The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-03
6fN NEN)anaaa!V VIEWS {(1f!eg4E!FARnER,} (1!g4!


picking pods Is 30 to 40 cents per 1oo oo
 pounds, and it takes approximately ioY
 pounds of dry pods to make one bushe, n
 cents per bushel merely to get the pods
 picked from the vines This makes the
 seed expensive, and to degree. dimin-
 ishes the demand for seed from whicn
 to produce pea hay. No othe~ grain or
 cereal crop in this age of machlnery
 would stand such hand metnods ana show a profit. Hand picking and hanu threshine should be displaced by ma chine methods.
 am aware that few men here, and there have sowh peas broadcast allow ed them to ripen, cut them with now ing machine and threshed them with grain separator, operated by a steam method
 ; It Is my observation, however. that peas produce a larger yield of seed when sowed in rows and cultivated, than when sowed broadcast; and l be. lieve they should be sowed in rows If seed instead of hay. is the object. But machine is wasteful thing with which | to cut them. for 1t shatters many pods and wastes seed.
 | Use of Machlnery.
 ! am told by some men that q pea picking machine Is used in Tennessee. but they testify that it also waS'e es much seed.
 1, therefore, suggest d method of har- vesting which has been used success
 avy ss beans m NeW iosk 'ae aed MsSgan The bean harvestersis Is just as much U necessity in the bean fields of these grain fields of the world. 1t is two horse machine. simple and inexpensive. and 1t harvests two rows at time by blades which cut the roots just beneath | the surface of the ground in manner similar to. but not identical, with the stalks: Such machine will harvest 10 to I? acres of beans per day without shatterirg I single pod and 1t leaves stGnE bey sS tha5 ns bundles. pitched into q hay wagon and l taken to barn or stack
 The next step in the business is to Use the bean separator, which reScm- bles wheat separator. but has fewer teeth in the syIinder and fewer con caves Vines. pods and all. are fed into It turns out from 100 to 800 bushels of beans per day. leaving the bean straw | in fine condition for feeding.
 l There is certainly no reason why the bean harvester will not work on cow peas. for the two plants are almost Identical in their habits of growth; but when 1t comes to threshing there Is Il real difference between cOw-peas and navy beans. for the latter are tough and do not nr,,sIPd sPiit , essily whereas eowpeas tion: Nevertheless, cow-p peas are al ready threshed by hand machines with. out splitting them and the same can be | done by large, steam propelled, sepa- rator if the speed of the cylinder is not to" high Peas. for seed, can certainly ser,has pc ,hhaadied by the machinery just de-
 by the hand methods so much In vogue. | Protection From Weevils. | Another difficulty in the pea business
 remains to be named. and that is saw | ing the seed from weevilS, Unless I ia in
 growing 1t. l have. myself, saved seed
 in barrels. by putting bisulphide of
 carbon, properly called 'high-life." in | the barrels and thus killing the weevils | and l know others who have done the ! same.
 | Granting that machinery can be used
 In harvesting the pea crop and that the
 seed can be protected from weevils by the use of bi-sulphide of carbon. what
 is the future of the pea business?
 think that such methods will give | 1t boom which 1t has never known.
 Income Per Acre.
 | When people find that they can raise
 and harvest crop of peas with as lit- | tie expense as they can raise and har- | vest crop of corn, and that they can
 get 20 to 30 bushels per acre and sell
 gross income of $30 to $45 per acre, l there will be many that will go into
 the business. On the sandy lands of
 East Texas. peas will produce as many | or more bushels per acre than corn, and | the price Is more than twice as high as | corn is.
 | By such methods. there would be a | good profit in raising the Lady and | the Black-eyed peas for table use A | grocer informs me that his trade pre- fer peas of the Lady variety to navy
 beans, but 1t Is seldom he can get these 1 peas and they cost him four cents per | pound. l Why not, then, grow Lady peas. and supply not only the Southern market.
 but push them into the Northern mar ket in competition with navy beans. They are better than the latter when | cooked in the same way, and am sure | they need only be put before people eyes to make place for themselves l In the dietary of the people of the Limited States.
 l Why should not peas become an inn portant money crop, both for hay and
 mere side-show in the agriculture of l our time. Why not have 20. 50 or 100 acres Of peas as one has that much | corn, except for the fact that men | that is the only reason. is it not easily remedied? And what boon 1t would prove to agriculture indirectly if the pea raising business became really inn | portant Even the pea roots which are l left in the ground are worth several l dollars per acre as fertilizer. for they | contain some of the nitrogen which the | plant gathered from the air. Every | crop grows better after peas than after non -leguminous crops like corn. wheat and oats. hence extension of the pea | crop means richer land for all that fol- lows.
 Many farmers speak of the cow-pea as if it was one of many varieties Of peas This Is a mistake. for the name 'cow- pea Is the general name which | includes all varieties of the species vigna catjany. Thus, Red Ripper, Wonderful. Gray Goose. Whipporwill, Lady Clay. Black and Black Eye peas l tno Iut n others and all different varieties of the cow pea.