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Planting

Categories: THE COWPEA

The land should be fitted as it is for corn. Light, sandy

soils require little preparation, and too often the seeding is made in

a woefully careless manner, the chief dependence being placed upon

sufficiently deep covering to insure germination. The ground should be

fitted as well as it is for a cash crop, being made fine and smooth. A

grain drill makes the seeding in a satisfactory manner, and the seed

may be drilled
olid or in rows for cultivation. When the crop is grown

as a fertilizer or for hay, solid drilling is good, and about five

pecks of seed gives a good stand of plants if peas are sound. Much

cowpea seed is low in germination power, and the buyer should exercise

caution. When a seed crop is wanted, two to three pecks of seed per

acre, placed in drills 28 to 32 inches apart, make an excellent

seeding, as cultivation can be given. The amount of seed varies with

the variety. In northern latitudes a warm soil is to be desired, and

cultivation gives better results when a seeding to wheat will be made

on the pea-stubble.



There is evidence that the cowpea can make a heavy growth in soils too

deficient in lime for red clover, and it gained its first prominence in

southern Ohio on land that was failing to grow clover. It is the plant

of adversity as well as prosperity, adding rich organic matter to thin

soils, but making its full returns under better conditions. Lime

applications on acid soils give increase in yields. Its one absolute

requirement is heat, and in a cold summer its northern limit is

markedly depressed.



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