The Tupelo journal., 1902-09-19
FARMER RAND PLANTER.
URING PEA VINE Hay.
A Valuable Asset Of the Southern
Farmer II He Will Only Take
Pains to share 1t.

=.
The COW pea vine is worth as much
as the cotton plant to the country,
perhaps more, for it grows much
farther north and thrives on vast re-
gions in which cotton will not grow
at oil. The cow pea has a three fold
value. Greatest of all is that it in
creases the fertility of every acre on
which it is grown and increases it
faster and economically than
any other crop as easily, surely and
widely grown. Then the pea itself
is of a high value as stock food, nor
do men with sound appetites despise
it. Third, as a forage the pea vine
hay is beyond comparison the best
food that we have ever used. Shred
ed as we shred it it's actual value tt
us is fully twice that Of average tim
othy hay. Of course a chemical anal
ysis does not show that difference,
though l believe it shows considera-
bic difference, in favor of pea vine
hay. In estimating it's value l con-
slider the great relish of all the ami
mails for it, their superior condition
and working capacity, and the les
sened ration of grain that will keep
them up while fed on it.
The value of pea vine hay as a for
age depends largely upon it's proper
curing; probably more than any 9th
er forage whatsoever. The curing of
it is the simplest, easiest thing in the
world. / don't know how I came to
adept it unless it was owing to my
belief that the best things are the
simplest things, the best way the
simplest ways. Nevertheless this
mode of curing is of incalculable val
ne to us. For it not only cures the
hay perfectly but there is no worry,
no element of uncertainty as in all
other modes.
We cut the pea vines with a mower
drawn by two horses. One machine
well handled will cut nearly ten acres
a day. A cutting blade could, of
course, be used for a small acreage.
Right behind our mower follows a
force putting up stack poles. Any
ten-foot pole will answer, as it has to
stand only a short while. A pole set,
we nail a strip of wood-readily riven
from pine OF any wood that splits
easiiy-about four feet long, placing
it about one foot above the ground,
and Immediately above another SINH
lar strip nailed crosswise the first.
These strips serve to keep the bottom
of the stack of vines from resting on
the ground androtting in wet seasons.
Brush will answer as well or even
better, though it is not practicable
where a great many stack poles are
to be protected. We put up about g.
600 stacks every fall. We have cured
vines without my rotting at all when
nc protection t all was used at the
bottom of IL ok.
Well, the STAG poles planted, we
follow right behind the mower and
make stacks of the vines as high as
the poles and about four feet in diam
eter, sloping and smoothing the
stacks at the top so as to shed water.
No attention or thought need
be given the stacks till the vines are
ouLltItbtIN SuiCo W TX tuICSuCd anu
shredded, and a beautiful and most
excellent lot of forage you will have,
too; all cured green and sweet. 1t
tastes sweet, almost like sugar cane.
The shredding should be done as soon
after the vines are cured as practical
BILE, as the longer the stacks stand
the deeper the weather affects the
n,rae pac;1oc hoJ ,-aaflar &c mt 70
come later in the fall and hinder the
shredding.
We have found the above mode to
work perfectly even in seasons like
1901, the wettest ever known here. My
neighbors who let their vines lay to
cure, or even to wilt, had them badly
damaged. We went right ahead reap
ing and stacking every hour that the
standing vines were not actually wet
with rain and lost not an armful of
forage.
Having thus, to our complete salts
OF curing the hay, we plant 100 acres
Of peas annually. The result is that
1--WE have an abundance of excellent
forage to use and much to sell. Our
work animals are the wonder and adj
miration of the neighborhood, though
their work is the heaviest in the coun-
ty, our 200 acres of strawberries re-
curing at least eight plowings from
May to September to keep them per-
fectly clean. / have calculated that
one horse in giving these eight plow-
ings would have to travel nearly 5000
miles.
The stubble fields from which the
vines are cut are plowed under as
soon as practicable and in October or
November plowed again and prepared
for Strawberries. When the straw
berries come off the fields are again
drilled to peas. BY this rotation u
land, the poorest in the county, it
was said when we started, has be-
come about the best. The peas fit
the soil for any crop, but they seem
just the thing to put it in perfect
tilthNfor Strawberries. Our fields are
rich in humus, just the condition that
the strawberry revels in, flourishing
like the green bay tree; and through
| the pea has come the salvation of our
/ land and of ourselves.-O. w. Black
nall, Vice-President N. G.. Horticul-
tural Society.
THE WHIPPOORWILL PEA.
n---uk- - - Mad NTaAA NV Tho A.