APPLES 



2fi9 



Fig 



The Fourth Year Potatoes Are I'lanted on the I'ea Land. 



Improvement in the soil. It is difficult 

 to get all the vetch out of the orchard as 

 it volunteers badly, but for an orchard 

 it is not considered a bad fault, but it is 

 not desirable on a general farm. 



Clover — Clover has been profitable and 

 is beneficial to the soil, but we have had 

 some trees checked in growth by it. It 

 takes the moisture from the trees more 

 than any other crop we have grown. This 

 can be overcome by careful irrigation, 

 but clover should not be grown in an 

 orchard where water cannot be thorough- 

 ly applied in a short period of time. 



Vegetables and Ismail Fruits — We have 

 grown good vegetables in the orchard, but 

 on account of the market conditions we 

 have not gone into it on a large scale. 

 Many families have and are supported in 

 the Northwest by growing vegetables and 

 small fruit in the small young orchard. 

 Where vegetables and small fruits are 

 grown in the orchard, manure should be 

 freely applied or the crops should be 

 grown in a long rotation, or both. 



Alfalfa — We have not given alfalfa a 

 good trial, but there are thousands of suc- 

 cessful orchards, young and old, in the 

 irrigated districts of the Northwest, 

 seeded to alfalfa. 



In conclusion, the writer is safe in say- 

 ing, without successful contradiction, that 

 no orchard should be cultivated continu- 

 ally for a period of five years without 

 either an intercrop, companion crop, 

 cover crop or a good application of barn- 

 yard manure. 



INTERCROPS M.VDE TO PAY 



In employing cover crops I have had 

 two objects in view. First, to bring up 

 the fertility of the soil, as I started with 

 sagebrush land. Second, to decrease as 

 far as possible the ultimate cost of the 

 orchard when in full bearing. That I 

 am accomplishing my purpose is attested 

 by the fact that by the end of the third 

 year from sagebrush three-fourths of the 

 40 acres I am caring for has been en- 

 riched either by a cover crop of clover or 

 alfalfa or by a dressing of manure. Also. 



