Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1909-05-21

VALUABLE CROP FOR
SALT RIVER VALLEY
The Cow Pea Exploited as the Friend
of the AsrieuIturist and Hortieultur-
ist

j. H. Fleming, manager of the Ari-
iona Orange association has erred just
little bit in not giving greater pub
lclty to some information he has been
in possession of all the time, concern
ing species of bean known as the
cow pea. True the matter has not been
Kept entirely as a secret nor is Mr..
Fleming the only man in the world. or
even in these parts, who has a familiar
acquaintance with the COW pea, but he
is one of the few and probably the
only one who has offered the seed of
this plant for sale here. He has not
tried particularly hard to sell the seed
but has placed a car load of 1t with
r. P. Davie to plant on his lands aft
er the beet crop is harvested, and w.
]. Murphy has bought enough to plant
300 acres. II only costs $275 per BUSH
ell and a bushel of it will plant an acre.
Mr.. Fleming merely sold this seed from
force of habit for he comes from a
country where its worth is known and
as he wanted some himself he made
up an order for the gentlemen named.
Speaking of the fact yesterday
Mr.. Fleming said that at least 10000
acres in this valley should be planted
TO COW peas every year and in giving
reasons for the statement he said lot
of things that many people here do not
know about, and some who do know
Nae not given proper consideration.
In the frs place almost everybody
knows the need o. nitrogen in almost
any soil to replace that taken oy ssron-
in haa
tain plants stores up vast quantities
of this nitrogen, in the little nodules
that form their home on the roots of
the plants. One of the best producers
of these nitrogen gathering bacteria is
the COW pea and Mr.. Fleming says that
the value of a crop of cow peas plant
ed on any land after a crop of grain
or anything else, then allowed to rot
in the ground after being turned un-
der, is worth more to the land as a
fertilizer than the cost of the planting
and after planting a fact that will sbe
shown by the succeeding crop on the
land whatever it may be. And the cost
is only the cost of the seed and the
planting. and a little irrigating. No
cultivating is needed.
I1OWcNeI Il IdfIIltT might just as Wen
have all that is coming 10 him so If he
wants to he can make a good crop
of hay out of the foliage of the plants
or he can let them mature and get the
seed for the next year. The plant
grows rapidly and rankly and will
make heavy hay crop. Cattle eat it
as delicious morsel and will leave
alfalfa for COW peas at any time. The
hay is about the richest in protein Of
anything that can be fed to a dairy
herd. and suits the cattle better.
wherefore the hay crop is worth much
more than the cost of raising il and
there is left in the ground the roots
and stubble for fertilizer.
Another thing says Mr. Fleming, is
the value of the crop as a retainer of
moisture If the cow peas are planted
in an orchard. He has planted them in
his orchard and saws that most of the
orange orehardists of the valley are
preparing to do so. After the ground
is well titled and wet the peas come
up and then the summer irrigations
are allowed to percolate through the
grass or foliage or whatever one calls