146 Peach-Growing 



late summer at the rate of 1 J to 3 pounds to the acre. Con- 

 siderable growth will usually develop before the plants are 

 killed by the hard freezes of late fall. Ordinary frosts do 

 not injure them. They leave the soil in fairly good condition 

 and may be of considerable value. Perhaps they are used 

 more often than otherwise with a view to turning hogs 

 into the orchard late in the season. Under some conditions 

 this course is practicable, though the running of hogs in a 

 peach orchard should be done very guardedly, if at all. 



Millet, corn, cane. 



These crops have a certain range of usefulness for orchard 

 purposes. They supply a considerable amount of humus 

 if seeded broadcast in midsummer, though they are killed 

 by the first frosts. Of these crops, millet has some ad- 

 vantages, the German millet on account of its vigor of 

 growth being preferable to the smaller-growing forms. It 

 should be seeded broadcast about six weeks before the first 

 fall frost is expected, using from 1 to 1| bushels of seed to 

 the acre. If seeded earlier, the plants are likely to mature 

 seed which may give annoyance the next season. Millet 

 is killed by the first frost, hence its activities then cease. 



Some results with these crops, also rye and oats in com- 

 parison, as reported by Emerson,^ are illuminating. The 

 cover- and green-manure crop problem in Nebraska is some- 

 what peculiar, yet typical of a considerable range of territory 

 which is characterized by limited rainfall and the resulting 

 acuteness of the soil-moisture factor; comparatively severe 

 winter temperatures, frequently with little or no snow to 

 protect the ground; by a tendency, some seasons at least, 

 to rather late tree growth ; and by the ever present need of 

 1 Nebr. Exp. Sta., 19th An. Kept, and BuU. 92. 



