The Paonia progressive and the Paonia newspaper., 1911-06-22
HAMUS ON DRY FARM
Native of Syria, and Delights in
Hot, Dry Weather.
Il is Not Affected by Hot Winds, as
Corn and Other Grains, and Ma
tures in Six to Eight Weeks
From Planting.

In the summer of 1900 fled on .
claim on which / am living today, ana
since then l have been studying the
climate and the soil of this country,
writes E. Rizk of Stanley county,
South Dakota. in the Orange Judd
Farmer. The more / studied the bet
ter felt, because 1t put me in mind
of the place where ! was born and
raised, on the farm of Jim Janeen FL
Bakka. about 35 miles from Damascus.
Syria. In that section many good
crops are raised without a drop Of
summer rain. So not long after set
tling here / sent to the old country
and got about three pounds Of hamus
This is a pea that we always depend
ed upon for summer crops. and a table
vegetable.
By the way. must tell what ha-
mus is like. spd for what and how
It is used This plant is a member of
the pea family and used practically
the same way for cooking. and 1t may
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 / showed the
pea to my neighbor and gave him a
small package Of the seed and asked
him to try II on his place. The bal
ance Of the seed ! planted myself
The first lot seeded May II. 1910.
l planted two rows on a wellworked
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 II was cold the lat
ter part OF May. and the seed did not
germinate until the weather became
warm. After spring really opened 1t
did not take long for the plants to
come up. probably from Eve to eight
days.
After hamus was planted we had no
rain worth mentioning. In fact. we
had only a light shower about June
20. which was not even enough to set
tie the dust. and that was the first aud
last ! received after planting the crop
until after harvest The plants. did
splendidiy and grew as fast as Rus
sian thistles. The stalks grow much
like the thistle. about IL to Is inches
high and about the same in diameter
II blossoms and produces pods which
contain one OF the peas. ordinarily
only one. The seeds are a trifie larg-
er than the common garden pea. and
have a cream-colored hull
j, seems strange that natural salt
accumulates en- the plant while green.
and yet II Is a fact. and when this is
washed out By rain {: delays growth
The drier the season and the hotter
the weather the better the plant
seems to thrive. II 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 we had a 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 found from
so TO l6o pods on a plant. and every
pod contained one and sometimes two
seeds. In my estimation hamus will
yield las much as 40 bushels per acre