Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-06-16
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FIELD PEAS.

w trust our readers will pardon our
#s persistence in urging upon their at
tention the Importance of this crop.
: The Southern farmer, and especially
he who cultivates impoverished soil,
has no better friend than the cow
pea. Whether used as soil i'm
provor or a forage plant, it s!.ould
find a place upon every farm. 1t
may, however, be used for hay and
still improve the soil upon which it is
grown.
.. HOW IT IMPROVES THE SOIL.
The field pea belongs to tho class
of plants known as leguminous, and
later as nitrogen collectors. 1t has
the power of appropriating nitrogen
from the atmosphere through the
agency of microbes, the presence of
which is indicated by little tubcrclcs
or wart-likc excrcssenccs upon the
roots. According to the reports of
the Alabama and South Carolina
experiment stations, a good crop Of
pea vines will contribute as much
nitrogen to the acre of land upon
which it is grown as twenty tons Of
ordinary stable manure.
A horsc;f fed in his stall and
kept there at night, will produce,
with a moderate supply of litter,
about 5000 pounds of stable manure
in twelve months, or ton and half.
A good crop of peas will, therefore,
supply to an acre rs much nitrogen
rs the manure saved from thirteen
= head of horses or mules, with the
difference in favor of the peas, that
they shade the land during the sum-
NOR and are already evenly distrib-
utcd, while the stable manure must
be forkcd and hauled to the field
Stating it little differently, it will
require all of the stable manure made
upon thirteen mule farm, to supply
as much nitrogen as one acre of peas
will furnish. Growing nitrogen COL
lcctors upon the land is the only
practicable and economical way of
improving it upon a large scale.
Peas and other leguminous plants
not only accumulate nitrogen in the
soil and subsoil, but by their deeply
penetrating tap roots organize mine
raj plant food from the subsoil, store
il mp in their roots, stems and lea. os,
and thus supply it to the sol. in
available forms. There arc ;as:.
stocs of phosphoric acid, potash and
other mineral elements of plant food
in the subsoil, in insouble condition
and out of the reach of fbrous-
rooted plants, which get their sup
port entirely from the soil. The tap
rooted plants perform Two important
Offices for the crops which follow
them. They collect and store nitro
gen Uhc most cost y element of plant
food) from the air and organize other
substances into their structure and
thus render them available to plants
which have no such collecting, stor-
ing and organizing power. In all
departments of life, animal AZ well
as vegetable, we find that one species
organizes and stores food for the
other. The lion has no power of ap-
propriating to its nourishmcnt, di-
rcctly, the vegetable products of the
earth, but takes its grass second
hand, after the lamb, pig or calf has
organized them into flesh. SO the
grain and grass subsist upon the car
casscs of lcguminous plants, APP
propriating from them the nitrogen
which they organized from the air
and III" potash and phosphoric aid,
which they have rendered assimila-
bic, from the subsoil.
The impovcrishmcnt of soil by con-
tinucd exposure in summer and its
improvement by shade arc well
established facts. Peas improve the
land in this way in no small degree.
If we were asked, "What is the
greatest need of Southern soils ?"
we would unhcsitatingly answer,
IIumus." Several causes have con-
spired to dcnudc our soils of this
important substance.
Among these are:
Gay. Continued clean culture with
out rotation in humus- supplying
crops, such az grain, clover and grass.
(b). Exposure OF the uncovered
surface during the winter, end con-
scqucnt surfnce washing and waste
of plant food, there being no grow
ing crop to conserve it.
(D. The long period of high tom
poraturc in which decomposition con-
tinues.
In colder climates in which the soil
is frozen for some months each year,
this loss is prevented. The legumin-