3o8 Bulletin 72. 



been obtained if good tillage had been given for two or three 

 months, and if the green crop had been sown in August or Septem- 

 ber. In general, I believe this combination to be an excellent one 

 for orchards, particularly for such lands as lack nitrogen and 

 vegetable matter, and for those fruits which, like peaches, are 

 benefitted by some winter protection of the soil. Walter F. 

 Taber, of Poughkeepsie, one of the most careful horticulturists in 

 the state, gives me this bit of experience, under date of August 

 30, which is suggestive in this connection : ' ' Dry is no name 

 for it here, but my place does not show it like many others. I 

 have two fields which show how moisture can be held in the soil. 

 One is a strawberry setting of one and one-fourth acres, made 

 upon a heavy growth of rye plowed under April 26 and 27, and 

 the ground worked fine and rolled Ma}' 10, and set the nth and 

 12th. The other is one and seven-eighth acres of sweet corn. 

 This piece was seeded with clover and turnips last August and 

 September, and the whole growth of both clover and turnips was 

 plowed under May 15 and 16, and the land was planted to sweet 

 corn May 29 and 30, after receiving a dressing in alternate strips 

 of Compound Corn Manure and muriate of potash. Both these 

 pieces are upon black soil which has burned up in former years 

 with a less severe drouth than at present ; but now my black soil 

 is doing best. ' ' Our own orchards have withstood the drouth 

 wherever well tilled ; and the same is true wherever I have been 

 in Western New York. But the neglected orchards are suffering. 



It will now be asked what is the best plant for cover and green 

 manure. It is hard to tell. Clover is the stand-by, but it is 

 generally difficult to obtain a good " catch " late in the season, 

 and it should stand on the land an entire season in order to obtain 

 its full value. Upon good and well-tilled lands and in favorable 

 seasons, considerable herbage can be obtained for turning under 

 in the spring if it is sown the preceding August or September ; 

 but in general it is unreliable as an annual crop. 



Vetch answers the purpose admirably in many respects, as 

 shown in our bulletins 49 and 6 1 , and I think that it is the best 

 all-around cover crop yet proved in New York State. It is killed 

 by the winter, however, and it therefore takes no advantage of 

 the early days of spring. But this fact is in its favor for some 



