, 1891-06-13
LET US HAVE PEAS.
(From The Farm and Fire-8ide")

There are many reasons why southern
farmers should plant plenty Of stock peas.
Their value as fodder and pasturage is
alone sufficient TO commend them but these
qualities are by no means their only recon-
mendation. They are the most available
green manure crop we can plant IN the
South. All kinds Of soil are greatly bene-
fitted by plOughing under greenSpea
vines. The Sugar planters of Louisiana
have for years recognised the pea vine.
as the quickest and most effective renova-
tor of their sugar lands that has ever been
adopted.
New Orleans is the largest stock pea
market in the United States. All varie-
ties of this legume find ready sale there.
The wholesale dealers in plantation supplies
buy thousands Of bushels every autumn
from the farmers of Georgia, Alabama, Ten
npssee, the CarolinaS and other states, and
sell them in the spring to the planters, who
SOW them broadcast upon the fields they
want TO I'm prove.
The most popular varieties for this pur-
pose are the Clay and Tory or red pea.
The little black pea is also very popular
All three Of these varieties are very hardy,
and the seed will lie on the ground through
the winter without TOtting, ana come up
the following spring in great numbers, thus
saving one planting where it is desirable to
plough under two green crops III succession.
TIL Unknown pea is an immense vine
producer aud is gaining general favor III the
South, It is also Il prolific bearer, matur-
inc it's crops late in the fall. The little
Couch pea IS also a great vine producer.
bat a poor bearer below the 30th degree Of
north latitude, The Whippoorwil is II
speCkled pea, a good bearer of the bunch
variety, and is popular for hay, being easily
cut on account of its bunchy growth.
For table use the white varieties take
the lead and find ready sale in all the
southern towns and cities. Among the
best Of these are the Rice and Lady
peas, both being small and very pretty in
appearance. and the Blackeye, which is a
large plump pea and a fine bearer.
A new and very important use has just been
discovered for stock peas. 1t is found that
the cotton boil worms, which annually deS-
troys u great deal OF cotton, is the same
worm that boreS into the green pea pods,
green corn and green tomatoes.
Mr.. Jeff Welborn, one OF the closest stu
dents Of the agricultural problems III tho
South, says, in Il recent letter to Texas Farm
and r aach: II think l have found a solution
to the bOll-worm problem" He then goes
on to state his observations of the boil
WOlm IL SICCn pNdS ubN S"yN' AAN IN0N
seem to be more reliShed by the worms
than the cotton. l believe they are fifty
boil worms in my pea patch to one in the
cotton on each side fit" Mr., WelbOrn in
this connection suggests that cotton planters
SOW peas near their Gotten fields, so as to
be in full bearing about the time the cotton
begins to fruit, in order to divert the boil
worm fly or moth from the cotton to the
pea patch.
[ heard an old cotton planter say, not
long since, that next year he intended to
plant every alternate row in a cotton field
with stock peas, in order to enrich the
land. If Mr. Welborn'S theory of the boil
worm preferring the green cOw-pea TO tue
green cotton boil is correct, this planter
will "kill two birds with one stone" when
he plants every alternate row Of his cotton
field in stock peas. The following year he
intends to reverse the lows, that is, plant
cotton where the peas grew, and more peas
where the cotton grew the proceeding year.
By following up This plan continuously, tue
cotton planter will not only protect his crop
from the ravages of the boil worm, but also
keep his land in a high state Of filth the
meanwhile. Dick Naylor.