64 



AGRICULTURAL VARIETIES OF THE COWPEA, ETC. 



Euffin. Essays aud Notes on Agriculture. 1S55 ( p. 353), writes: 



The mottled or Shinney pea, which has been so much celebrated in latter 

 years, differs in some respects from all others. The seeds are of a light- 

 brownish color, thickly streaked or mottled with a deeper brown. It is 

 deemed by farmers who have tried it longer and more fully than myself, 

 to be one of the heaviest vine bearers, and also by far the most productive 

 in grain. Mr. Robert Chisolm, of Beaufort. S. C, in 1860, first brought 

 this pea into general notice. This gentleman, whose intelligence and 

 observation deserve all respect, made careful comparisons both by observa- 

 tion and by weighings of this with other then most valued kinds of pea, 

 and reported of them as follows, in the American Farmer, of May, lsM : 

 " From the few seeds first obtained and planted in the spring, he gathered 

 the earliest ripe seeds, and sowed them again in July, along with the 

 cowpea (or buff?) obtained from four different localities, a red pea 

 (called Chickasaw) said to be very productive, and also another favorite 

 early pea. The products of seeds were not measured: but, to the eye. 

 there was no doubt as to the superior production of the Shinney pea." 

 [An accurate experiment is quoted showing a greater weight for the 

 Shinney.] It is probable that the much greater weight of the pods of 

 the Shinney was in some measure increased by the greater thickness of 

 the covering hulls of this variety. Still there must have been also an 

 important increase of the grain alone. This mottled or Shinney pea I 

 saw in Pendleton, S. C, in 1843, and heard it recommended as a valuable 

 kind by different farmers. One of them was the Hon. John C. Calhoun, 

 who gave me a supply of seed. After some years' trial and of comparison 

 by the eye of this with various other kinds, I abandoned the mottled pea 

 for some of its peculiarities which recommended it to other persons. 

 These were, first, the long lime of successive ripening of the pods, requiring 

 different times of gathering, and slow work: and second, the difficulty 

 of beating out the seed, from the hard, tough, and closely joined hulls. But 

 neither these nor any other objections counterbalance the greater produc- 

 tiveness of the mottled pea — which quality I did not test by measurement, 

 and therefore did not suspect. I found the mottled pea began to ripen (it 

 does not cease until killed by frost) soon after the Blackeye, and the 

 pods were mostly ripe on August 26. * * * The green-eye white pea 

 ripened next in order — the buff for cow) next — two kinds of black peas 

 (large and small grain) next, and last a red pea (probably the Bass) 

 obtained from North Carolina. * * * The buff, both the blacks, and the 

 red pea all exceeded the mottled in general growth of vine and leaf. It 

 was also noted as a peculiar value found in the mottled pea. that the 

 vines were pulled up. still green and full of leaves, after most of the 

 pods were ripe and were thus cured for hay. 



See also quotation from American Agriculturist, on page 36 of this bulletin. 

 The name has not been much used in experiment station publications. As 

 used in Bulletin 26. Georgia Experiment Station. 1S94, it is for a black-seeded 

 variety. (See citations under name Forage.) The "Shinney" described in 

 Bulletin 40, Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station, 1S96, is probably the 

 same as the last mentioned. 



Shrimp. — Described in Bulletin 26, Georgia Experiment Station. 1S94 i p. 1S3), 

 as follows : 



Semirecnmbent : small, light-green leaf and stalk : trails slightly at ends 

 of vines : blossom, light purple : form, kidney : pod. small, yellow : pea, 

 small, clear pink: very late; yield of vines, medium: of peas, very light. 



Descriptive and agronomic notes also occur in Bulletin 40, Mississippi Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. 1S96, and in Bulletin 46. Delaware College 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, 1900. 



sir-Oaks Field. — See quotation on page 36. 



Slctli-Day. — See 17386. Agronomic notes published in Bulletin of the North 

 Carolina Department of Agriculture, 1910 (vol. 31.no. 6). Mr. G. T. Bulloch. 

 Rocky Mount. N. C, writes as follows : 



I find after much inquiry that the Sixty-Day pea has been a distinct 

 variety in this locality for 25 years. How and where it originated is 

 229 



