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Show GROWING OF THE FIELD PEj3 Plant Needs Cool Weather Through, out Its Period of Growth Also Abundance of Water. We can nee a good deal of Btlr going on especially among the ranchmen at the higher altitudes over the field pea business and it is evident that a largely-Increased largely-Increased acreage will be put in this year. Field peas need cool weather throughout their period of growth and particularly when the pods are filling. When the field pea blooms in hot weather the flowers blight and wither away and but rew peas form and thU la what alls its cousin, the soy bean, In this country, writes II. M. Cottrell In tho Denver Field and Farm. With rich soil, a deep mellow seed bed and an abundance of water the field pea makes an excessive growth of vines Ave to fifteen feet In length with few peas but a good hay crop. With a Bhallow seed bed, the seed resting rest-ing on hard ground and the water supply limited, the vines become stunted, growing to a height of only two to three feet and the yield of peas Is frequently fifty bushels to the acre. Experienced growers usually plant peas on their poor fields as the rich soils produce vines and not peas. The Mexican field pea is a mixture of large and small peas, gray, green and white. In the mixture there is generally a considerable per cent of small gray peas. These produce poorly poor-ly podded vines with few peas in a pod and the yield can.be considerably Increased by screening them out before seeding. Several new varieties as well as the popular Canadian give larger yields than the Mexican and two or three eastern seed companies are now engaged extensively In growing grow-ing them under contract to supply their trade. The WhippoorwiU or southern cowpea will not do at all. From thirty to sixty pounds of seed are sown to the acre but we have always al-ways recommended from thirty-five to forty. Many growers plow and thoroughly thor-oughly prepare the ground for the previous pre-vious crop, seeding the peas on un-plowed un-plowed ground with a grain drill, stopping stop-ping every hole and setting the drill to seed about three inches deep. This Is done to stunt the vines and force the plants to produce large yields of peas. The large yields of peas come from early seeding, which means any time up to the loth of April at the higher altitudes. Seeding In May usually results re-sults in a poor crop and often in total failure. Some experienced growers believe that profitable crops of field peas may be grown at an altitude as low as 4,000 feet, if seeded in February but of course this was out of the question ques-tion the present year, because of the hang-over the winter took on. At such an altitude the pods must form and the peas set before hot days arrive. Early seeded peas often freeze down in seasons of late spring frosts but they come on again and the yield Is not dlmlshed. Field peas are not cutivated. When liberally supplied with water, they make luxuriant growth of vines bearing bear-ing few peas and' may be cut for hay; being treated the same as alfalfa. alfal-fa. When grain Is wanted the water supply must be limited and the vines itunted. When the vines begin to wilt during the day from lack of water but freshen at night, do not irrigate. When the appear wilted in the early morning, apply water, soaking the ground thoroughly. Irrigate a second time when the peas have again wilted as previous to the first Irrigation. The rule is to so apply water as to stunt the vines and keep down the growth to two or three feet and force a heavy setting of peas. |