Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-08-13
FIELD PEAS FOR FEED
Experiments in Raising Peas Show
Prolific Yields in Palouse
Country

An interesting experiment is be.
! ing conducted by the federal gov
eminent at Washington State
| College at Pullman, in raising
field peas for forage The expert
ments are being conducted by NJ.
W. Evans. who has charge Of the
work for the department of agri-
lcuiture at Washington, ID. G. Mr..
Evans is an expert in his line and
lis working under the direct super
vision of {. V Piper, formerly
professor of botany, zoology and
entomology at Washington State
College. but now in charge Of for
Iage crop investigation for the ma
ltlonal government.
Experiment stations have been
established throughout the west
and Mr.. Piper has charge of this
line of work Mr.. Evans is his
representative here. The depart
lment has a dozen different plats
on the State College farm and each
Iplat IS devoted to a separate pro
duct. One Of the largest plats,
containing a few acres, is devoted
to field peas and has 125 different
varieties growing there.
The work of harvesting these
| peas has been in progress for some
time and some phenomenal yields
are being gathered, The highest
yield 30 date is So bushels per
acre, and the lowest 30 bushels.
Many yields Of 48, 80 and So
bushels have been harvested on
some of the plats. The peas are
being gathered by hand, shelled
lout and weighed and tested Each
plat contains a certain number
of square feet, and a certain frac-
ton Of an acre, thus it is easy
to obtain the average yield per
acre Of the different plats.
In addition to the seed the
vines OF the peas are regarded as
splendid feed, and are consider
ed to be worth more than twice
rs much for stock feed as oat
straw. BY cutting the peas a lit
/ tie green the straw or vines is
| found to make feed almost equal
to ordinary hay, and the peas.
when threshed, make the best feed
grown in this country for cattle,
hogs and horses Peas are the
most highly heterogeneous feed
grown in the west being worth
more than twice as much as bar
ley for fattening purposes. 1t is
better to grind or soak the peas,
and some prefer to cook them for
hog feed The prize steers be-
ing fed at Washington State Col
lege for exhibition at the fat stock
show at Seattle in September, are
being fattened largely on pea
meal, made from peas grown on
the college farm.
The enormous amount of feed
that can be produced on an acre
when planted to peas makes field
peas a profitable crop to grow.
Washington State College and
the Oregon Railroad & Naviga.
ton company distributed many
tons of field peas for seed in east.
ern Washington last spring. with
a view to inducing farmers to
raise them on land that would
otherwise be summer fallowed. Il
is claimed that the peas leave the
ground in better condition than
if it had been summer falloweC
and that it produces a better croI
of wheat the next year than if il
had stood idle If farmers car
Iproduce such crop as has beer
grown by the experiment station
lit will certainly pay better thar
to let the land stand idle and il
will cost less to raise an acre OF
peas than to summer fallow the
land, thus making the crop al
most net profit, deducting only
the cost Of the seed and harvest
ing, for the work Of cultivatine
will be no more than the work Of
cultivating summer fallow as il
should be cultivated.