376 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ornamental purposes. But years elapsed before farmers awoke to its 

 value as a regular rotative crop. 



Crimson clover has now been tested in all parts of the Union with 

 the most favorable results, and is no further an experimental crop. It 

 is good for hay ; will yield two or three tons per acre; is valuable for 

 seed, which it produces in large quantities, and is the only clover which 

 remains green all winter. But its greatest value is in its ability to 

 store up plant food, and at the same time send down deep-feeding 

 roots far in the subsoil, and bring to the surface elements of fertility 

 that would be otherwise lost. 



Crimson clover is an annual, and must be sown in its proper sea- 

 son. This extends from the first of August until the last of October. 

 About ten quarts of seed is required to sow an acre. 



L. Staple?, Michigan. 



Water in Orchards. 



B. T. Galloway and Albert F. Woods, chief and assistant chief of 

 of the Division of Vegetable Pathology, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, gives us a fine treatise upon water as a factor in the 

 growth of plants in the year book of the Department of Agriculture, 

 1894. After going into detail, they make the following summary : 

 The facts presented show, 



1. That water makes up the largest proportion of the weight of 

 green plants, indicating at once its great importance. 



2. That water, with the food which it contains, is obtained by 

 plants exclusively through the roots, and, therefore, a well-developed 

 root system is essential to the best development of the plant. 



3. That the development of root systems may be controlled in 

 various ways, thereby increasing or decreasing their ability to absorb 

 water and food from the soil. 



4. That a saturated soil is detrimental to the growth of roots, a 

 soil half saturated is most favorable to their growth, and, therefore, 

 favorable to the growth of the whole plant. 



5. That growth is dependent on the turgidity of the cells, and 

 turgidity is dependent on the absorption of water by the roots. 



6. That the water absorbed by roots is continually being lost by 

 evaporation from the leaves. If the loss is equal to or greater than 

 the absorption, the plants will cease growing, and unless the absorp- 

 tion is increased or the evaporation decreased, the plants will die. 



7. That evaporation may be controlled by increasing the amount 

 of moisture in the air, by protecting from hot winds, and by the use of 



