60 



HOME FRUIT GROWER 



be the case if il lived and was allowed to grow too late in the 

 Spring. 



Obviously, all the advantages just mentioned cannot be found in 

 one crop. So it is advisable to make combinations. Buckwheat 

 (Fig. 98) starts quickly, makes rapid growth, but kills with early Fall 

 frosts. Rye is slower to start but it is hardy. The two are there- 

 fore sown together. However, they add no nitrogen to the soil, 

 merely seize upon what soluble plant food happens to be available. 

 Hairy or Winter Vetch, a hardy legume, is often sown with Rye or 

 the Rye-Ruckwheat combination. Canada Field Peas are often 

 substituted for the Vetch, but are less hardy. Crimson Clover sown 

 in Midsummer usually makes an excellent crop on good land before 



Winter. In cold localities it may Win- 

 ter-kill but it will leave its dead tops 

 and roots to benefit the soil. Common 

 and cowhorn Turnips and Dwarf Essex 

 Rape are useful for their influence in 

 making soluble phosphoric acid from 

 insoluble combinations, in seizing upon 

 already soluble plant food in the soil 

 and holding these materials over Win- 

 ter. For the home orchard therefore a 

 combination of some or all of these 

 crops may be used. In the South Cow 

 Pea, Soy Rean, Velvet Rean and Crimson 

 Clover are more generally used than 

 in the North. 



In the home garden it may be 

 argued that the land is occupied by 

 garden or other crops as well as the trees and that, therefore, 

 a cover crop cannot be sown until too late. It is then a question 

 of making a rearrangement of crops so that the area may be 

 sown with a Winter cover. For instance, Crimson Clover, Rye and 

 Ruckwheat may be sown at the usual time or perhaps even later 

 among Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Melons, Cucumbers and other crops 

 killed by early frosts. It will do little if any damage to these crops 

 and will more than offset this by its humus and nitrogenous-forming 

 material. Rye and Ruckwheat may be similarly sown. Since the 

 cost of seed is usually small the idea should be to accept the risk 

 for the probable gain. The importance of such sowing is far too little 

 understood. Anything that will grow during the cool, or even cold, 

 Autumn weather should be sown. For every leaf and stem produced 

 and buried means a gain to the water-holding power of the soil. 



Fig. 33. -Well healed pruning 

 wound. Water sprouts 



