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The cover crops u>sually sown are clover, hairy vetch, common vetch, peas, rye, 

 and huckwheat. The clover, peas, common vetch, and hairy vetch are plants of the 

 legume family, and add nitrogen as well as humus to the soil ; while rye and buck- 

 wheat serve the purpose of retarding the wood growth of the trees in the fall and 

 add humus, they are not nitrogen-producing plants and do not supply any actual 

 fertility. The common vetch is recommended as the best cover crop to grow. It 

 makes a dense matted growth over the ground and serves to help hold the snow in 

 winter, which protects the roots from severe freezing. Common vetch must not he 

 confused with hairy vetch, as the latter lives over the winter, and should it not be 

 plowed in the spring immediately the soil conditions will permit, will commence to 

 grow and rob the trees of the nourishment that they require early in the spring. 



Fertilizers. — It is unnecessary to impress the importance of fertilizers, as every 

 farmer appreciates the necessity of applying manure to the trees, but it is done in 

 these three counties in a very haphazard manner. Some have applied a little annu- 

 ally, and a great many biennially, while a few men have applied it not quite so 

 frequently. The manure, and wood ashes in the few cases where the latter has been 

 used, is thrown in a heap around and close to the trunks of the trees. The manure 

 when heaped in this way around tlie tree starts to ferment and generates heat, and 

 besides the danger of harboring mice, will cause an unhealthy condition of the bark 

 around the root collar, which provides an entrance for that form of the canker 

 disease known as collar rot. 



For these bearing orchards the manure and wood ashes should be spread evenly 

 over the ground the same way as for any other crop, as the feeding roots of these 

 large trees extend out around as far and farther than the limbs, while only a small 

 proportion of them are upon the main roots near the trunk. If the orchard is in 

 sod, a liberal coating of manure should be applied every year. But if it is cultivated, 

 a leguminous cover crop plowed down every third year and a coat of manure every 

 second or third year will be a good system of manuring. In this section of country, 

 where dairying is practised on an extensive scale, there is an abundance of manure 

 on nearly every farm, and liberal applications could be applied to the orchard annu- 

 ally without fear of depleting the fertility of the fami for the benefit of the orchard. 



The use of artificial fertilizers should be undertaken very carefuUy, and too 

 much emphasis cannot be put. upon the fact that artificial fertilizers will give their 

 best results only when used along with farmyard manure, and that it should never 

 be entirely replaced with fertilizers ; rather, they should be used in conjunction with 

 farmyard manure. Furthermore, the full results of fertilizers can be obtained only 

 when they are used in conjunction with the best of cultivation, consequently, the 

 presence of humus and thorough cultivation should always be associated with the 

 use of artificial fertilizers. 



In those orchards that are receiving liberal applications of farmyard manure 

 annually, and where leguminous cover crops are sown, there will scarcely be any 

 need to add nitrogen in any other form. Too much nitrogen will produce a strong, 

 succulent growth of wood and leaves too late in the fall and will tend to retard the 

 inaturity of the fruit and to lessen its quality. 



Phosphoric acid and potash are the only other two constituents of plant food 

 liable to be deficient in the soil. Potash in the form of muriate of potash or sulphate 

 'of potash should be applied at the rate of from 150 to 200 pounds per acre, and 

 phosphoric acid in the form of superphosphate, or Thomas phosphate or basic slag, 

 should be applied at the rate of from 300 to 400 pounds per acre. A good plan 

 would be to divide the orchard into four parts and apply the potash and phosphoric 



