90 OKCHAKD MANAGEMENT 



ing the enthusiasm over more tillage here in New England, as 

 the land knows it will be years before we get enough of it; but 

 there are instances where people have in the past been so zeal- 

 ous over the subject that their results were mainly experiences 

 of what not to do. The tree should make its largest and best 

 growth during the early or fore part of the season. If we con- 

 tinue our cultivation until late in the season and at frequent 

 intervals, as in the spring, the trees will not have ripened their 

 wood or had time to prepare themselves for living through our 

 severe winters. It is as important that we check the results of 

 tillage, therefore, at this season of the year, as it was to utilize 



Pig. 3. Bush beans ia a young orchard. Experiment Station Grounds. 



it in the spring. At the last cultivation, therefore, which is 

 usually at the height of the maximum growth near midsummer, 

 we sow some crop in the orchard. This crop will prevent the 

 soil from washing, mulch the ground and hence protect the 

 roots in winter, check excessive growth, mature the wood and 

 when plowed under, give plant food and humus to the soil. 



Cover crops are of two kinds, those which have the power of 

 taking nitrogen from the air, called leguminous crops, and 

 those that do not. To the first class belong the beans, peas, 

 clovers, and vetch. To the latter class belong cereals or grains, 

 among them being oats, rye, corn, buckwheat, etc. While the 

 cereals are not as valuable from the standpoint of plant food 



