60 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



its spring growth. I am firmly convinced that the practice of 

 allowing cover crops to make a large growth in the spring before 

 they are plowed under is a serious mistake. I base this convic- 

 tion, first, on the fact that a fruit tree should be forced into rapid 

 growth early in the season so that it may largely complete its 

 growth in the north by the first to the middle of July and have a 

 long fall for ripening its buds, and, second, because a rapid, early 

 growth and a slower growth in late summer is more conducive to 

 the formation of fruit buds than a growth that is rapid when the 

 fruit buds are beginning to form, and, third, because every effort 

 should be made as early as it is practicable to plow the land to 

 conserve the moisture that has accumulated during the winter 

 months. 



T would call your attention to the following figures given by 

 King. (The Soil, p. 191.) On May 13, the moisture was deter- 

 mined in a soil just planted to corn and in an adjacent clover field, 

 the samples being taken within two rods of each other. 



1-6 in. 12-18 in. 18 24 in. 

 Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. 



Corn ground 23.33 19.13 16.85 



Clover ground 9.59 14-75 13-75 



Difference 13-74 4-38 3.10 



These figures illustrate the evil effect of allowing a crop to 

 grow too late in the spring when the ground is to be used for a 

 subsequent crop. 



And now we come to one of the most important of^ces of the 

 cover crop. It supplies the soil with vegetable matter when it is 

 plowed under. I have already stated some of the relations of 

 vegetable matter to crop production, but the subject is of suffi- 

 cient importance to justify a repetition. Humus or vegetable 

 matter gives a soil a greater water holding capacity, and it accel- 

 erates its chemical and biological activities. Of this latter point 

 I desire to speak briefly. The decomposition of the mineral 

 matter of the soil and the decay of its vegetable matter is caused 

 directly or indirectly by millions of little organisms called bac- 

 teria living within it. A mass of soil is not a dead inert body. 

 It is a storehouse of the most wonderful living activity. The 

 bacteria within it thrive and multiply and perform their work 

 only under the most favorable conditions. Plant food is made 

 available through them. Air and light and moisture are essen- 



