Thursday, September 3. 1908.
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER.
Whv You Should Plant Special Purpose Cowpeas.
Here Are Some Significant Facts to Guide You in Saving Pea Seed for Next Year's Planting Some
Varieties Yield More Hay, Others More Seed, but Even the Same Variety is Surprisingly Sensitive to
Changes in Climate and Soil Results of Careful and Extensive Tests.
By C. i. Newman, Profeuor of Agriculture, North Carolina A. & M. College.
For a greater portion of the past; (3) Varieties producing the heav
fif teen years I have been very deeply lest yield of peas are. most easily
interested in the cowpea and prob- cured into hay, while those produc
ably have carried through more cow- ing a few peas, or none at all, were
yea experiments than any one in the the most difficult to cure since they
South: Particularly has the produc- habitually continue in vigorous
tion of bay from the cowpea . been growth until checked by frost,
given attention. In 1902 I grew '(4) Late, shallow cultivation pro
about 250 plots and half of them Jongs the period of growth, and
were for the especial purpose of tnakes the vines more difficult to
studying cowpea hay making. cure. Cultivation-should cease when
mune Varieties for Hay, Others for the first pods appear if the crop is
Seed.
In 1902, sixteen plots produced
more than 6,000 pounds of hay per
eight of which ripenea no
acre,
intended for hay.
(5) Vines bearing a fair or full
crop of peas ripeping well together
are easily cured when one-fourth or
nm11 Q 'n'HantMv' that Fr u-v - uvuwjr
peas, or -bu ; - ripe and no second growth has been
thpv were not worth the gathering. . . &
tney ie uut induced by excessive moisture.
ri he highest acreage yield recorded . -
in 1902 was 8,750 pounds made by (6) Vines bearing a fair or full
iitn ,,irtatv niav. This 8.750 pounds crop of peas ripening through a pro-
nf hay bore
shelled peas. The lowest yield of
hay was 750 pounds per acre, pro
duced on one plot of New Era and
Extra Early Black Eye. These two
plots yielded respectively 1,337.5 and
1,025 pounds of shelled peas per
acre, me wciguu v
plants continue in vigorous growth
are usually difficult to cure in other
than the most favorable weather.
How the Hay Yield is Affected by
Varieties.
The numerous varieties of cow-
- , . I naoD r i ffm cn tit I 0 7 V in Vflrlnna TA.
hulls produced Dy tnese two vaneueu o -
,n th,-a instancp was double the spects that their peculiarities must
vrpiht of the cured vines that bore be considered -when the crop
the ueas and hulls. One. .plot of grown for hay and the time of mow-
wmprfni for Unknown) yielded ing, treatment while in the swathe,
8,350 pounds of hay per acre and no in wind-rows, and in cocks, adjusted
ya ormftnrPri nnon the uoi ouiy iu me uuuuiuuu
"rr- , .
soil of uniform fertility, but were
given the same treatment in every
respect from preparation of soil and
planting through harvesting' and cur
ing. The plot of Clay peas that pro
duced $.800 pounds of hay, from Vir
ginia grown seed was alongside! the
plot that produced 8,700. pounds of
hay from Arkansas grown seed.
Black Eye from Indiana was adja
cent to Black Eye from North Caro
lina one producing 800 pounds and
the other 4,000 pounds of hay per
acre. New Era from Maryland pro
duced 700 pounds while home grown
seed gave 1,900 of hay per acre. On
the other hand the Maryland seed
yielded 22 bushels of peas against
19 bushels from the Arkansas seed.
blossoms
vines when harvested in October.
Two other plots of this variety rip
ened no peas. Two plots of Clay pro
duced 8,250 and 7,450 pounds of
hay per acre and no peas worth
gathering.
It Will Pay to Select a Variety Suited
to Your Purpose.
of the
weather, but also the peculiarities of
the variety, and to variations due to
climate and soil.
The cowpea plant is very, amena
ble to environment, and while there
are constant varietal characteristics
the yields of both grain and hay are
remarkably variable ' with the same
variety grown from seed which come
These two varietal differences from unlike or widely separate lo-
have an important bearing upon the calities, and sown upon soil selected
selection of varieties to be grown for its uniformity. Examples of the
for whatever purpose, and particu- variations as affecting the yield of
larly when the prime object of their hay are given below:
culture is the production of hay.
Lack of recognition of these differ
ences in the habits of varieties is a
fruitful source of failure, or of at
least, unsatisfactory results and of
disappointment. On the other hand,
a due consideration of these varietal
variations will enable the grower to
select varieties well suited to each
of the various purposes for which
the cowpea is grown.
Fifty Varieties Tested on 550 Plots
Conclusions Reached.
