COWPEA eat fang). A leguminous plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and parts of Central Africa. Its culture for human food and as a forage plant has spread to most tropical and sub-tropical coun tries. It was introduced into the United States early in the eighteenth century. At present it is a very common forage crop in the South, and is also grown to some extent in the Northern States. The plant is really a bean, and is closely related to the garden beans, such as the lima, the haricot, and others. The tendency of the cowpea to vary in habit of growth. color of leaf, stem. and pod, and in the shape and color of the seed gives rise to numerous varieties. (For illustration. see Plate of LEGUMES.) In the southern United States it grows as a vine with a rather long period of growth, but when grown in the Northern States it becomes a bush form and shortens its growing period. In addition to being a very important forage plant, it is espe cially valuable as a soil renovator, having the power of gathering the free nitrogen of the air in common with the clovers (q.v.).
Food and Feeding Value.—The green fodder has the following average percentage composition: Water, 83.6; protein. 2.4; fat, 0.4; nitrogen-free extract, 7.1 ; crude fibre, 4.8: and ash, 1.7 ; the cowpea hay the following: Water. 10.7; protein, 16.6; fat, 2.9; nitrogen-free extract, 42.2; crude fibre, 20.1, and ash, 7.5. The silage resembles the green crop in composition, containing some SO per cent. of water, 3 per cent. of protein, and 8 per cent. of nitrogen-free extract. in addition to small amounts of the other constituents. Young pigs thrive on the eowpea forage and well-filled pods. and it is a custom to turn them into the fields planted for green manuring, about the time the first pods are ripening. An acre will pasture
fifteen or twenty pigs for several weeks. The manure more than compensates for the vines eaten. Turkeys and chickens eat the ripe peas and do well on them. Cattle, sheep, and horses are sometimes pastured on cowpea, hut the safest and most economical method is to cut or pull the vines and feed them partially wilted. Cattle and sheep are liable to bloat if they are allowed to eat too ravenously of cowpea vines, as is the case with other succulent crops. Cowpea hay compares favorably with other leguminous hays in digestibility; 59 per cent. of the total dry matter, 65 per cent. of the protein. 71 per cent. of the nitrogen-free extract, and 42 per cent. of the crude fibre being digested on an average. Like other leguminous seeds, the cowpea seed is rich in protein. It contains on an average: Water, 14.8: protein. 20.8; fat. 1.4; nitrogen-free extract, 55.7; crude fibre. 4.1 : and ash. 3.2 per cent. Cow peas, whole or ground. are sometimes fed to farm animals, but it is usual to harvest only enough for seed. As a food for man, eowpeas are much relished. In season, they are often gathered before the pods begin to change color and before they become dry. The shelled peas are then cooked in the same way as shell-beans or garden peas. For winter use the dry eowpeas are cooked like other dry beans, and have a very agreeable flavor. The plant is injured by a weevil (Bruehis chinensis), to be recognized by two elevated, ivory-like lobes on the thorax; and by the Sep tember brood of the boil-worm (q.v.).