The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1903-06-12
FARMER AND PLANTER.
PLANT cow PEAS.
The Greatest Need or Southern Farm
ing Lands In Vegetable Matter,
and Cow Peas supply 1t.

lands throughout the SOutn is NeSetd-
BILE matter. / have made this state
ment in former articles, but it will
bear repeating. Under the hot sun of
summer. and ongcontinued rain OF
winter. the humus in our soil burns
out and washes away very rapidly, ana
the nitrogen it contained is lost.
Thus it is that the majority of our
farming lands have become inert. and
the mineral plant food they contain |
has reverted to an unavailable condl- /!
ton and the nitrogen has been used
up, or leached away.
To wake up these lands and put
| them in condition to produce the fine
crops they formerly did before ex-
| haustion took place. we must supply
once more the vegetable matter ana
| nitrogen of which our lands have
been denudcd. speak here with ref
| erence to the clay land of upper Geor-
| gian and adjoining states. On the
| sandy lands near the coast and in the
| greater part of Florida potash is need
ed more than nitrogen: but nearly all
of these lands need organic matter.
Now il is much easier and cheaper
to obtain nitrogen from the air by
growing COW peas than it is to pur-
chase it at from Is cents to 90 cents
per pound. in the shape of commercial
fertilizer If we must buy plant food
at all. let us buy the cheaper ele-
ments. phosphoric ac:d AID potash,
which only cost 5 cents per pound,
and use those to help the peas by en-
abling them to make a larger growth
| capture more Of the nitrogen from
tie air.
But why should we purchase even
these chemicals?" you ask, IF we al
. ready have an abundance "f them III
J our soilo' Because, as | said before,
: they have become unavailable through
the exhaustion of the vegetable mat
) ter. We may make sone # them
available by tillage, it is true, but not
enough all at once. to enable our
peas 20 make the growth they
: should Therefore, we apply 'o>
pounds or 400 pounds per acre "f q
{ fertilizer which will analvze 10 pei
!. cent. phosphoric acid and 10 per cent
4 potash. If the land is clay aid the
| former growth indicated by its weat
] and yellowish appearance that sue'
land was very deficient in nitrogen,w'
would even go so far as to add pc
cent. of this expensive element TO IN
mixture. and make the potash pc
cent. instead of 10 per cent. II, OF
the other hand, the land is sandy, w
should deduct this 2 per cent iron
the phosphoric acid instead Of tn
potash. The idea is to give the pea
every opportunity to make goo
growth to begin with. After tins
will not be necessary to purchase an
nitrogen at all, as they will be storm
it in the soil themselves.
You must understand that once ="
get any kind of plant food converte
into an organic form, that is. into I'll
structural growth of plants-whe
these plants die and decay the an
monia, phosphoric acid anu potas
they contained become very soiuoi
and any crop can take it up easily N
will flourish.
But why rse cow peas? viii n
b.. weeds turned under, or rye, do
tie we'll? No. While rye is good as \ WI
are ter cover crop to be turned under
.e the spring and will add some veset
-. bile matter to the soil, still 1t adds
m. nitrogen besides that which it tot
led from the soil itself. 1t is the san
bod with weeds with the exception
oh. those of a leguminous nature IKE =
:. beggar weed.
-. There is still another reason. no
nv ever, why the cow pea is superior
other crops as soil improver, a
10. that Is because it will make larg
our growth of top and root on very pc
ON land. 1t is, in short, capable CT
'e propriating more of the dorma
-. plant food already in the soil a
IRE. converting it into structural grow
ur,I In this respect the velvet bean IS ev
the sunerior of the cow pea, and
,uid earnestly recommend it wherever
IS to season is long enough for 1T to n
-, ture.
'n- In selecting a renovating crop
want one that will not only capt.
inter- nitrogen from the air, but that
men penetrate deep into the soil VITA
roots and pump up plant fo"a If
below. Then as the plant decays t
6.e nlant food is made available for OF
!s;s- crops which are to follow. This
5 70 cow pea accomplishes. and we sho
assist it all we can by breaking
land deeply and preparing it tn
en-. ouehly before planting.
- Much as has been written in rec
wears about the cow pea ana
value as a soil renovator. too IN
10 can not be said in its praise. 4
true that hundreds of our south
farmers fully appreciate its mel
while even at the north, the ear
sorts are being grown; but IN s
Of the advance which has been mi
we are still far from utilizing
crop as we should. What per C
think you, of the stubble fields IN
south. after the wheat and oats
OF win be sown in COW peas! IL
own locality is any criterion to go