The Forrest City times., 1899-05-12
FARMER AND PLANTER.
RENOVATION OF THE SOIL.
The Cow Pea the Cheapest Source of Nitrogen Available by the
 Southern Planter.

For many years the COW pea has been used in the south to renovate the soil by our best farmers. Of course the story to them is old, but there are so many new farmers coming on each year. and so many who have to have .line upon line and precept upon pre- cept," that it seems necessary to tell often of the benefits to be derived from the COW pea.
 Our northern farmers are waking up to the advantage to be gained by planting this valuable crop though the seed have to be imported from the south each year. The pea crop is val uable to the farmer in three ways.
 i. It is one of the best of feeds either cut as hay, or allowed to ma- ture and the seeds used for feed. It is very rich in nitrogen and in fact is rich in all the nutrients. Cut just at the proper time and nicely cured, it makes perfect food.
 have seen mules doing hard plow- ing kept in splendid condition fed on nothing but pea vine hay.
 The peas ground up into meal make most excellent food for milch cows when fed in connection with other food not so concentrated.
 To be convinced that it is one of our best feeds, one needs but to try it.
 9. The mechanical effect of a pea crop on the soil is very valuable. No crop loosens up the soil and makes it so porous and light as the pea crop sowed broadcast. There is dense mat of roots that fill the soil, and when they rot they leave the soil a perfect network of little channels or canals
 These allow the water to soak in the soil freely and serve to drain the soil by causing the water to sink down and pass out through the subsoil, which of course is the ideal condition for many reasons.
 It not only aids in drainage but in working the soil the next season. Every one knows who has worked a crop after peas that the soil is in the best possible condition.
 3 The chemical effect on the soil for the succeeding crops is unsur- passed.
 Whether to cut the crop, or turn it under is a question that will have to be decided by each individual farmer; and he will of course be governed by the richness of the soil, what crop he wishes to follow the peas, and by the value of hay in his section, and amount of stock on hand.
 To illustrate, if the farmer has no stock and could get but little for the hay if cut and sold, then it would pay to turn the crop under, but if he has stock that could furnish home mar ket for his hay, then it would pay and pay we'll to cut and feed to them. If the land is very thin and quite lis- tance from the barn it might pay then to leave the pea crop on the land.
 My advice, however, is to cut and feed if possible as we then get dou- ble benefit.
 If sown for hay they should be put in broadcast, if for seed then the best results are obtained from sowing thick in drills about three feet apart and cultivating. Sow two bushels per acre if broadcast, and one peck if in drills. As to the value of the pea crop from chemical standpoint, or as food for the succeeding crop it can not be surpassed. That it is one of the best of nitrogen gatherers can be proven by looking on the roots of a good healthy vine. Hundreds of tu- bercles will be seen and upon exami- nation by a microscope these will be found to be the habitation of hun dreds of myriads of colonies of bac- teria who possess the peculiar faculty of taking up free nitrogen and storing it up as plantfood. This of course is readily available for the next crop, matters not what that next crop may be.
 The rest of the plant is very rich in the three elements usually contained in fertilizer. Nitrogen. phosphorus, and potash.
 It is so rich in nitrogen that on good loamy soil, that element is usual ly left out of the fertilizer that is ap- piled to that soil next year, especially as it costs more per pound than the other two combined.
 Sc where a pea crop has been turned "iNti oi CNCh WhCIc d ROou pea StuD- be has been turned under, it will be economy to simply use a phosphorus and potash fertilizer.
 This formula l would suggest abont two parts of phosphorous to two parts of potash. Say 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 200 pounds kainit per acre.
 This mixture used on our ordinary crops after a good pea crop will be found very beneficial. Put in plenty Of phosphorous and potash and the previous pea crop will do the rest.
 My favorite varieties are the Black or Stock pea, Unknown, Clay, Speckle, or Whippoorwill.
 Try a crop one time and you will continue to grow the best of food and finest of land renovators.-B. Irby, in Farm and Ranch.
 NAHuYY1EnV faHy TSYyE EADN