Orchard Cover Crops in Delaware. 197 



Rye. — ^Aslde from a thin stand, the rye did very well. It formed a fair win- 

 ter protection and had made a spring growth of 1 foot by April 15. 



Crimson Clover, Duarf Essex Rape and Hairy Yeich. — The clover and vetch 

 -were excellent during the fall and made a satisfactory covering. These two 

 are good plants to grow together. The rape was fair in the fall and a portion 

 of the plants lived over winter. The early spring condition of the clover and 

 vetch was only fair, hnt a little later they made a splendid growth and an ex- 

 ceedingly fine cover. They did better in the shade of the trees than in the open 

 spaces. 



EJJrERIMEXTS AT WOODSIDE 1901-2. 



These tests were made in a young bearing plum orchard belonging to S. H. 

 I>erby. The ground is a sandy loam upon which crimson clover had been grown 

 as a cover crop for perhaps fourteen years. From this long use of clover it 

 would seem that the soil ought to be amply supplied with nitrogen. The amount 

 of seed sown per acre cannot be given. The plots covered a trifle over one-tenth 

 of an acre each and the seed was sown July 25, 1001. Since crimson clover had 

 been used so much in this orchard previous to this experiment, there was a 

 volunteer crop of it in most of the plots. In general these crops were better than 

 those at Magnolia. 



Red and mammoth clovers. — These were side by side and were equally good. 

 They made a good fall growth, formed a fine covering for the ground during the 

 winter, and started into growth the last of March. A month later they were 

 from 3 to 7 inches high and the stand was good. They were perfectly suc- 

 ■cessful as cover crops. 



Crimson clover. — There was one plot sown to crimson clover alone, but it 

 was present in nearly all of the others as a volunteer crop. It was a little bet- 

 fer than the red and mammoth clovers and gave most satisfactory results. 

 Having grown so much of this plant the ground was especially adapted for its 

 best development. 



Hairy vetch. — This was much poorer than tlie vetch either at Magnolia or 

 Newark. The stand was thin and the growth small. The plants lived over 

 v.-inter, but did not make much growth in the spring. It was not a success here. 

 This result is surprising, for in ground so well supplied with humus the vetch 

 ought to make an exceptionally fine deevlopment. 



Alfalfa. — The alfalfa did not make a good cover. The growth was from 12 

 to 15 inches high October 15. but there were not enough plants. In the spring 

 it seemed to be even more scattering and was from 5 to inches high the last 

 of April. 



Soy bean. — The soy bean did very well and made a good, thick covering 

 from 20 to 24 inches high October 10. They were, of course, killed by frost, 

 but the dead stalks remained standing until the following May. Many of the 

 plants set pods from wiiich the beans shelled out in April. 



Dwarf Essex rape. — There was an excellent stand and the growth was fairly 

 good : better than at Magnolia, but not nearly as good as the rape at Newark. 

 A large proportion of the plants survived the winter and were going to seed 

 in April. Considerable volunteer crimson clover came up with the rape and 

 togetlier they formed a pretty good spring cover. A plot was seeded to rape and 

 clover and part of the clover was smothered out, but enough remained to 

 cover one-third of the ground in April and on the 25th of that month was from 

 3 to 6 inches high. With the rank growth of rape at Newark the clover would 

 liave been entirely smothered out. 



Cowhorn turnips. — The turnips did well considering that they were stand- 

 ing so thick upon the ground. The seeding was A'ery heavy ; had less seed been 

 used the fleshy roots would have become very large. Where they had room to 

 develop they were from 12 to 15 inches long. This seems to be a most desirable 

 plant to use with crimson clover or to use where there is an abundance of 

 humus in the soil. A few turnips survived the winter, but their value as a 

 cover practically ends the last of December. 



