CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL EARM NOTES. 



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Fir,. igSo. Winter at Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. {Shtitt.') 



preventing- the alternate freezing- and thaw- 

 ing of the ground which occurs in late winter 

 or early spring, and which often proves 

 so disastrous to trees. After the seed is 

 sown, the soil should be rolled with a heavy- 

 land roller, which will cause the moisture to 

 rise to the surface of the soil and assist the 

 germination of the seed. This rolling is 

 very important, as should the seed lie in the 

 ground for any length of time without ger- 

 minating, there will not be time for a g-ood 

 cover crop to be formed before winter. No 

 nurse crop, is, as a rule, necessary. In 

 places where the soil is very dry, lucerne or 

 alfalfa might be sown with advantage, as 

 the seed of this clover appears to germinate 

 more readily than that of the common red 

 clover. Cow peas and crimson clover may 

 be used in the warmer parts of the country. 

 The hairy vetch (vica villosa), has been 

 used with very satisfactory results b}^ 



Mr. J. Tweedle, Fruitland, Ontario. 



" Another advantage of clover growing 

 in an orchard in autumn, is that much of 

 the plant food in the soil which has been 

 liberated and made more easily available by 

 the constant cultivation during the early 

 part of the summer, is prevented from leach- 

 ing by being used by the growing plants, 

 the clover thus becoming- a ' catch crop,' as 

 well as a cover crop. 



" Where soils suffer from lack of moisture 

 in a dry time, the clover should be ploughed 

 under as early in the spring as the land can 

 be worked, and cultivation begun at once. 

 This will conserve much of the moisture 

 which would otherwise be transpired through 

 the leaves of the growing plants until they 

 were ploughed under towards the end of 

 May, which is the usual time. If the soil, 

 however, contains plenty of moisture, it 

 would be better to let the clover grow until 



