The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1908-01-17
GOVERNMENT TESTS COW PEAS.
Average Vitality of Last Years Seed
About 60 Per Cent.

The excessively prolonged wet
weather Of last summer not only
wrought havoc in the matter Of har-
vesting the pea crop, but proved ex-
tremely damaging to the quality of
the seed that was harvested. The
softening and molding OF the seeds
caused by the damp weather pro-
duced a tremendous fall in their ger
minating percentages, so that though
farmers have been paying SO and
$3.50 a bushel for cowpea seed, which
In ordinary seasons could be had for
half that price, they have found the
quality of the seed 80 poor that the
stand they have attained this year is
thin and unsatisfactory The Atlanta
Constitutions contained a few days
ago the following review of results
obtained by the government in seed
test made of cowpeas from the south
eastern states:
The seed laboratory of the bureau
of plant industry of the United States
department of agriculture has recent
ly collected samples of cowpea seed
from the states of North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala
bama, Mississippi Louisiana, Arkan-
sas and Tennessee, to the number of
3,706 packages, and these samples
have been carefully tested for vitality.
The. results obtained have been start
ling.
While good grade of seed should
show termination of from 95 to SO
per cent, the seed from four states
only-Arkansas Tennessee, Louisiana
and Florida-showed an average ger
mination of as much as 60 per cent
and only four varieties of cowpeas
contained as many as so live seeds in
each 100-the Iron Taylor, Whip
porwill and New Era varieties. In
the remaining five states from which
samples were secured and with the
ten or more staple varieties OF cow
peas not named above, the average
percentage of termination reached
from 40 to So per cent only.
In these tests the Iron variety,
which stood first, showed a general
average of 1872 per cent, while the
Unknown variety averaged but So per
cent, the Brown-eye less than 53 per
cent and he Black only 53.6 per cent.
After the iron variety the next best
record was made by the Taylor va
riety, with 68.S per cent, and after
that the Whirrorwill, with an average
termination of 66.7 per cent. Next
come the New Era variety, with
general average of 64.2 per cent, while
the fifth on the list, the Clay variety.
dropped to 5S.7 per cent in these
tests, and the Black-eye and the Red
Ripper showed 57.5 and $50 per cent,
respectively.
According to the figures obtained in
connection with the tests mentioned,
the Whipporwill is the most popular
variety, with the Clay second, and the
unknown third.
The testing can easily be done by
means of two dinner plates and a
strip of canton flannel. One hundred
seeds should be counted out from the
package Of seed which 1t is proposed
to SOW, taking the seeds just as they
come without making any selection.
These seeds should be placed on one
end of the wet flannel and laid in one
of the plates, while the other end of
the cloth and other plate should be
IN hA ird
fourth and fifth days the number of
seeds which have sprouted should be
counted and in this simple way the
percentage of seeds which would
sprout If sown in the ground can be
definitely ascLrtained.
For the maintenance of fertility
and the restoration of soils the cow
pea is the greattst acquisition of the
age, there being practically no com
petition in this respect between 1t and
alfalfa, says Farm and Fireside 1t
is with another member of the le-
gume family, clover, that we must
compare the cowpea as fertilizer
and in this comparison it is well able
to hold its own.
That which gives a peculiar value
to the pea is the remarkably short |
period in which it natures and
forms bulk of vegetable matter to
turn under. Glover, as we all know,
requires fifteen months to complete |
its growth; the cowpea only three.
Clover, too, is particular about the |
kind of soil, and will not start read
lily on poor land. While the pea
makes larger growth on rich soil,
yet the ground seldom gets too poor
to sprout peas. On the contrary, rich
soil is not best for them; they make