Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-07-20
THE COWPEA.
Naturally Lazy. but VIII Work IL IL
Mmat-A Crnn Enr roOr soil.

as they stand by me l consider the
southern cowpea as Gods best Gna-
nurial gift 70 the poor farmer l make
that statement with reference 70 the
poor farmer and poor soil because l
I'm sure that my friend. the cowpea,
works best in poverty. While 1t is wei
adapted 10 the poor farmer, the rich
farmer may also make good use OF il,
for It Is crop for a poor soil.
Do not confuse the southern cOwpea
with the Canada field pea. Many farm
ers have made o great mistake in this
yay. The field pea can be sown with
oats You may put IL IN very early
before the frost is ont Of the ground.
The cowpea, however, is a warm soil
crop. The ground must be warm and
mellow when it Is sown or you Will
never see a spear Of II, any more than
you would see sweet corn If you under
took 10 SOW IL broadcast with the oat
crop. We must plant IL In the bean
season If We wish to get anything out
Of IL.
The cowpea IS crop for the poorest
field you have It should go into the
weakest part Of the rotation. lSshould
never be put on rich, strong soil Ny
experience with the clovers, and cspe-
cialIy with crimson clover. IS that II
demands a well fed soil. I do not
think II VIII ever make good crop on
& poor soil without high feeding I
might say that crimson clover is like q
some tough old scrub. The well bred
ttov bu or COR "a a
the best Of food. and then you VIII get
& good yield Of butter and milk. There
ere, however, some OF these tough
hided old scrubs who, II they receive
good care with plenty Of feed and the
taste Of a currycomb, really seem able
to make u fair supply of milk out Of
frosty air and pure water. Let the
man be brother 10 his COW. and the COW
will have n sisterly affection for him.
a Jersey COW with the same feed would
not do as well as the old scrub, and In
the same way l would say that the
cowpea IS the friend for the rough,
hard places OF the farm, where you
either do not care or cannot afford TO
use manure or fertilizers.
I used to think that a small quantity
OF nitrate OF soda was profitable IN the
cowpea field, but II Is very easy to
overdo the matter and use nitrate at q
loss l have observed THAI where the
cowpca IS grown In very rich soil there
are very few warts or tubercies on the
roots. These little warts or nodules In
dicate that the plant Is obtaining It's
nitrogen out Of the air. Unless they
are present II IS good evidence that
the plant simply fed on the soluble
nitrogen In the soil, for the cowpea.
like all the rest OF us, is naturally lazy.
II first looks around In the soil 70 see II
ample supplies Of nitrogen are close at
hand If such "a the case, Il Is Ike
the cat living on mice captured In a
trap and crawling under the stove 70
put on fat. If the soil Is poor and but
little nitrogen present the cowpea goes
TO work TO take the nitrogen out Of the
air and holds It securely for the farmer
to use on subsequent crops.
II must be said that the cOwpea Is
not we'll adapted TO the small farm.
The reason for this is that the COW
pea must occupy the land during the
entire growing season. In order TO
use It prohtably, one must have q farm
large enough to permit this.
With us II is best used IN the
orchards and back fields, which are
practically abandoned because the
farmer does not like TO use manure
and fertilizer on them. That is Just the
place for the cowpea, and II VIII bring
these old fields back into life and pros
perity. 1t will do II alone IN time, but
Will do It more rapidly and with great
er profit II small quantity Of potash
and dissolved rock, be used with II.
II must be understood that the cowpca
must hold n mortgage on your field for
one year II will not grow. like Grim
son clover, between two other crops.
II cannot be recommended as Il catch
crop TO grow between frost and frost.
would recommend the Early Black
variety. II you try the cowpea. J
think you Will DO disappointed In the
fall, when the frost kills down the
vines, but when you plow 1t under in
the spring and see the crop that grows
after IT am sure TINT you win agree
with me that il is one OF the best ma
nurial crops that the fruit grower can
get hold Of SO says IL. w. Colling
wood Of New Jersey in concluding one
OF his characteristic talks before the
State Horticultural society