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 for young animals and milk cows, and the manure contains a high percentage of nitrogen. The difficulty in making the hay is a drawback, but this is over-rated. While rain discolors the vines and makes them unattractive in appearance, the hay remains more palatable and nutritious than good timothy, if the leaves are not lost in curing. When the first pods turn yellow, the crop should be harvested. The vines can be left in the swath until the top leaves begin to burn and then be put into windrows with a sulky hay-rake. The windrows should be small, the rake merely serving to invert half the vines upon the other half, bringing new surface to the sun. After another day of curing, the windrows should be broken up into bunches no larger than can be pitched upon the wagon by a workman, thus saving the trouble of disentangling the vines. If rain comes, the bunches should be inverted the following day. In dry, hot weather the curing proceeds rapidly, while in cooler latitudes or cloudy weather the curing may require a week. The chief point is to prevent undue exposure of the leaves to the sun, and this is accomplished by the turning. The hay will mold in the mow if not thoroughly well cured, unless placed in a large body in a deep, close mow that excludes the air. Some farmers use the latter method successfully, but the experimenter with the cowpea usually will fail, and should prefer thorough field curing, at the risk of some damage from rain and sun. The leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant, excepting the seed. As a Catch Crop.--A leading use of the cowpea is that of a catch crop, either between other crops or in a growing crop, such as corn. Early maturing varieties can be brought in between main crops of the rotation in warm latitudes. The growth prevents the leaching of plant-food, shades the ground, adds nitrogen to the soil, smothers weeds, and produces material that is valuable as feed for livestock or an addition of organic matter to the soil. When the time that can be devoted to the crop is short, an early variety should be selected because its vines are far more valuable to the soil than an equal volume of a rank-growing variety that is not near maturity. [Illustration: The cowpea seeded at the last cultivation of corn in the Great Kanawha Valley, W. Va.] If this legume were used whenever opportunity afforded along the southern border of our northern states, and throughout the south, the faded color of soils, resulting from leaching rains, would be replaced by the darker colors that mark the presence of rich organic matter. It is one of nature's best allies in the maintenance of soil fertility. CHAPTER XI OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS