The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-04
The InynIunbIe Cow Pea.

The Invaluable Cow Pea.
Prof. w. F. Massey, in Practical Far
mer, says that: The observant student
of agricultural progress cannot have failed
to note the great advance that has been
made. In recent years, in the cultivation
| of legumdnous plants for the feeding Of
cattle and the Improvement of the soil
| The determination of the agency which
these plants have in the ixation of nitro
gen in the form Of organic matter i'm the
soil, Is one of the greatest accomplish
ments of modern biological study The
| fact that clover and some other plants did
exert great influence in improving the
fertility of the soil was long known, but
| how they did IL was matter about which
nothing was known till recent years. and
there Is still much to be learned in re.
gard to the exact process by which the
iegumes do acquire the nitrogen of the air
through the agency of microbes living on
their roots. But for the practical farmer
Il is enough to know that they do 1t.
knowing the great good to the soil which
has been done In the North through the
use of clover, many Southern farmers have
tried clover growing with more or less
success. More failures generally than sue
cesses have been made with clover in the
South particularly in the cotton lands
of the coast region proper. And right there
was where the benefits of such plant
were most needed for the long constant
and clean culture OF cotton had so reduced
the humus in the SOIL that commercial
fefsiiiZers failed to have the effect desired
in their use and the soil suffered more
seriously from the effects of drought than
when fresh and fertile.
For generations the Southern field or
cow peas have been grown in desul-
tory manner in the South, usually among
corn merely for the purpose of getting
the peas or for feeding hogs on the land
after the corn was off. Only in recent
years have the Southern farmers begun
to wake up to the knowledgs of the Won
desful value of the pea both as a forage
plant and as a soil improver. Farmers
who formerly thought they were doing
good thing for their land by letting 1t
lie year between crops of cotton, grow
ing up in all manner of weeds and grass,
have found out that The most profitable
way to rest their lard is to cover it with
peas instead of weeds, and thus get a
valuable feed crop when cured as hay,
while the land is improved in productive
capacity for the following crop. We are
beginning TO learn hat there is no rea-
son to regret the fact that clover is not
a success in the South, for we have at
| Rand Plant ful Y adapted to our ci-
mate, which will do all that clover can
do for as. end do In so to 80 days what
clover takes two years to accomplish. 1t
has fallen to my lot to take an active
part in the lat lie for the pea, and in urg-
ing On the Southern farmer the practic-
ability. with It's aid, of increasing the
fertility of his soil to the h CHEST point of
productivenssS without the purchase of an
F. ounce of nitrogenous fertilizers. The
cotton lands CT the South. in the sandy
ssc'iens at least, need good supplies of
nitrogen, and this Is the me st costly thing
to buy when bought I'm a commercial fer
tilizer. But the pea gives them this in
i a hNaFR dar h.
them the most valuable of stock foods.
The ag tatien that has been going on in
regard TO the Southern pea has attracted
as much attention among the wideawake
| farmers In the Northern states as in the
| South. The n'r5ductlon of early matur-
ing varieties has enabled the Northern
farmer TO experiment with the Southern
PEA and he too, has found it is of inestim-
able value and that the Glover of the
South" can well supple ment the clover
in the Moth. Years ago 1t was thought
that the pea could not be made success
north of Maryland and Delaware. But we
have letters from farmers who have
found ii invaluable as far north as South
ern Vermont, Northern Indiana and
Southern Michigan. Seed taken gradually
| from South to North, as they will ma
ture, have enabled the plant to become
acclimatized much further north than
was thought possible q few years ago.
OF course, 1t reaches its greatest value
and development in a warm climate and
a sandy soil. Few farmers supposed q
few years ago that tire farmers in Illinois
and NJ ssouri would be growing COW peas
for forage. and finding Them success.
A feeder of beef cattle for the export
trade In Missouri says that no food he
can get wifi finish of beef like the hay
of the COW pea.
Another man in Missouri whose business
is the raising CT thoroughbred horses, says
there Is no feed equal TO COW pea hay for
finishing up colt. From extensive ex-
periments at the station and among far
mers in the vicinity of the station, the
Missouri station advises the farmers OF
the state to grow COW peas for hay rath-
er than timothy. And yet the Southern
farmer has for years and generations
been regretting that he cannot grow hay
in the South as they do in the North. and
has accepted Il as a fact that he cannot
feed cattle because of the lack OF hay.
With the COW pea, which he can
grow better than It can be grown any
where else, he can compete with any
part OF the country in feeding cattle. II
the Missouri farmers find II more profit
able TO grow COW pea hay than timothy,
II should be found stu more profitable
to row It in the South, where the pea is
more at home.