Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1918-05-03
|Cow Peas Make
Good Hay Crop
They Arc Drouth-Itcsi.tant and Will
Build Up Worn.Out Soils; and
Farmers Generally Should
An"w More of Them.

More farmers should learn the
value OF GO" peas AZ hay crop and
it soil rcnoyator They have great
valu" rs green manure because OF
heir ability 20 grow on rather poor
soil, and there is no crop in the
South to-day more important for the
building up Of impoverished land.
They grow bette ron poor worn soils
Than any other lcgume except sweet
clover and they are not sensitive to
an acid condition Of the soil like red
clover ana alfalfa. However, COW
peas make their best growth on soil
reasonably open in textre. because
the nitrifying bacteria need or plen
|ty Of air for their best development.
but they also grow very we'll on
compact soil.
| Farmers in Kansas, Oklahoma.
and Texas find cowpeas a valuable
legume crop because of their power
TO withstand drouth. They may
stand still during protracted
drouth and then in a short time af-
tier the rains come they will revive.
make a rapid growth and a satisfac-
tory crop. Cowpeas fit nicely into
short rotations and when clover or
alfalfa is killed out by severe cold
weather or by a drouth there is US
ually still time to SOW cOwpeas to
fill its place in the rotation and the
feed supply for the farm stock. They
lcover the ground well and smother
out weed growth. They also loosen
up the soil and put II in excellent
conditiOn for other crops. such az
potatoes. alfalfa. tomatoes, clover
and wheat
Best Varieties.
Although there are fifty or NOR,
varieties OF cowpeas. there are onl!
, ten or twelve that can usually b'
grown in this country. The Whip
| poorwill New Era. Clay. Red Rip
= per. Crowder The Black, The Un
known. or Wonderful. The Iron. ant
, Warren's Extra Early are some o
the principal forage varieties. O.
these. the Whippoorwill, Quot
Warren ) Extra Early, and the New
Era have an upright bushy growtl
land bear an enormous amount o
~ seed The Unknown and the tla
a Ihave a pronounced tendency to vim
4 and usually produce but little seetd
:. The Black and few other varieti"
Il are fruitful on thin or sandy sol
; bu; win" and fruit sparingly on ric
v land. The Whippoorwill, New Err;
:, and Wnrren's Extra Early will h
!. found the mist satisfactory for ha
:, srops. For "a catch crop after whc:
. or oats. or with corn. one of tn
very early maturing sorts like tn
New Era or Warrrn's Extra Earl
will be found very satisfactory.
u, Methods Of Planting.
Cowpeas are warm-wcather plan
and should not be sown until a
danger OF frost and cold wet wrat
\ or is pas Usually they need not
sown until after the corn -plantin
Iitine. Late sowing favOrS fruitful
ness except in semi-arid region
where lack of rainfall in the latt'
part of the growing season may +
duce the yield. The early varicti
Twin mature usually in 30 to so day
lmrdium varieties III 80 10 100 day
and late varieties in 100 to 10 day
IiWhen grown for seed cowpe
ilshould be sown later than wh'
Ilgrown for forage. On relatively po
Ilsoil or when brOadcastcd cowpe
are always preferable to Soy bea
Ilfor hay and fOragc. No iron-cl;
IErules for planting cowpras can
laid down. as they may be sown
lila number of ways and sa'isfacto
lresui;s obtained They may be- SOW
| broadcast: they may be- planted
|lrOws 80 to 80 inches apart; tn
may be planted wit hcon ar SOW
!,
German millct or sorghum. Son
farmers have gotten very gord
suits by having every other row
the cOrnfield planted to cowpei
Another plan is TO plant them wi