The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-10-12
AGRICULTURAL.
Farm Notes.

the horse market. But more than this, |
If horses are not used they are not to
be fed; so the displacing of thou
ands OF horses means the loss of mar
ket for many thousands of tons of hay. |
This, together with the exceptionally
favorable seasons for the growth of
grass, has brought this crop so low that
1t does not pay to raise it for shipping,
except under exceptional conditions.
With hay at S12 and $13 in New York |
for the best grades, the price must be
very low at the farms, and when we
realize the fact that ton of hay takes |
about SO worth of plant food from the |
soil, we see the profitable production OF
hay for market is thing of the past.
That there may be an exception where
farmers can draw loads Of hay into a
city, like Montpelier, and sell at $12
per ton, is very true but such chances
are rare, and the question arises, "What
are farmers going to grow on the thou
sands of acres where in the past they
have grown hay for sale?" And far
ther, "What shall the farmers do who
have to sell hay for less than the cost
of production, the cost to include the
manurlal value of the hay?" This is
not case where gigantic trust has
stepped in an greedily pocketed the
farmers profits; it is the outcome of
the worlds progress, progress which,
in these days at least, seems to have
strange tendency to make the richrich-
er and the poor farmers poorer. Pos
sibly part of these acres might be de-
voted to the growing of corn to fatten
beef cattle for market. Possibly sheep
might in some cases be kept; each man
must detirmine for himself what is best
for him to grow, but we think it is safe
to say that the day for profitable hay
growing for market is passed.
THE COW PEA AT HOME.
We have had very good opportu-
nifty to observe the behavior of the
cow pea in its American home, and the
more we see of it the more we think of
it. We wish that Vermont farmers
could have an opportunity to try some
of the early kinds, and would advise
them 10 watch the seed catalogues this
next winter and see if some Of the early
varieties are not offered for sale. Prob
ably the best of the early varieties is
the "Whip-poor-w WILL" but this might
not mature seeds in the north. The
"New Era" is one of the earliest COW
peas, maturing its seed in the south in
sixty days, and this certainly ought to
grow in the north. 1t must be borne
in mind that the COW pea is really a
bean, that it is a warm-weather plant
like our northern beans, and that its
great value lies rather in the amount of
vines it produces for manure, green
fodder, hay, or silsge rather than the
amount of peas produced per acre,
though they are valuable. Most of the
varieties grown in the south keep
growing till frost comes, 80 that vine
will have ripe peas, green peas in
several stages of growth, and flowers
on it at the same time. Some varieties,
like the "Wonderful" (Which is the
same as the "Unknown"), make truly
wonderful growth. How many feet
long the vines will extend 1 do not
know, but should think ten TO twelve
or more. They will run up trees Glow
peach trees for instance), run to the
top, and then not satisfied will keep
growing, swinging in the air and hang
ing down toward the ground. How
any one would go to work to pillow such
a mass of green vines in, do not see.
A sharp rolling coulter might cut them
30 they could be turned under, but in
actual practice they are never turned
under when green, as they hurt the
land, but are allowed to lie till winter
or spring when they become very
great benefit to the soil. The green
vines seem to sour and spoil the land
for crops, while the dead vines make
the very best heterogeneous fertilizer. II
is customary in the South to pick off
the pods and let the vines lie TO pillow
under, but some fields are left pods and
all to die down. Whether they re-seed
the land or not, do not know. Prob
ably they sprout early and are killed by
the frost. Only about three pecks Of
seed are used on an acre, while the
yield varies from eight to forty bushels
The best way to utilize the plant is
to make it into hay or silage. Proba
bly, the latter would be best in Yer
mont as it is harder to cure than heavy
clover, and late in the season there
would not be hay weather to cure it
For ensilage it would be best to put il
under or mix it with the corn, but il
would probably not keep well put in {
silo alone, especially if uncut. 1t il