The Grenada sentinel., 1903-04-25
FARMER AND PLANTER.
PLANT COW PEAS.


lands throughout the south is vegeta-
BILE matter. have made this state
ment in former articles, but it will
bear repeating. Under the hot sun of
summer, and long-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
haustion took place, we must supply
once more the vegetable matter and
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
cd 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 than 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 the cheaper ele-
ments, phosphoric acid and potash,
which only cost 5 cents per pound,
and use those to help the peas hy en-
abling them to make 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, us [ 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 not
enough all at once. to enable our
peas to make the growth they
should. Therefore, we apply 200
pounds OF 400 pounds per acre If u
fertilizer which will analvze 10 per
cent. phosphoric acid and 10 per cent.
potash. If the land is clay aid the
former growth indicated by it's weak
land was very deficient in nitrogen we
would even go SO far as to add PEI
cent. of this expensive element to the
| mixture, and make the potash 8 per
cent. instead of 10 per cent. If, on
the other hand, the land is sandy, we
should deduct this 2 per cent. from
the phosphoric acid instead Of the
| potash. The idea is to give the peas
every opportunity to make II 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
structural growth of plants-wken
these plants die and decay the am
monia, phosphoric acid anil potash
they contained become very soluble,
and any crop can take it up easily and
! will flourish. .~..
But why rse cow peas? Will not
| weeds turned under, or rye, d. as
| well? No. While rye is good rs ;, win
| ter cover crop to be turned under ir
| the spring and will add some vegcta
ble matter to the soil, still it adds no
nitrogen besides that which it took
from the soil itself. It is the same
with weeds with the exception Of
those of a leguminous nature l'1te the
beggar weed. -
There is still another reason. how
81 81.
other crops as a soil improver, and
that is because it will make larger
growth of top and root on 7ery poor
land It is, in short, @capabfe of ap-
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 COW pea, and we
earnestly recommend it wherever the
season is long enough for it to ma
ture. -. ....
In selecting a renovating crop we
want one that will not only capture
nitrogen from the air, but that will
penetrate deep into the soil with its
roots and pump up plant fo.r! 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 it's praise: It is
true that hundreds of our southern
farmers fully appreciate it's merits.
while even at the north, the earlier
sorts are being grown; but in spite
OF the advance which has been made,
we are still far from utilizing this