Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation 179 



works freely zvhcn moist or wet, but when dry it takes a pick-axe to 

 dig it up; a plozu ivon't touch it. Among my young fruit trees I tried 

 to grotv peas, (yeans, carrots and beets, and although I freely irrigated 

 them during the summer and fall, and although I planted at different 

 times, my peas and beans have been a total failure, and the beets, carrots 

 and onions nearly so. For years the land has grozvn nothing but weeds. 

 Your soil needs organic matter which would make it more easy 

 of cultivation, more retentive of moisture, and in every way better 

 suited to the growth of plants. Liberal applications of stable manure 

 would produce best effects. No commercial fertilizer would begin 

 to be so desirable. If you can dig into the soil large amounts of 

 weeds or other vegetable waste material, you would be proceeding 

 along the same line, but stable manure is better on account of its 

 greater fertilizing content. You ought to be thankful that the soil 

 has spunk enough to grow weeds. The Immanent Creator is still 

 doing the best he can to help you out; take a hand yourself on the 

 same line. 



Two Legumes in a Year. 



/ have land on which I n'ish to plant to fruits, and I ivish to build 

 up the soil all I caji, by planting cover crops and ploiving under. What 

 zuould be the best to plant this fall, to be plowed under next spring, and 

 to plant again next spring to ploiv under in the fall? I will not be able 

 to plant any trees before next fall or the following spring. 



Get in vetches as soon as the ground is in shape in the fall. 

 Plow them under early in the spring and close the covering and 

 compact the green stuff by running a straight disk over the ground 

 after plowing. This will help decay and save moisture. Follow 

 with cow peas as soon as you are out of the frost, disking in the 

 seed so as not to disturb the stuff previously covered in. Do not 

 wait to put under the winter growth until it is safe to put on the 

 cowpeas, for, if you do, you will lose so much moisture that the cowpeas 

 will not amount to much. 



Handling Orchard Soil. 



We average about J5 inches of rainfall. With this heavy rainfall, 

 is there any advantage to be gained by early plowing and clean cultivation 

 right through the xvinterf Would such ploiving and cultivation result 

 in any serious loss of plant foodf Would you advise an early or late 

 application of nitrogen, such as nitrate or guano? If there is any loss 

 from an early application, can it be determined by any means? 



The old policy of clean winter cultivation has been largely aban- 

 doned. Nearly everyone is trying to grow something green during 

 the rainy season to plow under toward the end of it. Even those 

 who do not sow legumes for this purpose are plowing under as 

 good a weed cover as they can get. This improves the soil both in 

 plant food and in friability, which promotes summer pulverization and 

 saves moisture from summer evaporation. Much less early plowing 

 is done than formerly unless it be shallow to get in the seed for the 



