The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-20
ACRICUL TURAL DEPARTMENT

will not pay the market gardener to at
tempt growing and stalking up peas.
Gardeners generally grow the dwarf sort.
For tha home gsrden where brush is con-
venient and help cheap, it might pay to
grow 4 few of the tall varieties. OF the
tall Sorts Champion of England and the
Merrowfats are among the very best;
while from dwarf there are many more
good sorts to select from. OF the early
dwarf smooth sorts there are none better
or more profitable for the gardener than
Alaska and First ana Best. This last
sort is sold un6er at least half dozen
different names, sucf, as Morning Star,
Philadelphia Extra Early, etc, etc. while
NEST seedmen prefix their names before
1t, calling 1t A. B. or Cs Extra Early or
First in Market. This sort is pcrahaps
mere generally used by gardeners than
any other.
Among the dwarf 9rinkled sorts, the
Notts Excelsior Is perhaps the best and
will meet every requirement by making
continued paintings. This variety crops
well and is one of the sweetest and best
ever grown. They grow from twelve to
6fteen inches nigh, and the vines bear
Ian &C crops OF large Well-hlled pods They
can be grown very closely and so can be
highly recommended for small family
gardens, as we'll for general market
purposes.
Continued plsntings of peas should be
made throughout this month and as the
Yves Their becomes warmer cover the seed
the deeper. Peas are easily and cheaply
cultivated and Fay we'll
Velvet Beans.
This wonderful forage plant seems to
have just begun drawing the attention
of our farmers. So much has been said
and written of this wonderful plant of
late, that | thought 1t well worth my
while to be At consdt rable time and de-
lay in investigating the claims made for
1t. So l visited a number of farms last
summer In South Alabama and Florida
where the plant was being grown. [ was
at once greatly surprised at the rapid
growth and enormous yield of the plant
The plant makes the very best OF feed
and all stock are very fond of 1t and will
soen fatten il fed all they will eat of it,
1t is equally good for working teams and
where work horses or mules are fed all
they will eat of II they require very lit
tie grain feed. Then, too, the plant will
grow on our poorest thin sandy or clay
soils l saw great crops of 1t growing on
some Of the poorest sandy lands in both
Alabama and Florida. So far, the plant
has not been largely grown, except along
the coast country, where IL is fast taking
the place of COW or stock peas. as It will
produce more thar twice as much feed
per acre as the COW pea. Each season,
for several past, finds 1t crawling further
north until now the formers in this sec
ton have become greatly interested in 1t
And. So l have a number Of requests for
this article on how when and how much
to plant per acre. The plant is a legumin-
Gus one and Is quite tender when young,
ana is very sensitive to cold and so like
otEer plants OF this kind should not be
planted until all danger of frost Is past
and the weather becomes settled and
warm. They may be safely planted when
1t 10 safe to plant cotton and other tender
plants. The plant is used largel? as a
fertilizer as well for hay. and in this
respect is very valuable being a great
soil renovatsr or enricher. The plant
makes such 4 dense &; owth that it shades
the whole land and thus protects II from
the not summer SUM- very great advant-
age in building up poor lands. The land
intended for this crop should be broken
up early and deep and kept well cult!vat-
cd and he rrowed fine before planting the
crop. The seed can be sown broadcast
ano plowed in or much better still will it
be to furrow out rows as for corn four
feet wide and plant two or three beans
every two feet in the rows. Cultivate
several times, or until the vines start to
run, when they will then take care OF
themselves and no weeds anything
else can outgroW them or in any way
hinder their growth after once tnty are
we'll started off. The seed. when fully
ripe and dry, are very han d, but when
left out on the ground exposed to the
weather they soon soften SO that they
car be easily eaten by all stock. SO far
as l was able to learn, no effort has been
made In testing the value of the dry seed
as feed by cooking or by grinding anu
, mixing with other feed. The only effort
or object in growing was fer hay and for
onrfching the land. AS the vines produce
such enormous crops or dry beans it
seems that they would be very valuable
Tor grinding up and mixing with other
| Iced and no doubt experiments along
| this line will soon be made. The pods are
about three inches long purple in color
and covered with thick veIvet-likc SUBJ
stence. The pods are set in great clus-
tiers. ana where the vines find anything
TO run up on they bear enoi nous ouantl-
Ties or beans. They are rapid climbers
ana run up over fences, young tees or
any support that they may come in con-
tact with.
They are planted largely for shading
porches and arc great success in this
respect. Last season we distributed
quite few for this purpose hero at Bir-
iningham. and IRON. The reports gave en-
.He satsidctloni in TACT so much so,
that many who used them are calling for
them again this season They are so
cheap that any one can afford to use
them, as 1--WE cents worth would cover
any porch Of the whole house and any
small yard. too, for that matter One
peck to half bushel would be the greatest
OF pleaty to plant an acre. The Only OBJ
1ectionable features 1 saw about them
was their inclination to shed off the
leaves when being cured and handled for
hay. This can be prevented by cutting
them before shey get too ripe and shock
ing them up right after the mower like
clover hay, and letting them cure in the
shock. 1t will not dc to leave them ex-
posed to the hot sun when cut. as this
Will cause too great a loss ry the leaves
shedding eff So that much danapSs ~