Inter-Planted Crops 139 



crop may be endured for one season. (See page 123 and 

 Plate XII.) 



Seeding may be done either broadcast or with a grain- 

 drill and covered 1| to 2 inches deep in light soils or about 

 1 inch in heavy soils. Failure sometimes occurs from not 

 covering deep enough. About 10 to 15 pounds of seed are 

 used. It is usually put in at the last cultivation in northern 

 orchards or during July, but in the more southern clover 

 districts August or early September will do, that is, after 

 the intensest heat of summer is past. If it is merely to ob- 

 tain a good catch seeding "six weeks before the first frost" 

 serves as a general guide, but more fall growth is likely if 

 it is done a little earlier. 



It is doubtful whether a crop like red clover should ever 

 be allowed to remain in a peach orchard over more than 

 one season before being plowed up. During that season, 

 the growth, if fairly vigorous, should be mowed two or 

 three times, and left in the orchard as a mulch or made into 

 hay, as conditions appear to justify. 



Alfalfa. 



For use in maintaining peach orchards, alfalfa occupies 

 something the same place as red clover, yet its use implies 

 even more than does that of red clover in a mulch-crop sys- 

 tem of management. In the irrigated valleys of the West 

 where shade-crops appear to be of importance and where 

 irrigation water is sufficiently abundant to eliminate any 

 question of an adequate supply at all times, alfalfa may 

 serve a very useful purpose when grown to shade the ground 

 in summer. On the other hand, the Arizona Experiment 

 Station reports decidedly harmful effects of alfalfa in a peach 

 orchard by retarding the growth of the trees. 



