Sharp County record., 1890-05-15
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
The Cow Pea and sheep.

Writing from Arkansas correSP"h''-
emf asks: GLOW would it do to put
sheep and grow COW peas on rundown
land? Would the peas be valuable looo
for the sheep and would they help en-
rich the land?" OF course it is well uh-
dcrstood. we would say in reply, thaV
sheep are good to restore worn out lanu'
The pea would be good food for sh2ep'
and according to a repott OF the Georgia
Experiment Station, it is an eXceleht
CROP to grow upon such land for tertlllz-
ing purposes. In the cotton oUaVeS
.here is great deal of rundown ian .
and the report referred TO says
that the substances lacking II
such soils. are available nitro
gen, phosphoric acid, and 10
some extent, potash. Abundant eN-
perience has shown that when they are
applied iudiciously to such land they
Weld good crops. TO supply these from
outside sources. that is in the shape OF
chemical fertilizers and manures, IS 100
expensive and beyond the reach OF most
farmers; they have tried the feeding OF
their crops from these sources to mod
crate extent, but they are unable TO en-
rich their lands from them. The plan
of feeding crops on wOrn-out land Is un-
certain in its results, and in the main
has proved disastrous. 1t pays to I'M
tied extent on good, but not on poor
land. Therefore, how to make old, worn
land good; that is how to restore ltS
original physical condition (friabillty),
and how to accumulate in it full sup
ply of available plant food, at least eX-
pense and in shortest time, IS prop
lem of the first magnitude and impor-
tancc.
If the soil of these worn lands, to
depth of two or three feet, is analysed
it is found that, almost without eXcep-
ton. large quantities of phosphorlc acld
and potash, and fair, though not so
large, quantities of nitrogen, are pres
ent in them; but to greater or less eX-
tent these are in unavailable forms. is
it practicable to get these substances
from the deeper soil, bring them into
available condition and concentrate
them near the surface, where the roots
of ordinary-cultivated crops can reach
them? When lands are left uncultivated
and trees are allowed to grow upon
them, their deep roots slowly gather up
these materials. and transmit them in
large part to the leaves, and these drop
ming to the ground give such materials to
the surface soil in available forms, and
thus slow concentration of the scarcer
forms of plant food in the surface soil.
goes on. Are there any plants that Will
do the same thing as the old field pine
and other common trees do in this re-
spect but do itmore rapidly? Experience
has shown that certain leguminous
plants like clover and the COW pea, will
do it both rapidly and effectively. They
are adapted to this work, not only from
being deep rooted, but because they
have a special and Characteristic power
of gathering and accumulating nitro
gen. This is shown by the fact that
soil will contain more nitrogen after
CROP of clover has been taken from 1t,
than before the clover grew upon 1t,
though the clover crop taken from the
land carried away with it an un-
usually large amount of nitrogen.
The pea has not been studied as
much as clover, but all the facts known
point in the same direction, and indicate
that it's action is similar to that of clover.
At the Storrs School Experiment Station
in Connecticut, during the past year, OBJ
servations were made upon the stubble
and roots of COW peas to depth of forty
two inches. The crop of green forage,
taken from same acre from which the
roots were gathered, was 15,S4O pounds.
The following table gives total amount
of stubble and roots; also amount of roots
for successive depths The soil to
depth of seven inches was a light loan
-subsoil yellow and compact, becoming
at depth of thirty inches loose and
gravelly in texture:
Per racre.
stubble and first six inches of roots. 9123 TBS
Stubble and second six inches OF
roots, to II inches dccp........... 4l.9 lbs
Stubble and third six inches OfroOts,
II to IS inches deep................. $40 lbs
Stubble and fourth six inches OF
roots, IS to "a inches deep......... 3iS lbs
Stubble and fifth six inches of roots,
"a to 30 inches deep, ...,..."..'...... oz9 lbs