THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



45 



ally produce more peas — the late more 

 vine. 



Time of Planting, $c. — This should be 

 done at the first or second working of the 

 corn, and in the centre of the space be- 

 tween the hills, and on the ridge. Peas 

 never should be planted in the hill with 

 the corn. We have seen much injury 

 done the corn by this mode of planting. 

 Nor do we like planting between the drills 

 (in alternate rows with the corn,) because 

 in ploughing, the finishing furrow is left 

 open too near the corn. In other words, 

 the bed on which the corn stands, is left 

 too narrow. Light sandy lands may be 

 safely planted much earlier than such as 

 are stiff and cold. If the object is the im- 

 provement of the land, they should be 

 planted alone. Nor should they be planted 

 with corn, if the object is to obtain the 

 greatest amount of corn the land is capa- 

 ble of yielding; for we are fully persuaded 

 that even under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances of late planting, and not in the 

 hill with the corn, they do it much more 

 injury than is by most persons supposed. 



Gathering- and CuHng the Vine. — The 

 ripening of the first pods indicates the 

 proper time for cutting the vines. If cut 

 earlier, the yield is less; if cut at a later 

 period, the vine becomes woody and less 

 nutritious, besides producing sometimes 

 fatal effects on horses by lodging in the 

 intestines. In this vicinage a farmer, a 

 few years since, lost two fine horses from 

 feeding on tough pea vines without cutting 

 them up. On a postmortem exarninationhe 

 found pieces of partially masticated vine, a 

 foot long, hanging in the folds of the intes- 

 tines. These, from irritation, produced 

 inflammation, mortification and death. 

 The pea vine should never be 'pulled up. 

 It is unpleasant enough to be under the 

 necessity of robbing the land of its ameli- 

 orating effects even by cutting off— much 

 worse to pull and deprive it of not only 

 the vine, but the root also. Our practice 

 is, with sharp hoes to strike off the vine 

 at or near the surface of the ground, with- 

 out disturbing it otherwise, and there to 

 let it lie one or two days, according to the 

 weather, then to take up, pile, and, as we 

 never gather very much, because we do 

 not like to impoverish the land, haul di- 

 rectly to the barn, or other shelters, under 

 which it is secured in an open state, until 

 cured enough to pack away. We cannot 

 agree with our friends of the Conversa- 

 tional Club in the preference of the pole 

 over the rail pen mode of curing. If, as 



Mr. A. says, it is the most "economical," 

 it is in our opinion economy only of labor. 

 It is more convenient and more'easily ac- 

 complished no doubt — but there the eco- 

 nomy ends. The article thus cured may, 

 as some say of badly made hay, "spend 

 better," but that is saying but little in its 

 favor. If the weather is favorable, and 

 the stack removed early to the barn, the 

 food secured in this way is usually good — 

 but under other circumstances, it is any 

 thing else. A stack of pea vine made 

 ever so well, unless capped by a better 

 material for turning water than itself, of- 

 fers but little resistance to the beating 

 rains, and after being exposed, has more 

 the appearance of a stack of charred sticks 

 than of well cured hay. Nor do we think 

 that some we have seen would be regarded 

 by a horse or a cow as a "perfect nosegay." 

 The making of rail pens is attended with 

 more labor and inconvenience at the time, 

 especially in large fields, but when once 

 made and properly filled, (putting in a few 

 rails every two or three feet,) it will con- 

 tain as much as fifteen or twenty six feet 

 stacks, and after being covered with either 

 straw or boards, all is secured till it may 

 suit the farmer's convenience to remove it. 

 Cut the vines after the dew is off, and in 

 this way they may be put up on the same 

 day, and on opening, will be found as 

 bright and sweet as the best made North- 

 ern hay. 



Feeding. — Having invariably made oth- 

 er provisions for fodder, we have not much 

 experience in feeding pea vines to horses, 

 we nevertherless know that when cut at 

 the proper time and well cured, they are 

 equal to the best clover hay. W e have 

 fed most that we have saved to our milch 

 cows, calves and work oxen. The pea 

 vines should never be fed to any animal, 

 especially a horse, for the reason already 

 stated, without first cutting them short. 

 It affords us much more pleasure, however, 

 to feed them to mother earth, from which 

 they sprung, either as a mess of green sa- 

 lad, or in their maturer and cooked state, 

 after having passed through the digester 

 of the genus lees. 



Notwithstanding the great value of the 

 vine in fodder, and the pea as food for 

 stock, we regard it as most valuable for 

 improving exhausted soils. It will grow 

 where almost everything else will fail. 

 Land must first be made rich before it will 

 produce clover, but a pine barren will 

 bring quite a luxuriant growth of vine, 

 and be benefited by the crop. It is said 



