Edible Products. 



354 



[October, 1908. 



fairly upright habit, grow to large size, 

 hold their leaves well, and produce an 

 abundance of pods. Descriptions of the 

 most important varieties follow. Of the 

 numerous remaining varieties none is 

 grown to a very large extent, and most 

 of them are disticntly interior to those 

 described here. 



Whippoorwill. — The Whippoorwill va- 

 riety is known" under several other 

 names, such as Running Speckled, Bunch 

 Speckled, and Shinney. It may be con- 

 sidered the standard of all field cowpeas. 

 It is suitable either for grain or hay pro- 

 duction, or both. It makes a vigorous 

 growth, is fairly erect, and still produces 

 a large amount of vine. It can readily 

 be handled by machinery, which is bring- 

 ing it more and more into prominence. 

 The seed is mottled chocolate on a buff 

 or reddish ground colour. 



Unknown, or Wonderful. — The Un- 

 known, or Wonderful, cowpea is another 

 field variety which is grown to a large 

 extent. It is the largest growing and 

 most vigorous of the cowpeas, but is 

 late in maturing, it being difficult some- 

 times to secure seed of it as far north as 

 Washington, D. O. The principal objec- 

 tion to this pea is its light seeding. It is 

 nearly as erect as the Whippoorwill 

 variety ; hence, it is quite readily han- 

 dled by machinery either for grain or hay 

 production. The seed is large in size 

 and of a very light clay colour. 



New Era.— The New Era is the smallest 

 seeded of the cowpeas that have found a 

 wide use. The seed is bluish in colour, 

 owing to the innumeroble minute blue 

 specks on a gray ground. The New Era 

 is the most nearly erect of any of the 

 varieties, rarely having any prostrate 

 branches. It usually produces a heavy 

 crop of seed and matures in from seventy- 

 five to ninety days. It is one of the 

 earliest of the cowpeas and is the most 

 easily handled by machinery. The small 

 seed is not usually considered an un- 

 desirable character, as a smaller quantity 

 is required for seeding than is the case 

 with other varieties. 



Groit.— The variety known as the 

 Groit has been much confused with the 

 New Era cowpea. In habit the two are 

 much alike, but the Groit is a little 

 superior, as it makes a larger growth and 

 fruits more heavily. The seed is quite 

 similar to that of the New Era, but has 

 chocolate mottlings in addition to the 

 blue specks. It is quite certainly a 

 hybrid between the New Era and the 

 Whippoorwill varieties. 



Iron The Iron variety is coming 



rapidly into prominence. In its habit 



it is only slightly different from the 

 Unknown, though it is not quite as 

 vigorous or as large. It is earlier than 

 the Unknown and the seed, though 

 nearly the same colour, is much smaller 

 being but very little larger than that 

 of the New Era. The characteristic of 

 the Iron cowpea which has been instru- 

 mental in bringing it into prominence is 

 its resistance to wilt and to root-knot 

 caused by eel worms. It is the only one 

 of the cowpeas which has been found to 

 resist these diseases. Where they are 

 prevalent in the soil, the Iron cowpea is 

 the only variety which can be success- 

 fully grown, and since the diseases are 

 spreading the distribution of the Iron 

 cowpea is also increasing. Regardless 

 of its resistance to these diseases it is a 

 valuable vaiiety under nearly all condi- 

 tions, being vigorous, prolific, and quite 

 erect. The seed is hard and retains its 

 vitality better than that of most varie- 

 ties. It will lie in the ground through 

 the winter and germinate the next 

 spring. This variety and the Unknown 

 hold their leaves better than any others. 



Clay. — The Clay cowpea is more vari- 

 able in its habit than that of the foregoing 

 varieties. It is the most pronounced 

 trailor of any of the peas grown quite 

 largely, and is consequently in very 

 slight favour where the pea crop is 

 handled by machinery. The plants are 

 very vigorous but low growing, and 

 they usually seed sparingly. Since seed 

 is such an important item at the present 

 time, a variety which has but poor fruit- 

 ing qualities is not apt to remain 

 popular, even though it may be har- 

 vested readily by machinery. The seed 

 is of the same colour as that of the Un- 

 known and Iron, but is intermediate in 

 size and flatter and longer. 



Black. — The Black cowpea is used to a 

 considerable extent in the sandy coastal 

 plain soils of Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina. On heavy clay land this variety 

 makes a very heavy growth of vine, but 

 produces very little seed, while on the 

 sandy lands it grows more bushy and 

 fruits quite heavily. It also finds some 

 demand in the sugar-cane section of 

 Louisiana, where it is grown with corn 

 in rotation with sugar cane. Where 

 other varieties thrive the Black is not a 

 favourite. The seeds are quite large and 

 entirely black. 



Taylor.— The variety called Taylor has 

 larger seeds than any other cowpea. 

 The seeds have nearly the same mark- 

 ings as those of the New Era, though the 

 ground colour is somewhat lighter. The 

 Taylor cowpea has met with consider- 

 able favour in Maryland and Delaware, 

 where it is erroneously called the Gray 



