October, 1908.] 



355 



Edible Products. 



Crowder, but outside of this region does 

 not seem to be a very valuable variety. 

 In most cases it is too much of a trailer 

 to be desirable. It also has a tendency 

 to drop its leaves earlier than any of the 

 other varieties except the Black. 



Bed Riper.— The Red Ripper is a valu- 

 able pea, as it makes nearly as large a 

 growth as the Unknown, or Wonderful, 

 and is excellent for growing in corn. It 

 is very late, usually maturing but a 

 small number of peas at Washington, 

 D. C. It is difficult to procure seed of it 

 in quantity on account of its light yield. 

 The seed is dark red and about the same 

 size as that of the Whippoorwill variety , 



Summary. 



(1) The cowpea is the best legume for 

 the entire cotton belt, and can be pro- 

 fitably grown much farther north. It is 

 especially suitable for combined hay and 

 seed production or for hay alone. 



(2) To make good cowpea hay requires 

 careful handling of the crop. The plant 

 should have made its growth and have 

 at least the first pods ripe when the 

 mowing is done. Uniformity in matur- 

 ing is essential in getting the best 

 results. The use of a tedder is very 

 helpful. The serious loss of leaves can 

 be avoided by not handling the hay 

 when the leaves are dry and brittle. 

 The curing is best done in small cocks, 

 and the hay is ready for the stack or 

 barn when no moisture can be wrung 

 from the stem by twisting it with con- 

 siderable force. 



(3) Cowpeas for hay production are 

 very advantageously grown in mixture 

 with sorghum, Johnson grass, or soy 

 beans. The yield is thus increased, the 

 quality improved, and the curing more 

 easily done- Cowpeas give very good 

 results when grown with sorghum in 

 cultivated rows, and are very commonly 

 planted in corn and used for grazing 

 or ensilage. 



(4) Pasturing cowpeas is not the most 

 economical practice, but it is frequently 

 resorted to because of the small expense 

 it entails. Cowpeas are especially suit- 

 able for grazing hogs. 



(5) Cowpea hay is very nutritious. It 

 is nearly equal to wheat bran as part of 

 p ration. It is satisfactory for work 



stock and for beef or milk production, 

 and it gives good results when fed to 

 poultry. The grain is a rich feed, ex- 

 cellent for poultry but little used for 

 other feeding. Cowpea straw is an ex- 

 cellent roughage and nearly as valuable 

 as the hay. 



(6) Cheaper cowpea seed will result 

 in the much more extensive growing of 

 the crop. Harvesting for seed can be 

 done most cheaply by the use of machin- 

 ery. The crop should be cut with a 

 mower or self-rake reaper when half or 

 more of the pods are ripe. When 

 thoroughly dry the thrashing may be 

 done with an ordinary grain separator 

 with some modifications, with a two- 

 cylinder cowpea thrasher, or with a one- 

 cylinder special machine which has all 

 the thrashing spikes, sharpened iu addi- 

 tion to having ingenious devices which 

 make it the most satisfactory thrasher 

 for handling cowpeas. 



(7) Cowpeas add nitrogen to the soil 

 and improve its mechanical condition. 

 They are most profitably grown in rota- 

 tion with other crops. The following 

 rotations are good ones : — 



(a) Cotton, three years ; corn and cow- 

 peas fourth year ; and then cotton again. 

 This is all right on the better soils of 

 the South, but the cotton should be 

 planted only two years in succession on 

 the poorer soils, 



(b) Wheat or oats with cowpeas each 

 season after the removal of the grain 

 crop, the land being seeded to grain in 

 the fall, making two crops a year from 

 the same land. 



(c) Cotton, first year ; corn and cow- 

 peas, second year ; winter oats or wheat 

 followed by cowpeas as a catch crop, 

 third year ; and then cotton again. 



(8) The most valuable varieties are 

 the Whipporwill, the Unknown or the 

 Wonderful, the New Era, and the Iron 

 for field purposes ; and the Blackeye 

 for table use. 



(9) The Iron cowpea is practically 

 immune to the two serious diseases, 

 wilt and root-knot, which attack the 

 other varieties more or less. It alone 

 should therefore be grown wherever 

 these diseases are ^prevalent. — U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Farmer's 

 Bulletin 318, April 4, 1908. 



