The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-01-02
BY |. l. IOIIEN.

| its the greatest crop a farmer can
raise"
! This was the answer to the question
l asked a farmer who has raised COW
peas for the past ten years. His friends
| say that if there is anything in the
! theory of the transmigration of the
soul he will surely be a cowpea, and
hardy plant at that, when he switches
| to the other life.
| Il can make more money raising
cowpeas, take it one year with anoth-
er, than l can raising any other kind
of CROP said he. Wheat does not
compare with it at all"
Replying to my question as to the
yield per acre, and the price it usually
brings, he said that it yielded from
| fifteen to thirty-five bushels per acre,
depending on the conditions, and
brought from S1.25 to S1.45 per bush
! ell
His crop rotation is corn, oats and
cowpeas.
Come with me- said he. IF you
want to see what cowpeas will do as a
| fertilizer"
| | followed him to the corn field and
he showed me where he had had COW
| peas and where there had been none
! in the same field 1t could be seen to
the row where the cowpeas had been,
because the corn crop was nearly
third larger on that part of the field.
Il prefer cowpeas to clover as a pas
| ture for hogs" he exclaimed. Il can
fatten a bunch of hogs quicker while
they are on the cowpeas than l can in
any other way.
He says that five acres of cowpeas
will fatten two hundred head of hogs.
! If that is a fact, although it does not
look possible, surely it is wonderful
crop and a highly remunerative one.
Last year, because of the heavy
rains just at the time I wanted to har-
vest the cowpeas, I had to let them go
without harvesting them. | then turn
ed my hogs in the field and you should
have seen them grow. l was not ready
at that time to begin fattening them
and when they had cleaned UP the
| field began feeding corn but they did
not do as we'll on the corn as they had
| been. doing on the cowpeas.
Big Difference.
| He claims that he can see big diff
| ference in the crop that follows the
cowpeas even though the cowpeas
and not plowed under for the fertilix-
! ing elements which they add to the
soil.
Il can grow cowpeas on soil that is
too thin to raise clover and it will
withstand the extreme weather condi-
, tons better than clover" he contin-.
ued, because it does not freeze out
and it does not burn out.
1T is practically impossible to grow
clover on thin sandy soil, but cowpeas
seem to thrive there and each succeed
ing crop yields better"
He often pastures his mich COWS
on the cowpea meadows, and when
they are feeding on this crop they
produce more milk than when they are
fed ensilage.
AS an all around crop, he claims that
it beats any other crop that is raised
on the farm.
Cattle, horses, hogs and poultry all
do we'll on it.
Cowpea meal contains twenty per
cent proetin.
The cowpea meal is certainly fine
for hogs, and it certainly is great for
part of the mash for poultry
What do you do for hay l asked.
You don't grow timothy"
do for hay was the reply, why
there isn't any better hay on earth
than cowpea hay.
Il can keep my horses in better
shape on cowpea hay than you can on
timothy, and I will not have to use as
much of it either as you will of the
timothy. 1t must be fed sparingly"
"Is it made the same as any other
hay?" was my next question.
Yes, it is usually cut with the now
ing machine and cured. Then it is run
through the huller.
when it is placed in the NOW put
in a layer about twelve inches deep
and then sprinkle salt over it, then
another layer a foot deep and more
salt. This is done until all the hay is
in the now
About Seed.
l asked him if he had any difficulty
in disposing of the seed, and he said
that there was a big demand at all
times for it. The local buyer was al
ways eager to get more than was pro-
duced, because he had standing orders
for more car loads than he was able
to fill.
An old negro woman told the feed
store man that down in the south they
used the cowpea meal for making
bread and she said that they consid-
cred it treat to get it.
This cowpea enthusiast may be BIZ
ased on the subject and over estimate
the value of this crop; yet what l have
seen of the cowpea crop I must say
that it is very profitable one to grow.