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The Cowpea
A Southern Legume
The soils of the cold north are protected from leaching during the winter by the action of frost. The plant-food is locked up safely for another year when nature ceases her work of production for the year. Farther south, in the center of the corn belt...
Affecting Physical Condition
The cowpea has marked influence upon the physical condition of heavy soils, even when the vines are not plowed down. This is due in some degree to the roots, and probably more to the mulching effect of the vines during their growth. Heavy soils are ma...
Characteristics
The cowpea is closely related to the bean, and is very unlike the Canada pea, which is a true pea, thriving only in a cool climate. The cowpea has been grown in the southern states over one hundred years, and the acreage is large, but it never has com...
Close Grazing
Much harm results from turning livestock on pastures too early in the spring. The ground is kept soft by spring rains, and the hoofs cut the turf. The grass needs its first leaves to enable it to make rapid growth, and the first grass of spring is not...
Fertilizers
The light soils of Maryland, New Jersey, and the southern states are not naturally rich in phosphoric acid or potash. The cowpea can draw its nitrogen from the air, but on all thin land it pays to use 200 to 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 50 pounds ...
Fertilizing Value
A heavy growth of the cowpea is worth as much to the soil as a good crop of red clover. When the equivalent of two tons of hay is produced, the roots and vines contain nearly as much plant-food as the roots and first crop of medium red clover that mak...
Harvesting With Livestock
When the cowpea is made into hay, there is always danger that the most of the plant-food contained in it never will get back to the soil on account of a careless handling of the manure. The practice of pasturing with cows and hogs is excellent. The f...
Inoculation
The inoculation of the soil with cowpea bacteria is necessary to best results in most regions new to the plant. Self-inoculation is quicker in the cowpea than in alfalfa because the vines carry some soil on them, and thus the dust in the seed crop may...
Planting
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 g...
The Cowpea For Hay
The hay is one of our most palatable feeding-stuffs. Livestock may reject it the first time it is put into the manger, but a taste for it is quickly acquired, and soon it is eaten greedily. The high content of protein makes it exceptionally valuable ...
Varieties
There are many varieties of the cowpea, and confusion of names prevails, although some stations have done good service in identification of individuals carrying a number of names. The very quick-maturing varieties adapted to northern conditions do not...