The Raymer enterprise., 1911-06-22
.HAMus ON DRY fARA
Native Of Syria, and Delights in
Hot, Dry Weathers
Il 10 Not Affected BY Hot Winds, a.
Corn and Other Grains, and Ma.
turss In elk to Eight Weeks
From Planting. :.

Al sn0 bUmm0T Ol 1SVV ul0O VI .
claim on which am living today. and
since then have been studying the
climate and the soil Of this country,
writes q. Rixk Of Stanley county.
South Dakota. In the Orange Judd
Farmer. The more l studied the bet.
ter ! felt. because 1t put me in mind
OF the place where l was born and
raised. on the farm Of Jim Janeen e.
Bakka. about IS miles from Damascus,
Syria. In that section many good
crops are raised without drop Of
summer rain. So not long after SET
tling here l sent to the old. country
and got about three pounds OF hamus.
This 10 pea that We always depend.
ed upon for summer crops. and table
vegetable.
BY the way, must tell what ha-
mus Is like, and for what and how
y 10 used. This plant is Q member Of
tho pea family and used practically
the same way for cooking. and It may
also be roasted and salted or sugared
a. 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 a
small package Of the seed and asked
him to try 1t on his place. The bal.
ance OF the seed l planted myself.
Tho first lot l seeded May II, 1910.
! planted two rows on q well-worked
seed bed. placing the seed 1s inches
apart in row with the same distance
between. The other portion Of the
seed I 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 1t was cold the lat.
ter part Of May, and the seed did not
germinate until the weather became
warm. After spring really opened It
did not take long for the plants to
come up. probably from i've to eight
days.
After hamus was planted we had no
rain worth mentioning: In fact, we
had only light shower about June
20. which was not even enough to set.
tie the dust. and that was the first and
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 thistle, about ~ to is inches
high and about the same in diameter.
1t blossoms and produces pods which
contain one Of the peas. ordinarily
only one. The seeds are q trifle larg.
er than the common garden pea. and
have a cream.colored hull.
It seems strange that natural salt
accumulates on the plant while green,
and yet 1t is fact, and when this is
washed out 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 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. l might add that | found from
so to 100 pods on a 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 a
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 a trial, and
secured seed for them. In all have
made three importations. and shall
grow about 300 acres. | 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 1t will be a good
thing. for the arid and semi.arid west