114 



COVER CROPS 



orchardist should class buckwheat as among the best three or four 

 cover crops and one which it is difficult to do without (Fig. 45). 

 Cow Peas. These are rather a southern crop and are not as 

 good as several other crops when one gets north of Connecticut. 

 In their own section, however, they are famous as soil improvers. 

 They are sown in July and are killed by fall frost. 



FIG. 45. Buckwheat as a cover crop. One of the most satisfactory crops for this purpose, 

 especially where soil conditions are not of the best. 



Cow-horn and Purple-top Turnips. The great advantage of 

 these plants is cheapness, which certainly appeals to a man when 

 he has fifty acres or more of orchard to cover. They also fur- 

 nish an immense amount of humus, make a fairly good cover, 

 and with the purple tops at least one may pull out and sell 

 enough of the best turnips to far more than pay all the expense 

 of the crop and still leave plenty on the ground for a cover. 

 The objections to turnips are that they furnish no nitrogen, but 



