considers that his land is in better condition after the removal of a crop of the peas than it was before. Within the past ten years it has been grown with success as a forage crop in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and to some extent in Vermont, but not with marked success as far north as the lastnamed State.

The plant requires a warm soil, and good cultivation the first of the season. The seed should be sown about June 1st, or when the ground becomes thoroughly warmed. Should the plant be found adapted to our climate, it may become a valuable forage and ensilage crop, to use with corn. Fodder corn, or its ensilage, does not make a well-balanced ration; being deficient in nitrogenous or protein compounds. The composition of the cow pea is much the same as that of clover. It is rich in protein and can be fed to advantage with fodder-corn, thus making a better ration than the corn alone.

Below are given the average of six analyses of cow pea, grown as a forage plant, and the average of forty-eight analyses of fodder-corn.* As the water contents of the cow peas was not given in most cases, both have been estimated on the basis of dry matter or water-free substance.

The thanks of the Station are due to Prof. Wm. H. Brewer of New Haven, who kindly prepared the following article at the solicitation of the vice-director. It will be read with much interest for its botanical value.

*Connecticut Experiment Station Report, 1887.

THE COW PEA.

ITS ORIGIN AND BOTANICAL AFFINITIES.

BY PROF. W. H. BREWER.

Many kinds of "cow pea" are grown in the United States. The number of varieties is said to be more than sixty, and they vary greatly in all their more noticeable characters. In all the varieties, the foliage, habits of growth, pods, seeds, and botanical affinities are those of beans rather than of peas, as these words are understood outside the Southern United States.

The varieties are very unlike in appearance and growth. In some the stems are short and nearly erect, the plant becoming in the hotter parts of the country biennial or even perennial; in other varieties the stems are long and twining like those of our Northern "pole beans." The pods vary greatly in appearance: some are short, others slender and nearly a foot long. The seeds vary even more: some are entirely white and in shape like small white beans, others are white with black or dark brown eyes, others are brown or dark brown or even almost black, some have the shape of true beans, others resemble lentiles or vetches in both size. and shape, a few being nearly as round as peas. The seeds vary also in taste and probably in chemical composition. The varieties differ also in the shape of their leaves, in the length of the leaf-stalks, and the readiness with which the leaves fall on drying. The flowers vary in color and abundance. The kinds differ also in the soils they prefer, in the length of time required to mature, in their hardiness (although all are sensitive to frost), and so on through all their characters.

Because of these great differences, some botanists have described as several species what others consider only one. It is probable that most of our varieties belong to the species. known to modern botanists as Vigna Catiang, Endl., a native of Northeastern Asia. The more important botanical

synonyms are V. Sinensis, Dolichos Catiang, L., D. Sinensis, L., and D. melanophthalmus, D. C.

The genera Dolichos and Vigna both belong to the section. of the Leguminosae to which the true beans belong. These genera have many species, natives of warm climates all around the world. Several species are cultivated, belonging to both genera, and the cultivated kinds have been carried to nearly all hot countries. As a consequence of this wide dispersion, it is now impossible to assign satisfactory limits to the species, and emphatically so of the cultivated ones, so whether all the varieties of "cow pea" are derived from only one original wild species or not, must remain a matter of opinion rather than demonstration among botanists, for the varieties have been cultivated so long that it cannot now be proved conclusively what the wild progenitor was. I strongly suspect that some few forms in the United States, known locally as cow pea," belong to the species Dolichos Lablab, L. This species, also a native of India, and cultivated in various varieties, has been carried under various names to almost all hot countries, in some of which it has become naturalized and spread as a weed.

Both of these species (V. Catiang and D. Lablab) are extensively cultivated in Southeastern Asia, and Church, in his "Food Grains of India," gives many native names under which the varieties are known in the various districts, and the plants are noticed in all works that treat of the botany or agriculture of India.

The plant doubtless came to the United States from India. I am not aware of any account preserved of its introduction, but I suspect that it was introduced about the middle of the last century by the London "Society for the Promotion of Arts and Commerce." Under its auspices, and stimulated by its premiums, many other tropical plants were introduced and tried in the colonies. Cotton, various spices, poppy for opium, scanmony, cloves, alspice, etc., etc. And I think it probable that the "cow pea" thus came in. is mere conjecture.

This, however,

As to why it is called "cow pea" I have no light whatever. One of the Hindoo or East Indian names is Cowlee, and enthusiastic philologists might think our name a corruption of that, but there is no other evidence than the sound that these names have any connection. The plant was written about as an agricultural plant in the South early in the present century, and then, as now, called "cow pea."

In 1873 I planted fourteen varieties, chiefly to learn their botanical, rather than their agricultural character. Some of them were small and nearly erect, others had twining vines ten or twelve feet long. All were beans rather than peas. None ripened; some which grew luxuriantly did not even blossom. Some produced pods six to eight inches long, which nearly ripened.

It is evident to me, that at best only a few of the many varieties can profitably be cultivated in New England; but it is also evident that many kinds must be tried, and for a series of years, before condemning the plant as unprofitable. I believe that varieties may be found that can be profitably grown, especially for milch cows. But the seed must come each year from some Southern locality. It has heretofore. not been considered a profitable forage crop north of Delaware, except under very exceptional circumstances. But, by modern methods, we may and perhaps will make it pay for certain purposes in Connecticut. It flourishes well in sandy soils, and should have a new and fair trial.

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