POOR COMPANION CROPS 75 



11. Asparagus is not often used and has the serious objection 

 that it must stand in the orchard for a number of years, yet 

 cases are occasionally seen where it is used with very good 

 success. 



Poor Companion Crops. 12. Raspberries and blackberries 

 ought practically to be debarred as orchard crops. The long 

 period that they have to stand, the difficulty or impossibility of 

 cross-cultivation, and the fact that they sucker so freely are the 

 chief objections. These can be overcome by hand labor, by barn 

 manure, and by the free use of other fertilizers. Ordinarily, 

 however, it is the young trees that are overcome and not the 

 difficulties. 



13. Nursery Stock. The growing of this crop in the orchard 

 is seldom practised and almost always with regret so far as its 

 effect on the orchard trees is concerned. It grows at exactly the 

 same time as the young orchard trees, takes out the same fertilizer 

 elements, and uses moisture at the same time. And it usually 

 stands two or three years. On the whole it is much better to put 

 the nursery somewhere else. 



14. Grains of all kinds should be strictly ruled out. They 

 have only one redeeming feature and that is that they are annual 

 crops. But they are not cultivated, they prevent cross-cultivation 

 of the trees, they rob the trees of moisture, and the part of the 

 orchard where they are grown will always show the injurious 

 effects, at the time and frequently for several years after. 



15. Hay. Never use it. It is the last crop in our list and is 

 placed there because it is regarded as " the limit." There are 

 a few sod enthusiasts who claim to be, and probably are, success- 

 ful in starting young trees in sod. But most growers, even 

 though they resort to sod later on, start their trees under culti- 

 vation. Hay competes at every step with the young trees, robbing 

 them of moisture and plant food when they most need them, and 

 providing excellent conditions for injurious insects of various 

 kinds, and when the hay is harvested the trees are liable to all 

 sorts of accidents from the mowing machine, the rake, and the 

 hay wagons. If you are tempted to use hay, by all means resist 

 the temptation ! 



