The Ordway new era., 1911-05-26
Hamus a Dry Farming Plant

"
In the summes OF 1909 l filed on a
claim on which I am living today, and
since then l have been studying the
climate and the soil OF this country.
The more studied the better ! felt,
because 1t put me Ia mind OF the
place where was born and raised, on
the farm OF Jib Janeen e. -Bakka,
about 35 miles from Damascus. Syria.
In that section many good crops are
raised without drop OF summer rain.
So not long after settling here l sent
to the old country and got about
three pounds of hamus. This Is II pea
that we always depended upon for
summer crops, and table vegetable.
BY the way, must tell what hamus
is like, and for what and how 1t Is
used. This plant is Il member OF the
pea family and used practically the
same way for cooking. and IL mag also
be roasted and salted or sugared as
peanuts. In addition it is fine feed for
horses and hogs, and, in fact, for all
kinds of live stock. Last spring about
planting time l showed the pea to my
neighbor and gave him Il small pack
age of the seed and asked him to try
it on his place. The balance of seed
| planted myself.
The first lot ! seeded May II, 1910.
| planted two rows on Il well-wOrkcd
seed bed, placing the seed Is inches
apart in row with the same distance
between. The other portion Of the
seed planted on new breaking: how
ever, this was also well prepared. This
seed was planted the first week of
June Both seedlings came up about
the same time, as it was cold the lat
, ter part OF May. and the seed did not
terminate until the weather became
warm. After spring really opened 1t
did not take long for the plants To
come up, probably from five to eight
days.
After hamus was planted we had no
rain worth mentioning; in fact, we
had only Il light shower about June
20, which'waS not even enough to set
| tie the dust. and that was the firstand
, last received after planting the crop
, until after harvest. The plants did
, splendidly and grew as fast as Rus
sian thistles. The stalks grow much
| like the thisIles. about ITO Ii inches
| high and about the same in diameter.
1t blossoms and produces pods which
contain one to two peas, ordinarily
only one. The seeds are triile larger
than the common garden pea, and
have a cream-cOlUred hull.
1t seems strange that natural salt
accumulates on the plant while green,
and yet it is fact. and when this is
washed Off by rain it delays growth.
The drier the season and the hotter
the weather the better the plant seems
to thrive. 1t is not affected by hot
winds, as corn and other grains, and
natures from six to eight weeks from
planting, depending largely upon the
season. harvested mine while green
last summer for table use on July 5.
On August I we had good rain here
and after that the plants came up and
made more growth the same as before
but produced little seed.
Regarding the yield per acre Of this
crop might add that l found from
so to 100 pods on Il plant, and every
pod contained one and sometimes two
| seeds. In my estimation hamus will
yield as much as 40 bushels per acre.
My neighbor whom l supplied
small quantity of seed was well
pleased, and he intends to grow about
40 acres this season. Many other
farmers here after seeing the plant
determined to give it trial. and l
secured seed for them. In all have
made three impOrtations, and shall
grow about 90 acres myself. l believe
that at least 200 to 500 acres will be
planted in our vicinity. Now as to
the place that hamus will fill in this
country. believe it will be good
thing fof the arid or semiarid west.