Since the summer of 1898 more
than 550 plots of cowpea vines have
been cut for hay, including about
50 varieties. A number of these va
rieties, and particularly those of dis
similar characters, were grown in
- Lbs.
per
Acie
Whippoorwill, seed from Ar
kansas, yielded .......... 1,300
Whippoorwill, seed from Lou
isiana, yielded . . . . 2,500
Clay, seed from Virginia,
yielded .3,800
Clay, seed from Arkansas,
yielded . ., . . . ..... ." - 8,700
Wonderful, seed from North
Carolina, yielded ......... 3,300
Wonderfuh seed from Florida, '
yielded ................. 7.000
Black, seed from Arkansas,
yielded ...... . . v. ...... 2,400
Black, seed from Georgia,
yielded ............. -v- 5,700
Red Ripper, seed from Ala
bama yielded . . z,d))
multiple plots, cut at various degrees Red Ripper seed from Tennes
of maturity and . under a variety of
weather conditions. The results of
attempts to cure these various lots of
hay range from perfect success to
complete failure. A review of the
results of these tests extending
through five years seems to warrant
these conclusions:-
(1) Cowpeas of any variety har
vested while young or in vigorous
.growth are difficult to cure into hay,
o matter how favorable the weath
er conditions.
(2) Mature vines are cured with
I I A A
see, yielded ....... . .
New Era, seed from Maryland,
yielded ........... 700
New Era, seed from Arkan
sas, yielded . . . . . 1,900
Black Eye, seed from Okla
homa, yielded . 700
Black Eye, seed from North
Carolina, yielded . ... 4000
Same Variety Greatly Affected by
Change in Climate and Soil.
rm,c errant variations in the
i "
wiaiure vines are tuicu i . . j,-
little . . - nonHHps of hay Droaucea ou muc.
4 ually cure in fair to excellent ent plots of the same variety could
condition after an exposure of two not have been a ffecteb? ca I con
four days of rain or cloudy ditions, since the several lots of each
leather.
Make Your Loafing Acres Yield a
Profit.
How many thousands of loafing acres I have seen in my
recent travels in the South it would be hard to compute. Wide ,
fields that should be in one body, showed a little patch of
corn here, a little patch of cotton there, a hollow full of bushes
and patches of broomsedge pushing in between the corn and
cotton. Patch-work farming, short rows taking up time, one
horse implements that each take a man, all show in too many
places at what great cost the little crops are produced.
There is no profit in that sort of farming, no matter what
the price of the products may be. That is the sort of farming '
that puts weak cotton . on the market in the fall to depress the
prices, and most of it is done by croppers who would be better
off working for wages, and the land better off growing up in
pine trees, if the owner cannot afford to work and improve all
he owns.
It does not pay to grow cotton at a cost of eight cents a
pound, when by . good farming, and the use of improved im
plements it can be grown at half the cost. But this is never
done in a field that is made up of a little patch of cotton, a
little patch of broomsedge, a little patch of corn that will not
make the feed for the mule that works it, and many big
patches of bushes and gullies. That sort of farming does not
Pay.
.- Then in . some places I saw large fields loafing, in weeds and
old corn stalks, "resting,' the owners say, while the land is
doing its very utmost to grow a crop of weeds, though it would
rest to much better, effect if growing, a big crop of peas to feed
stock and make manure to enable it to grow crops.
There are enough acres loafing in the South to feed all the
stock needed to make farmers independent of the fertilizer
mixer. If all the loafing acres were in a systematic: rotation,
growing forage,, the cotton crop now made could be made on
less than half the number of acres, and the South could produce
all the meat its cities need, and all the grain and roughage to
feed the cattle. Howinariy acres have you loafing in bushes
and broomsedge, with little patches between the gullies?
variety were not only grown upon
Thoughts by the Roadside.
By Maurice O. Eldrldge in "Good Roods tor Farmers."
Drainage alone will often change
a bad road into a good one, while on
the other hand the best road may
be destroyed by the absence of good
drains.
Water is the great road destroyer.
An essential feature of a good
road is good drainage.
The first demand of good drain
age is to attend to the shape of road
surface. This must be "crowned,"
or rounded up toward the center.
In addition to being well - covered
and drained, the road surface should
be kept as smooth as possible; that
is, free from ruts, wheel tracks,
holes, or hollows.
There are thousands of. miles of
public roads in the United States
which are practically impassable
account of bad drainage.
The wearing surface of a road
must be in effect a roof; that is, the
during some portion of the year on
section in the middle should be made
as impervious to water as possible,
so that it will flow freely and quick
ly into the gutters or ditches alongside.
The usual way of mending roads
irVl run nwoi tfnoe nnnA-rr t
" U" wiw iVUOC OttUUJf DU11S is
to cover the surface with tough" clay
or mix the clay and sand together.
This is quite an expensive treatment
if the clay, has to be transported a
great distance, but the expense may
be reduced by improving only 8 or
10 feet or half of the roadway.
The only exceptions to the instruc
tions given on road drainage are
found in the attempt - to .Improve a
sand road. The more one improves
the drainage' of a sand road the more
deplorable becomes its condition.
Nothing will ruin one quicker than
to dig a ditch on each side and drain
all the water away. The best way
io mane sucn a roaa nrm is to keep
it constantly damp. Very bushy or
shady trees alongside such roads
prevent the evaporation of water; ;