56 
VEGETABLE GARDENING 
98. Hairy vetch, a legume, is valuable as a cover crop 
on the sandy soils of the North. To secure a maximum 
growth it should be sown in July. It is sometimes sown 
with rye, using a mixture of 40 pounds of vetch seed and 
40 pounds of rye per acre. 
99. Oats and Canada field peas when grown together 
make a large amount of vegetable matter. It is cus- 
tomary to sow about one bushel of peas with two or three 
bushels of oats. Both crops require cool climatic con- 
ditions. If they are allowed to attain considerable size, 
a rope or a chain must be adjusted to the plow to turn 
under the dense vegetation, which will undergo a rapid 
decomposition if plowed under when about 2 feet high. 
These crops should be started as early in the spring as 
possible. 
100. Cowpea. — This is a valuable soil-improvement crop 
in all sections of the South. It requires a large amount of 
heat and no attempt should be made to grow it in the 
coolest parts of the North. Under favorable conditions 
the plants produce a large amount of highly nitrogenous 
vegetable matter in a remarkably short time. The seed 
should never be sown in the spring until the ground is 
thoroughly warm. Cowpeas, also, work in to good ad- 
vantage between spring and fall crops ; that is, in many 
sections spring vegetables may be sold, and cowpeas 
grown and plowed under before the time for starting fall 
crops, such as kale, spinach and early cabbage planted 
in the fall. The Virginia Truck Experiment Station 
states that a crop of cowpeas plowed under green in the 
fall gave as large a yield of cabbage to the acre as 20 tons 
of stable manure. This station urges the use of lime in 
conjunction with green crops. 
The most valuable varieties for mammal purposes are 
Whippoorwill, New Era, Iron and Unknown or Won- 
derful. It is necessary to chop up the vines with a disk 
harrow before they can be plowed under with any degree 
