VII 

 COVER CROPS 



PROBABLY cover crops of some kind have been 

 grown by careful fruit growers ever since peach 

 orchards have been planted in this country, but the 

 cover crop as a definite, rationalized part of a sys- 

 tem of cultivation is comparatively new. The name 

 itself was not brought into use until 1893, and the 

 practice has attained general recognition since 1900. 

 Even yet there are many men who have not adopted it. 



A cover crop may be defined as any temporary crop 

 sown at the end of the tillage period and plowed into 

 the soil at the beginning of the tillage period the 

 following spring. A permanent growth of grass or 

 clover does not constitute a cover crop, and a heavy 

 stand of oats or buckwheat sown in the orchard and 

 cut and removed for hay at maturity does not con- 

 stitute a cover crop. 



The cover crop is definitely and intimately related 

 to the practice of tillage, and is always to be consid- 

 ered in relation to the cultivation of the soil. The 

 usual practice is to sow the cover crop broadcast 

 at the time of the last cultivation, viz., from July 

 10 to 20. The crop then grows more or less vigor- 

 ously according to its nature, the fertility of the soil 

 and the temperature ; it stands upon the land during 

 the winter, at this time performing a valuable ser- 

 vice ; it is plowed into the soil as soon as cultivation 

 can begin in the spring, then performing additional 

 services. 



USES OF THE COVER CROP 



The various benefits which the cover crop renders 



