CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES. 



13 



Fig. igSi. High Bush Cramikrkv ai' Ckntjvai. Exikrimkn i a i I''\k\i, Ottawa. 



under on July 29. Average height 26 inches. 

 Estimated yield per acre of green crop, 5 tons 

 1,191 pounds. 



"After these crops were ploughed under the 

 land was re-seeded with clover on August 2, 

 9 and 16, in the hope ot getting a cover crop 

 by winter, but owing to nearly six weeks of 

 very dry weather about that time, the seed 

 did not germinate until September and a 

 cover crop was not formed. The trees in 

 this part of the orchard were mulched with 

 manure. 



"On July 6, English horse beans were 

 sown in a part of the orchard where the soil 

 was light and where the snow does not lie 

 well in winter. On July 16, after the beans 

 were up, common red clover was sown 

 amongthematthe rate of 12 pounds per acre. 

 The beans reached a height of 18 inches by 

 autumn and helped very much to hold the 

 snow while they must have gathered much 

 nitrogen during the growing season. There 



is also a good stand of common red clover. 



" On July 25, Lucerne clover was sown in 

 a part of the orchard where the soil was very 

 light. It reached a height of from 7 to 12 

 inches by autumn, and although there was a 

 large number of plants destroyed by a storm 

 carrying away the surface soil, there was a 

 fairly good cover crop. 



The advantage of using leguminous plants, 

 such as clover, pease, beans, and vetch, is 

 that by means of the nodules or tubercles 

 on their roots they assimilate free nitrogen 

 from the air, and hence much of this expen- 

 sive plant food is obtained without other 

 expense than the price of the seed. Buck- 

 wheat and rye do not belong to this class of 

 plants, and while useful in the orchard, are 

 not as valuable as the others, as they do not 

 gather nitrogene from the air. 



W. T. Macoun, 

 Horticulturist, Cent. Expl. Farm, 

 Ottawa. 



