The Rich Hill tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1903-1911, 1906-04-05
Cow Peas as Soil Renovators.

SoR cas- IS sui AAcAAnN aAtE5'
weekly Agricultural letter.
The cow pea Is not half uppreci
ated hy the average Missouri farmer.
As a soil renovutor il is as efficient
ms clover. and does its work much
more quickly. There are "a few
crops that leave the ground more
loose and iriable. 1t has the adj
vantage OF clover in being quickly
grown. and Of being SURF of Il
stand.
The chief difficulty in the way Of
q general use OF COW peas lies in the
expense OF the seed. but improved
means OF handling the crop for grain
will undoubtedly cause this to dis
appear in time.
An instance of the value OF the
cowpea in Increasing the productive
ness oil land for other crops may be
cited from one OF the experiments at
the Agricultural Experiment sta
ton. 4 plot Of land Of ordinary
iertility;-a piece Of rolling upland
prairie loan. producing ON average
seasons "A yield Of between - and IS
bushels OF wheat was sown to whip
poorwiu peas soon after the wheut
vas removed in July. BY the sec
ond week Ia September these peas
were coming into pod and were cut
for hay. The land was disccd, har-
rOwed and again sOwn to wheat.
This practice has been continued for
six years, securing a crop OF wheat
and n crop OF cowpea hay each
year. In this time, there has not
been a failure in eowpeas, although
on moist summer the yield has been
much greater than In the drier
years, ranging from ton to > tons
Of cured hay per acre. As To the
yield Of wheat Il has gradually in
creased, averaging about 30 bushels
the last two years with the quality
much better than that from land
not so treated.
Under this system the cowpeas
are put 10 with a grain drill at the
rate Of a bushel per acre every hoe
OF the drill running, or at the rate of
three pecks with every other hoe
working. II Is better for the land
90 leave Il completely covered. ana
the hay Is liner where the stand Is
thick. although the quality Of pods
produced Is less. Under this system
however, Il rarely happens that the
pods al be allowed TO ripen In ans
amount, so that seed production Is
not 80 important as getting the
ground we'll covered. Care must DE
taken not 20 get the peas ln too
especially e q bCutiag rain
should follow, ns they are sure TO
come up slowly and ieebly under
such conditions. Il the ground Is
reasonably moist, shallow sowing
Is much better aud drilling viii be
found much more economical III n
broadcastiug.
II Is Of cOurse not expected that
this system Is capable Of very wide
extension ia farm practice, nor f. it
exactly % be recommended for
many soils, since II IL readily seen
that the cowpeas supply only hu-
mus, and the element nitrogen. ana
the time will come sooner or later
when the yield win decrease because
Of the exhaustion of the available
supplies Of PHOSPHORUS aud potas
The inability 20 handle a
acreage Of cowpea hay quickly
enough 20 get Il of for tic wheat.
unless much additional help he em-
ployed. also prohibits this practice
on "a very extensive scale. yet the
II being practieed 90 some
IN the wheat counties Of the
State, aud for particular cases may
be quite widely used.
The = Of eOwpeas as a crop
IA after bats aud plowed
under, or even made Into hay will
be profitable, especially Ia those
southern and central counties OF the
State where oats are grown. ON
soils lacking Ia hunus, aud thus
leedlug nitrogen this practice of
Flowing pndsg would ba espselgpyl