170 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



sun and rain, and they serve this mechanical purpose of a cover crop. I 

 think sowed corn is at times very desirable for this purpose; rye is also 

 desirable, and other crops we use very largely are turnips and kale, and 

 alwaj'S with good results. 



I think there is danger in this cover crop which needs to be referred 

 to. The advantage is not in plowing under a great mass of green ma- 

 terial; that may be injurious in some cases. We did a good deal of injury 

 to our land by plowing under a too heavy growth of rye. We had to put 

 a chain on to plow it under, and outside of the mechanical disadvantage 

 it was a detriment through a sort of souring that it seemed to go 

 through, and our plants did not appear to grow well until the next year. 

 If we can put on this cover crop the moment we stop cultivation, and 

 get even a short crop (I am satisfied if my clover is only five or six inches 

 high) we feel that we have accomplished a great deal for the benefit of 

 the land. 



Our President has spoken to you of the enormous growth he gets on 

 his peach trees, and has referred to the advantage, as I understand it, 

 which comes through that system, in the enlarged trunks and the stouter 

 branches which are developed; and the question came up in my mind, 

 whether the growing of a plant in such a way that we have to cut away 

 and remove -as much material every year as we leave on, is a normal and a 

 healthy condition of things in that plant. The President spoke of one 

 case where in one year (I believe it was this) his trees had made a ihorter 

 growth, they did not replace the length of wood that he had cut away 

 in the spring, but they were in excellent condition, and probably were 

 going to produce a large crop of fruit. The suggestion comes to me 

 whether there is not in our orchards a possibility of stopping our cultiva- 

 tion a little earlier and putting in a little more promptly these cover 

 crops, which would serve to check this growth we have referred to — 

 this enormous growth — and ripen up a little smaller, a little shorter, a 

 little harder, and a little more healthy. I say '"healthy" in the same sense 

 that I say a boy or a man who has grown up normally is a healthier speci- 

 men than your athlete who is under special training all the time. We 

 find that the athlete is not long-lived, although he has high physical 

 development; and so in the same way it seems to me that the extreme of 

 Mr. Morrill's system is to develop an athletic peach tree which is not 

 likely to be long-lived. I simply throw this out as a suggestion. The 

 main point I wish to leave with you, and the thing I wish to impress upon 

 you, is the contention on my part that one of the great essentials to suc- 

 cessful cultivation, either of farm or of orchard crops, is the prevention, 

 by means of cover crops, of the waste of fertility which is developed dur- 

 ing the year by subjecting the bare ground to the fall, winter, and spring 

 rains. 



DISCUSSION. 



Q : Have you any other crops to suggest than those you have mentioned 

 for that purpose? 



Prof. Tracy: The only crops we have suggested are the two clovers 

 t^we have used crinison clover), corn, kale, rape, and rye. These are the 

 ones with which I am familiar. We have used turnips. 



Mr. Morrill: They would be grown during the fall months. 



