Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-04-07
FIELD PEAS FOR HOGS.
The Experience of a Man Who Has Grown
Them For Years.

The Experience Of u Man Who Has Grown
Them For Years.
| am an old time resident of Mime
sofa and live only eight miles from the
Iowa line. have raised field peas for a
number of years, and l always considered
them a profitable crop. This year was
the poorest crop that | have raised. |
had in Is acres of peas, and l thrashed
half of the piece. They turned out 21A
bushels per acre. The rest of them |
fed out without thrashing to the hogs.
In previous years I used to get from 80
to SO bushels per acre. have seen small
pieces Of peas with my neighbors yield
rs high as as bushels per acre.
This year the peas that were sown aft
er the corn was planted turned out a
splendid crop. Early sown peas are
generally the best crop, but this year we
had extreme heat just as the peas were
in blossom, and they got blighted or mil
dewed. think where there is a warmer
climate than what we have in southern
Minnesota the proper time to SOW peas
would be about the LIST to the 18th of May
There is then no danger of them being
killed by frost. 1 intend to SOW Is acres
of peas the coming season. The. pea
straw makes extra good bedding for
growing hogs. It makes their coat shine
as if they were fitted up for showyard
honors.
I always SOW my peas in spring as soon
Is the ground is fit to cultivate. Then
they are ripe in time to have them GU,
and stacked before the wheat and oats
are ripe. They then make a good supply
of feed until the new corn is ripe. in
stead of trying to cut a few cornstalks
or jerk off a little green corn to keep
piggy alive. always plow the ground
in spring and SOW them with a broad
cast seeder, letting the shovels run rather
deep. and if they are not covered enough
I 20 over them once more with the seed
er. 1 never drag them, for if I did they
would all come on top again.
When l have them we'll covered. | ~
over the piece again with the roller. |
always sow from 2 to Fl bushels to the
acre. have tried different ways to SOW
them, and this proves to be the best on
clay land. have drilled them in and
sowed them on top of the ground and
plowed them in four inches deep and
sowed them on fall blowing. but they
have never done SO well.
We cut them with the mower and have
three men ahead of the mower to turn
them out in windows so that the team
won't tramp over them. Then | let them
lie for two days, when they are fit to
stack. Most people think that they must
cover their stacks with wild hay to keep
them from getting wet, but it isn't so. |
build my stacks about 80 feet long, north
and south, and if they are we'll headed
they will be drier at thrashing time than
oat stacks. When they are stacked. |
turn out about 100 head of Poland-C Chi
mas once u day. and they pick up all that
have shed in the field. And when they
all come back they look so friendly they
can't tell enough what II good time they
had. It is dangerous to turn hungry
pigs in n field of ripe peas. They are apt
to eat too much and thus be thrown bad.
ly off their feed.
Parties that would like to SOW Il large
piece of peas should first stop and think
where they can get help to harvest them
on short notice, for if there should come
a week of wet weather the most of the
peas would swell up and burst the pods
and be lost entirely if there was not q
good herd Of hogs on hand to pick them
up. There is no need of a fence between
the peafield and other growing crops 10
keep piggy attending to his business in
picking up the peas. His lordship will
see that tho last one is found before he
will go around specializing for mischief.
l always try to have the peatield ad-
joining the hog lot. have raised them
80 rods from the hoghouse by hav-