A study of the physical and chemical properties of the soil as influenced by cowpea culture

Abstract

In the past twenty-five years much experimental work has been done with cowpeas, in relation to cultural methods, fertilization, and variety tests, but practically nothing has been written with regard to the direct effect of the plant upon the soil. It has been supposed that the peas are beneficial to a companion crop as, for example, corn. Some have expressed the belief that cowpeas are capable of producing a loosening effect upon the soil. Still others claim that the continuous cropping land to this plant alone, or as a catch crop with wheat, results in an effect deleterious to the best growth of either wheat or peas. As to actual experimental data on these subjects, however, nothing authentic has been discovered.