The Tupelo journal., 1903-04-24
FARMERANDP PLANTER
PLANT cow PEAS.
The Grentest Need of Southern Farm
Ina Lands is Vegetable Matter,
and Cow Peas supply 1t.

The greatest need of our farming
tands throughout the south is vegeta-
bic matter. l have made. this state
ment in former articles. but it will
bear repeating. Under the hot sun of
summer, and lo%ng-continued rain of
winter, the humus in our soil burns
out and washes away very rapidly. and
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 condi-
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-
once more the vegetable matter and
nitrogen of which our lands have
been denuded. l 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 it is much easier and cheaper
to obtain nitrogen from the air by
growing cow peas han it is to pur-
chase it at from Is cents to 20 cents
per pound, in the shape of commercial
fertilizer. If we must buy plant food
at all, let us buy th,. cheaper ele-
ments, phosphoric acid and potash,
which only cost 5 cents per pound,
and use those to help the peas by n
abling them to make a larger growth,
capture more of the nitrogen from
the air.
But why should we purchase even
these chemicals" you ask, IF we al
ready have an abundance If them in
our soil?" Because, as [ said before,
they have become unavailable through
the exhaustion of the vegetable mat
ter. . We may make some f them
available by tillage, it is true, but hot
enough all at once, to enable our
peas to make the growth they
should. Therefore. we apply 200
pohHbo VI " POhliIS pei dtlC VI a
fertilizer which will a~nalvze 10 per
cent. phosphoric acid and 10 per cent.
potash. If the land is clay and the
former growth indicated by its weak
and yellowish appearance that such
land was very deficient in nitrogen we
would wen go so far as to add , per
cent. of this expensive element TO the
mixture, and make the potash s per
cent. instead of 10 per cent. If, on
the other hand, the and is sandy. we
should deduct this 2 per cent. from
the p~hosphoric acid instead Of the
potash. The idea is to give the peas
every opportunity to make Il good
growth to begin with. After this it
will not be necessary to purchase any
nitrogen at all. as they will be storing
it in the soil themselves.
You must understand that once we
get any kind of plant food converted
into an organic form, that is. into the
structural growth of plants-when
these plants die and decay the am
monia, phosphoric acid and potash
they contained become very soluble,
and any crop can take it up easily and
will flourish.
But why rise cow peas? VIII not
weeds turned under, Or rye, do as
well? No. While rye is good us =. win
ter cover crop to be turned under IL
the spring and will add some vescta-
bic matter to the soil, still it adds no
nitrogen besides that which it took
from the soil itself. 1t is the same
with weeds with the exception Of
those of a leguminous nature l;ke the
beggar weed.
There is still another reason, how
ever, why the cow pea is superior to
other crops as a soil improver, and
hat is because it will make a larger
growth of top and root on very poor
land. 1t is, in short, capable Of APP
propriating more of the dormant
plant food already in the soil and
converting it into structural growth.
In this respect the velvet bean is even
the superior of the Gov pea, and we
earnestly recommend it wherever the
season is long enough for it to ma
ture.
In selecting a r~enovating crop we
want one that will not only capture
nitrogen from the air, but thai will
penetrate deep into the soil with its
roots and pump up plant food from
below. Then as the plant decays this
plant food is made available for other
crops which are to follow. This he
COW pea accomplishes, and we should
assist it all we can by breaking the
land deeply and preparing it thor
oughly before planting.
Much as has been written in recent
years about the cow pea and its
value as a soil renovator, too much
can not be said in its praise. 1t is
true that hundreds of our southern
farmers fully appreciate its merits,
while even at the north, the earlier
sorts are being grown; but in spite
of the advance which has seen made,
we are still far from utilizing this
crop as we should. What per cent,
think you, of the stubble fields in the
south, after the wheat and oats are
off. will be sown in peas? If my
own locality is any criterion to go by,
it will be less than one-fourth. But
this should not be so. Every acre
should be sown down in peas, and if
you are too busy to attend to this