•498 
[December, 
AMERICAN AG-RIC 9LTCJRIST. 
the different layers of the wood, when they are 
beaten with a mallet upon a block, fig. 2, until the 
layers are separated and can be split apart with a 
knife, fig. 3, attached to a handle 
at right angles, so that it may be 
used conveniently for splitting, 
fig. 4. The basket is begun by 
weaving a few pieces for the bot¬ 
tom as shown in figure 5; the 
bottom being usually hollowed 
inwards, it is necessary to bend 
the strips at first downwards, and then upwards, 
to get the desired hollow-shaped bottom, as seen 
in figure 6. The strips are interlaced in the usual 
manner, the loose ends being left inside until the 
finish, when they are trimmed off, ar.d the sides are 
then built up to the top. Pieces of the refuse wood, 
-THE KNIFE. 
■BOTTOM STARTED. 
Fig. 4.—METHOD OF SPLITTING. 
first steeped for several days in water, are bent into 
circles and fitted, one on the inside, and the other 
on the outside of the top of the basket. These 
are bound by narrow strips, and are strengthened 
by turning over some of the splints and binding 
these with the hoops. The strips are wound around 
the top very firmly, and an opening is left for a 
handle on each side, as shown at figure 7. Some¬ 
times wooden handles are made as at figures 8 and 
9, and fixed into the sides. These are trimmed out 
of waste pieces, steeped 
in water until pliable, and 
bent into shape. A bas¬ 
ket, finished as shown at 
figure 7, 20 inches wide at 
the top, and 22 inches 
deep, and holding a bush¬ 
el, is usually worth 60 cts. 
Such a basket is very 
useful for many purposes 
about the barns aud sta¬ 
bles, and in husking corn. 
A splint-basket for gathering leaves is shown at 
figure 10, this should be 4 feet long by about 3 feet 
wide, and will also be found useful for many other 
purposes about a farm. Baskets, like this, are usu¬ 
ally sold for 75 cts. each ; a water-cress basket hold¬ 
ing about half a peek, 12 inches deep, and about 7 
wide at the top, of the shape shown at figure 11, is 
worth $8 a hun¬ 
dred. Small bas¬ 
kets, used in 
some localities 
for marketing 
strawberries, are 
made of the 
shape shown at 
. figure 12: these 
Fig. 6. the strips bent. h * d about ha]f 
a pint, and are 4 inches deep, 3 inches wide at 
the top, and 2 inches wide at the bottom. The 
small baskets are made of the narrow refuse 
splints, and thus the whole of the wood is worked 
up, even the knotty central portions &erve to make 
handles or hoops for the larger sized baskets. 
Southern Cow-Peas. 
In April, 1876, we gave the results of much labor 
expended in an attempt to ascertain what the plant 
cultivated all through the Southern States, really 
was. That “Pea” was a misnomer was readily 
shown by the seeds, which more resembled the 
bean, but it is not a bean, but a Vigna. Still, the 
name is thoroughly fixed, and if spoken of as the 
“Cow-Pea”—and not simply “Pea”—the name 
will be sufficiently distinctive. As stated in the 
article referred to, we had the seeds of some 20 
named varieties of, Cow-Pea, quite as distinct in 
appearance as the va¬ 
rieties of the garden 
bean, and that to 
speak of the Cow-Pea 
was not sufficiently 
definite, amid so many 
different kinds the va¬ 
riety should be named. 
It is very singular that 
with an exotic plant, 
so widely cultivated 
throughout so many 
States, there should 
Fig. 7.— COMPLETE BASKET. 
be no knowledge, at least 
no recorded knowledge, so far as we can learn, 
of its origin or the method of its introduction. So 
far as we know, our article, in 1876, was the first at¬ 
tempt to ascertain the botanical relationship of the 
Cow-Pea. Its place in the agriculture of the South¬ 
ern States is not well fixed. Every intelligent south¬ 
ern cultivator is satisfied that the Cow-Pea is to him 
what Clover is to the northern farmer, both as to 
its value as a fodder crop and as a renovator of the 
soil when plowed under. But while this was the 
general belief, we had no positive knowledge of 
the value of the plant until recently. Our friend, 
Prof. Albert R. LeDoux, the Chemist to the North 
Carolina Department of Agriculture, and Director 
of the Experiment Station, has made a most valua¬ 
ble contribution to scientific agriculture in making 
analyses of some varieties of the Cow-Pea, which 
are given in his Report for 1879. Referring to this 
excellent Report for the analyses in full, we may 
say that they sustain the popular estimate in which 
Fig. 8.— SHAPE OF WOODEN HANDLE. 
the plant is held. Taking the results as shown by 
several analyses, Prof. LeDoux places the nutritive 
value of the Cow-Pea as compared with similar 
articles of food, taking the Bean as the unit, thus: 
1, Field Bean ; 2, Yellow Cow- 
Pea ; 3, Black Cow-Pea; 4, 
Garden Pea ; 5, Wheat; 6, Maize 
(Indian Corn). The analyses of 
the vines of Cow-Pea show their 
nutritive value, taking Clover as 
the standard, to be: 1, Red 
Clover ; 2, Timothy ; 3, Cow-Pea 
Vines; 4, Corn Fodder. The 
vines, being largely employed 
for tunning under as a fertilizer (in some locali¬ 
ties two crops being turned under in one sea¬ 
son), analyses show that as compared with Red 
Clover, so much used in the Northern States for 
this purpose, Cow-Pea vines have less potash, more 
soda, and more phosphoric acid and less ammonia. 
