whippoorwill. One lot, Office No. 01122. from 

 Brookhaven, Miss., was so late that it matured no pods. This is 

 almost certainly the same as S. P. I. No. 25369. 



The evidence, therefore, indicates that Whippoorwill is a very 

 uniform variety, but that at least two other varieties, namely, Peer- 

 less and No. 25369, have practically identical seeds. 



Of the New Era variety, seven lots from different sources were 

 tested in 1908 and several additional lots in 1910. They all proved 

 to be identical in size, habit, and life period. 



Black-seeded cowpeas with subreniform seeds, so far as American 

 sorts are concerned, belong mainly to two varieties, Early Black or 

 Congo, S. P. I. No. 17336, and Black, No. 29292. Forty-nine lots 

 of seed were obtained in 1910 from as many different sources, and 

 most of these belong to one or the other of these two varieties. In- 

 deed, only two of the lots are really different, S. P. I. No. 29302 and 

 Office No. 01054. Some slight degree of difference is shown in the 

 maturing of the various lots of Black and of Early Black, amounting 

 to about a week in each case. Such differences may be permanent or 

 merely fluctuations. 



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