THE COW-PEA—PEACH—CUBA-TOBACCO, ETC. 
181 
hciency of stones is the excuse, and it is said to be 
the best use of what they have. But would it not 
be better to take all the stones, for a complete 
stone-wall as far as they go, and enclose the re¬ 
mainder with posts and rails. Some think it an 
advantage to stone-wall, to be very wide at the 
bottom. This is a mistake. When it is more 
than 2h or 3 feet wide, the frost acts very unequal¬ 
ly, and causes the sides to settle more than the 
middle. A separation takes place, and the sides 
bulge out and fall down.* Where it is less than 
3 feet, the whole settles equally, deeper every year, 
till out of the reach of the frost’s action, and thus 
a natural trench is formed. This is sometimes 
done at first with pick and shovel, but its impor¬ 
tance has been greatly overrated where the wall 
is rightly constructed. A. R. D. 
Hackett's Town, N. J., Jan., 1844. 
THE COW-PEA—PEACH—CUBA-TOBACCO, &c. 
The Cow-Pea as a Fertilizer, its Culture and 
value for Fodder .—I am convinced, from the 
limited experiments I have as yet had it in my 
power to make, that the cow-pea is one of the 
very best, and certainly the cheapest fertilizer that 
we can employ in the south. By some it is looked 
upon as an exhausting crop, nor is it to be won¬ 
dered at that it should be so. Land that is toler¬ 
ably poor is of preference selected, as there the pea 
goes less to vine, and pods more abundantly; and 
just before frost, the entire plant, root and all, is 
pulled up and cured for fodder! I was forced to do 
this once, but will not try it again. Even then, 
however, the land was somewhat improved, as the 
leaves had all dropped before I felt forced to shin 
so deeply, by the prospect of being short of fodder, 
and the ground was so effectually shaded all sum¬ 
mer. 
I will now suggest some experiments, which, if 
1 live another year or two, I shall try. I am un¬ 
fortunately situated like too many of my brother 
planters, and have little leisure for anything but 
cotton-making. Where a planter aims at pro¬ 
ducing, to as great a certainty as possible, as much 
cotton as his hands can pick, up to Christmas day, 
he has no time for other occupation. If we could 
be satisfied with as much as could be saved before 
the 1st December, something could be done in the 
way of improvement. The making of sufficient 
manure for a large plantation, and hauling it out 
when made, seem heavy tasks, and they are so. 
Yet it would certainly be just as easy to make and 
apply three times as much manure on a plantation 
working thirty hands, with of course teams in pro¬ 
portion, as on one of ten hands. The waste of 
valuable manure on plantations is very great, and 
it will be many years before much improvement 
is effected. 
I propose to select ten acres of poor land, which 
I will have well plowed, and as early as 1st to 
♦Note.— We think if long stones are laid across the 
whole width of the wall, at every other course in laying 
it up, that it would settle as evenly as a narrow wall, for 
we have occasionally seen those thus constructed, which 
have already stood well from 40 to 50 years, and are 
likely to remain as much longer without bulging.— Ed. 
15th March planted in cow-peas sufficiently close 
to give a good and early covering to the ground. 
Peas planted early produce more vine and few¬ 
er seed than when planted late. So soon as they 
begin to blossom freely, I shall have them turned 
completely under, and another crop of peas imme¬ 
diately planted. The second crop I intend shall 
stand to ripen, when I will turn Aogs'upon them, 
but no cattle, so that the leaves and vines will be 
almost all returned to the soil. One half of the 
lot I will have turned over deeply in the fall, the 
other half in the spring, planting one half of each 
five acres in cotton, and the other half in corn. It 
was my intention to experiment in this way this 
season, but circumstances render it impossible to 
any extent. That such a course will do more for 
our land here than the turning under of a crop of 
clover will in the north, is obvious. The quantity 
of vegetable matter on the ground, other things 
being equal, is vastly greater—I should say some 
three fold ; the roots are few, one long tap-root 
only, with a few slight fibres; the vines and leaves 
large and extremely succulent, completely shading 
and protecting the soil from the sun; and the plant 
is of but a very few weeks growth. The cow-pea 
requires little or no culture, which is in favor of its 
value for this purpose—a bull-tongue plow run 
along each side of the row will suffice, though 
even this may be dispensed with. I would not 
wish to have it thought that I am advancing what 
I suppose to be a new idea, in advocating the val¬ 
ue of this plant for this purpose. It has already 
been discussed in all its bearings, but has been 
but little tried. My object is to induce a few 
such trials as that I have proposed. If our agri¬ 
cultural societies would give prizes for the best 
conducted and most successful experiments of the 
kind, they would do infinitely more good than by 
the course they at present pursue. 
As a fodder-making crop, the cow-pea is inval¬ 
uable. It is, like clover, difficult to save, but 
when saved, of greater value. This I have tested. 
I had a plan for gathering and saving pea-fodder., 
suggested to me the other day, that is well-suited 
to the cotton plantation, and which I shall prac¬ 
tise when the vines are sufficiently matured, and 
plentifully covered with their long, well-filled pods; 
namely, run a heavy, iron-toothed, two-horse har¬ 
row over them, and as the harrow becomes load¬ 
ed with vines, lift it up and pass on. By this 
means, the vines are rapidly gathered into piles, 
with a little dirt perhaps among them, which will 
shake out in curing. They are then put up in 
rail pens in the usual way. You must bear in 
mind, when you see such a mode recommended 
for harvesting a crop, that to cradle the cow-pea 
is impossible; to cut them with scythe or sickle, 
a slow, troublesome business; and that the most 
convenient and common practice is to pull them up, 
root and all, by hand. Their growth resembles 
that of none of your northern peas; but is rather 
that of a gigantic clover, with vines of any length 
under say 8 to 15 feet. The pods are very numer¬ 
ous, generally in pairs, and contain each some 15 
to 25 peas, which afford most excellent and nu¬ 
tritious food for man and beast. One of the most 
1 extensive and experienced planters in the adjoin- 
