Orchard Cover Crops in Delaware. 205 



The soy beans did well until October 10 ; they were then 12 to 15 inches 

 high and there was a good stand. Ten days later they were badly frosted. 



Dwarf Essex rape 4 pounds and cowpeas 40 pounds per acre. — The rape 

 was better than that in the last plot, but was not good except in spots. It 

 wintered well and made a pretty good winter cover. The spring growth was 

 good. 



This combination of rape and cowpeas made an excellent fall cover. The 

 cowpeas were 12 to 15 inches high October 10. They were better than the soy 

 beans and were frosted at the same time. 



Dwarf Essex rape 4 pounds, Canada peas 24 pounds and nje 1 bushel per 

 acre. — The rape was very poor until early in the spring wheu it improved consid- 

 erably. However, it was too scattering to add much to the cover. On March 2tj 

 the rape and rye made a fine cover ; the new growth was 4 to S inches. After 

 that the rape did not amount to much. 



With the Canada peas the result was a failure as it was with this crop 

 throughout the entire experiment. 



The rye was excellent in stand and growth and formed almost the entire 

 cover. It was from 6 to 12 inches high October 1<). The late spring growth 

 was short and there was not much stooling out of the plants, but even then 

 it made a fine cover. 



Canada peas 2 husliels and rye i/, hu.shrl per acre. — The peas here were 

 the best of any at Woodside, but were a failure. 



The rye was also the best at Woodside and made an excellent thick cover 

 all alone. The growth was like that in the last plot, but the plants were more 

 numerous and better stooled. It was a satisfactory cover crop. 



Dwarf Essex rape 9 pounds per acre. — There was a most excellent catch of 

 rape, but the growth was decidedly small. It made a short, thick cover during 

 the fall, but a poor one during the winter and was useless as a cover in the* 

 spring. The fall growth should have been from 2 to .3 times as much as it was. 



CHEMIC.VL ANALYSIS OF COVER CKOFS. 



Mention was made of the amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid 

 which the various crops contained and it is desirable to bring the figures to- 

 gether so they can be readily compared. The following table was made up from 

 tables I and II in Bulletin 60, by Prof. Penny, and shows the date of seeding. 

 date of taking samples for analysis, the yield of tops and roots per acre, and 

 the amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid contained in the various 

 crops. The roots were taken to a depth of 12 inches and were necessarily 

 dried before being weighed ; the tops were weighed gi-een. In comparing the 

 amount of fertilizing ingredients of the different crops the reader must not 

 forget to take into consideration the differences of the total yields. 