The excess of soda is due to the land upon which 
Fig. 9. 
Fig. 10.— BASKET FOR LEAVES. 
they were grown; upon other soils it would be re¬ 
placed by potash. In thus giving us some positive 
knowledge concerning the Cow-Pea, Prof. LeDoux 
has done a most valuable work, and we trust that 
he may continue his investigations. Our own ex¬ 
periments with the plants, and that reported from 
Monmouth Co., N. J., in “Among the Farmers,” 
Nov., 1877, show that the usefulness of the Cow- 
Peas is not confined to the Southern States ; for all 
purposes, except ripening a full crop of seed, it 
may be grown successfully in the Northern States. 
Gather the Fallen Leaves. 
If there is one thing of which the gardener is not 
likely to have too much, it is leaves, and the time 
expended in gathering them, is time well employed. 
Their value is admitted in a general way, but few 
are aware how valuable they are—Let us see. If 
we would know the best covering for half hardy 
plants, and for tender seedlings, go to nature. In 
her gardening she uses leaves ; how lightly they lie 
over the most delicate plants, their elasticity, or 
springiness, keeping the heaviest snow from doing 
injury. If there is danger that the leaves may blow 
away from the bed lay brush upon them, or, in the 
absence of this, scatter a little earth over them; 
anything to hold them until the upper surface leaves 
become flattened down, aud they are safe. Then 
for hot-beds, mixed with an equal bulk, or one half 
their bulk of manure, they give a more useful and 
more lasting heat, than clear 
manure. In cold frames, if 
plants such as violets, or Holland 
Bulbs, are in them, to be forced 
into an early spring bloom, fill up 
the frame with leaves, and cover 
with boards. In the spring re¬ 
move the boards and leaves, put 
on the sashes, and bloom will 
soon follow. If cold frames are 
to be sown in early spring, fill up 
with leaves, cover with boards, and the ground,when 
wanted, will be unfrozen. In the stable, the pig¬ 
sty, the sheep-barn, or wherever animals are win¬ 
tered, no more cleanly or comfortable bedding than 
leaves can be given. These leaves, when saturated 
with urine, form a rich addition to the compost 
heap. Why? There is a general notion that leaves 
make good manure, while few think that their 
value is due to the ashes they contain. They are 
very rich in ash. Fallen leaves, when burned, give 
from four to five times as much ashes, as the heart- 
wood of the tree which bore them. “ But we do 
not burn the leaves”—Yes we do—practically. In 
the compost the decay is a slow combustion; the 
whole texture of the leaf is broken up, and the ash, 
not having been exposed to the heat of burning, is 
really in a better condition as a fertilizer, than or¬ 
dinary wood ashes. Leaves are often spoken of— 
and truly—as the lungs of the tree. It is not far 
out of the way to liken the leaves to salt works. 
In salt works a weak brine from salt-springs, or 
from the sea, is exposed to the heat of the sun in 
shallow tanks, and when thus concentrated by evap¬ 
oration, is transferred to other tanks or kettles 
where, by artificial heat, the 
remaining water is evaporated, 
and the solid salt remains. 
The roots of the tfee take up 
water which has several of the 
solid matters of the soil in 
solution—a weak—very weak 
—“ brine,” as it were. The 
use of some of these matters 
we know, others, so far as 
known, are useless to the tree—but are still 
taken up. This solution from the soil at length 
reaches the leaves, where most of the water passes 
off into the air—slowly, but as certainly as if it had 
been boiled in a salt kettle, while the solid matter 
mostly remains in the leaves. When the leaves are 
burned, this solid matter appears as ash. That 
this is so—that the large amount of ash in the 
leaves is due to the evaporation of the water from 
the soil, is seen by the difference in the amount of 
ash in summer and autumn leaves. Oak leaves in 
autumn contain nearly twice as much, and Beech 
leaves contain more than twice as much ash, as they 
did in summer. The richness of the fallen leaves 
in ash explains why the surface soil of the forest 
is so rich. The roots have been engaged in bring¬ 
ing up the soluble matters from below, and these, 
by the decay of the leaves, have been accumulating 
upon the surface. When a gardener wishes to make 
a rich compost, he uses largely of woods-earth, 
which consists of decayed leaves. Evidently fallen 
leaves are too valuable to be neglected, and should 
be collected by all who desire a rich, valuable, and 
easily obtained mulch and fertilizer for their soil. 
Fig. 12. 
