The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-05-02
J PEA VINE Hay I

LiG.Sttof o|eSHSoo"'S NeHGoCfUt'
In the Democrat of April 18th,
j.; G. H., of the Fork, made allusiou
to the sthuge piles of pea-vine hay
suspended On. racks" he eaw when
passing my place in August lasl, and
inplain terms condemned the practise.
Now, / SO fully agree with j. G. II,
in, all he has said about the pea as a
fertilizer, that it is with some reluc-
,tance that I attempt TO defend the
practice of gathering pea vines even
for hay; but for tile sake of consis-
tency I.must explain. This piece OF
land was prepared and planted in
peas for the purpose Of gathering The
vines for COW food-and just here is
another good quality Of pea vines
that. cannot be too highly praised.
Nothing compares with pea vine hay
as regular feed for milch COWS.
would respectfully commend the fol-
lowing plan to my brother farmers.
Prepare in the spring by thoroughly
breaking one or two acres of good
land. About the middle or last Of
May guano we'll and SOW down or
7pecks of either the speckled or cow
pea to the acre. Turn under well
then harrow or smooth with q brush,
and when you see q few yellow peas
on them, cut close to the ground,
hang on racks few days and then
house them. And you get an amount
of food that will surprise you. The
yield per acre is in proportion to the
quality of the land, averaging from
1000 to 10000 pounds. The butter
from this feed rivals the celebrated
Goshen in appearance and eXccls it
in flavor. This hay is not to be de-
spised as a feed for mules, fattcning
them without corn or cats p; in fact, it
is as good as Northern clover. And
is as j. G. II. expresses it, s'thc clo-
Yer of the South" and the farmer
who does not utilize it as such is Just
o little behind this progressive age.
Il j. G. H, will come over in st.
Matthews again next August we will
obligate to show him on moro than
one place not only. huge stacks of
pea vine hay, but corn houses and
sheds large enough to hold all this
day, where great quantity of the
very best home made manure is made
and protected from the weather, OBJ
waiting in the future, the necessity of
asing so much guano. So we not on
ly get the milk and butter, with the
pleasure of having fat cattle and
choice beef, but actually get more
than the worth of the pea vines as a
fertilizer in the piles of rich manure
made by these cattle under shelter.
I wish to be understood--I do not
advocate the plan Of gathering pea
vines indiscriminaate!y from the land,
but do earnestly recommend these
patches as the best method now
known for getting the greatest guam
tity of food to the acre; and such
food as will psy better percent
age for money and time cxpend-
ed than any other. Does it in
jure the land to take off this hay !?
Certainly it doesl So does it injure
land to take any crop from it that is
grown there. Who among us will
leave our corn and cotton to rot and
decay in the fields rs fertilizers be-
cause the land, is injured by TAX
ing them of. 1t pays us better to
gather them; just so in the case of
these patches for pea vine hay.
fully endorse j. G. HIS statement
that the pea is the best known fertili-
zer that We have. I will 60 further
than JIG. H. is willing to 60, and
say that it improves land to grow peas
on it, even if you take the vines off,
provided you leave the roots in the
ground, cut them off when altering
instead of pulling them up. AS
proof of this assurance I saw on O
place in this neighborhood last year
while inspecting crops, (for you
know, Mr.. Editor, we inspect
each others crops overhcre every year
when they are made, to see what we
have been doing, and not always the
least Important part about it, how it
was done.) rice growing on land
that had been planted in peas two
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