FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 119 



fall or early in the spring, taking care not to injure the roots, and up to 

 the first of July, or even to the first of August if the weather at the time 

 is dry, the land should be harrowed every week or ten days. This will 

 conserve the moisture and favor the growth of the trees while it, at the 

 same time, prepares the land for a cover crop. Although hardly thought 

 of ten years ago, some form of winter cover crop is desirable in all 

 cultivated orchards. They aid in ripening the trees in the fall, prevent 

 the washing of the land during the winter, hold the leaves and snow, 

 and thus lessen the depth of the frost and the danger of root killing, and, in 

 the spring, can be worked into the soil and thus provide humus and 

 plant food for the trees. If a good catch was secured and the crop has 

 been properly handled the turning under of a cover crop will have a 

 marked effect upon the physical condition of the soil. Instead of being 

 dry and crumbling during the summer, it will be moist and friable, the 

 humus serving as a sponge to hold the water. 



Of the various crops that have been tested as orchard covers, mammoth 

 clover, if it can be sown as early as the first of July, has given the best 

 results, all classes of soils considered. Alfalfa, crimson clover and hairy 

 vetch have also given good satisfaction. Of the other leguminous crops, 

 some of the hardier cow-peas, such as the Whippoorwill, provide a 

 good cover on warm soils if sown in drills about the first of July and 

 cultivated for three or four weeks. Canada peas, either alone or with 

 barley or oats, also make a good cover crop even though the sowing be 

 delayed as late as the middle of August. If the seeding has to be delayed 

 much after the middle of August, the oats can be used alone and will 

 furn-ish a good cover by the time growth is stopped by frost. 



The clovers, peas and vetch are nitrogen gatherers and, as they take 

 from the air and leave in the soil large amounts of this valuable element, 

 they have some advantage over oats and barley. It has been shown, by 

 analysis, that a good crop of cow-peas or vetch will furnish to the soil 

 from fifty to one hundred pounds per acre of nitrogen, which is worth at 

 fifteen cents per pound, the amount it would cost in commercial fertil- 

 izers, from seven dollars and fifty cents to fifteen dollars. If the crops 

 survive the winter they should be turned under before the ground has 

 dried out and become baked. When left until they have blossomed, the 

 stalks become woody and decompose very slowly. The fact that a crop 

 winters over is often an injury on heavy soils as the ground dries out very 

 quickly, and the trees are deprived of water at the very time they will 

 need it. Another point in favor of the oats and similar crops that are 

 killed by the winter is that they serve as a mulch in the spring and, when 

 the rush of work is over, can be worked under by means of a harrow 

 in a quarter of the time it would take with a plow. By the use of har- 

 rows with extension heads, the ground can be worked beneath the trees 

 with the team three or four feet away. For the average soil, and especi- 

 ally those that are inclined to suff'er from drought, it will be best to con- 

 tinue this treatment year after year. Occasionally, the clover, alfalfa 

 and similar crops may be left until a second year, and where the soil is 

 fairly moist, good results can be obtained if kept seeded to clover for 

 a number of years if the crop is cut two or three times during the season 

 and allowed to rensain on the ground to serve as a mulch and increase 

 the humus in the soil. The results that can be secured in this way are 



