The Cultivation of the Fruit-Farm 145 



hoe a last time just before sowing the cover-crop. 

 This raises a ridge of earth against the vines to a 

 height of eight or even ten inches and protects them 

 against too severe extremes of wintry weather. 



The stock of tree or vine is small part of its 

 feeding organs. These are the rootlets, deep in 

 the soil, or spread a few inches beneath the sur- 

 face. It is these surface roots, within the reach of 

 the frost, which we protect simimer and winter. If 

 the snow overlays them to a depth of a foot or 

 more, and remains all winter long, the soil never 

 bared to the frost, it will keep an even temperature, 

 and if the snow is deep enough the ground will not 

 freeze. A permanent snow cover is one of Nature's 

 means of protecting the soil. Weeds, grass, and 

 cover-crops generally catch and hold the snow and 

 keep it quiet the winter long. The scantier the 

 snowfall the greater the need of the cover-crop. 

 Thus the clover and the vetch serve as faithfully 

 in winter as in spring when they are plowed in 

 to feed the plant. It is like an overcoat in winter 

 and a loaf of bread the rest of the year. I attach 

 greatest importance to blanketing the soil in winter 

 with snow and a matting of straw, clover, vetch, 

 grass, weeds, and especially chickweed. Nearly 

 every fruit-farm has some hillock or slope that is 

 swept by the winds and washed by the rains. It 

 washes rather than drains. The snows never cover 

 it in winter and it is difficult to get a "catch** of 

 any cover-crop in summer. It is the hard, barren, 

 unprofitable spot on the farm. The only thing to 



