SOIL, FERTILIZERS, SITUATIONS 



Fig. 32. Wrong way to cut a branch leaves a 

 stub which will never heal over 



and nitrogenous material 

 that, especially towards 

 the close of the Summer, 

 tree growth may not be 

 checked early enough in 

 the Fall to favor the 

 highest quality of fruit or 

 the best ripening of the 

 wood. In the latter case 

 more or less injury by 

 frost may occur as a conse- 

 quence of the sappy 

 growth. Such conditions, 

 however, are compara- 

 tively rare. When they 

 seem to be imminent in 

 either case mentioned they 

 may be prevented by sow- 

 ing crops that will compete with the trees for the food and moisture; 

 for instance, Buckwheat, Rye, Rape, Turnip and Millet. 



Whatever cover crop is sown it must be turned under in Spring 

 as soon as the ground can be plowed or dug. If possible it should not 

 be allowed to grow at all in Spring, because by so doing it will rob the 

 soil of moisture and plant-food at a time when no such thing should 

 occur. The longer it is allowed to grow at that time the more slowly 

 will the stems decay, because they form a rather impervious layer of 

 dryish material through which moisture can with difficulty ascend to 

 the upper soil. For the same reason the later the plowing is done 

 the more damage will occur to the trees through the unnecessarily late 

 loss of feeding roots. Such a loss while the trees are perhaps in full 

 leaf is serious. It may produce a pronounced check in growth at 

 the wrong time of year and by a wrong method. Any loss that may 

 occur when early plowing is done is of little or no consequence, because 

 it comes at a time when the trees have scarcely begun active growth 

 and when such losses are most easily made good by the easy develop- 

 ment of new-feeding rootlets. 



To be ideal a cover crop should be capable of starting well from 

 seed sown when the soil is dry, as in July or August. It should grow 

 quickly and abundantly so as to check tree growth in late Summer 

 or early Fall and form a heavy mat of herbage before Winter sets 

 in. Whether or not it should live over Winter is a disputed point; 

 some men want it to live; others to die. When it dies there 

 is no danger of its doing any damage to the trees, as might 



