68 FRUIT-GROWING 



protection to the roots that they should have. 

 Bare ground always freezes much harder and 

 deeper than land that supports some sort of 

 protecting vegetation. Also the cover crop will 

 offer resistance to the snow, holding it in place 

 like a warm blanket over the face of the earth. 

 Probably the most important function of the 

 cover crop, however, is that it returns to the 

 soil some of the humus that has been burned 

 out of it during the hot summer when it was 

 constantly being cultivated. It is an admitted 

 fact that an orchard soil must contain some 

 humus if it is to produce the best results and I 

 can assure you that clean cultivation quickly 

 eliminates this quality in our soils. 



The best cover crop is the one that will pro- 

 duce the most humus, the most plant substance 

 for a given amount of cost and care. I think 

 that rye probably answers this description bet- 

 ter than any other plant that I know. Cer- 

 tainly it has given us the best results by all 

 odds, though we usually combined it with some 

 legume such as winter vetch or crimson clover. 

 Planted in combination with one of these hardy 

 legumes the rye furnished an admirable win- 

 ter protection and it started to grow so early 

 in the spring that it produced a tremendous 

 amount of plant material to be turned under as 

 "green manure." In fact, if there is any ob- 

 jection to the use of rye, it is the fact that it is 



