Arizona republican., 1918-06-03
RICH VALLEY SOIL
 MAY BE MADE RICHER

Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant lndustry) "Cowpeas for hay pro- duction are very advantageously grown in mixture with sorghum, su- dan grass. or other crops. Very good results are. obtained by growing cow peas with sorghum or corn in culti- vated rows for grazing or for ensilage"
 This is a good suggestion for the nodules on the cowpea roots will directly supply nitrogen to the roots of the other plants near enough so the hair roots of these other plants come in contact with the nodules. To illustrate this method of direct feed ing and the wonderful results ob- tained, let me mention what it did for a tomato field m California. The tomatoes were planted seven feet apart. and beans planted between the rows. The owner says that just be- fore the beans began to blossom was the period when the tomato plants showed the most progress. On exam ination he found we'll developed mo- dulles on the bean roots and noticed the hair-roots of the tomato vines in some cases mixed in the bean roots. Wherever this happened the tomato plant was very large and covered with fruit and blossoms. The beans were inoculated with a pure culture called, Westrobac. and these twenty acres where the beans were planted be- | tween the rows produced a highly profitable crop of beans although trampled down some, and produced | approximately six and seven pounds more tomatoes per plant, and this field showed an increase of from three to three and one-half tons more of tomatoes per acre, and sold the in ter-crop beans, for enough to pay the entire expense of both crops.
 | Although the cowpea is extensively inter-cropped with the ensilage crops, it is not the best legume to be used for this purpose, as 1t mats heavily and this makes it hard to cut with | the other crop.
 The soy bean is the best to use when to be harvested for ensilage, as the soy bean grows a straight-up | stalk and does not interfere with the cutting.
 Many people estimated that inter- cropping soy beans and cowpeas will double the corn or maize seed ton mage, but 1t is safer to plan on get ting about twenty-five per cent for tonnage. It will, however, cause a good increase and is one of if not the most important thing to do this sum-
 mer on our ranches, for 1t will pay us bountifully as follows: First, in- crease the seed production; second, leaves a hay even richer in food value than alfalfa, which will balance per fectly with the rest of the inter-
 crop; third, leaves more humus in
 the soil than the other crop takes
 away; fourth, leaves more than
 enough nitrogen than is required to produce several such crops. In fact
 the field would then be in much bet
 ter fertility for fall planting of alfalfa
 than 1t was before this inter.cror
 was planted.
 There is hardly a crop we cannot
 inter crop a leRume with, and every
 time we do this 1t increases the pro-
 duction and leaves a fertility which
 cannot be replaced except at pro-
 hibitive cost per acre. Who could
 afford to put $30000 and s400.00 wortf of nitrogen on an acre, and why have
 to do this when the same amount o
 nitrogen can be had with one goo6 : inoculated cover crop of legumes. l This valley has the best growing 7 climate in the United States ant
 our soil can be made the richest il
 the world. This can be done and b' l making a good profit at the same , time. I am willing to help every on'
 in this valley to work for this enc in view. All you have to reques my. services, and they are free fo the asking.