70 CROPPING THE ORCHARD 



very soon one may easily pick out, at a considerable distance, the 

 section of the orchard where the perennial crop is located by the 

 small size of the trees and the light color of their leaves. Of 

 course it is possible by extra effort in the way of hand labor, and 

 by extra fertilizing with good barn manure, to overcome to a 

 certain extent the bad effects of the crop, but these are expensive 

 methods to use and to a very large extent they take away any 

 profit which might accrue from the crop. Usually they are not 

 even attempted. It is much better to use an annual crop which 

 is cleared off the land each year and which thus allows of 

 thorough preparation of the soil each spring. 



6. Lastly, and least important, though still well worth con- 

 sidering, the crop should be one which makes its growth at some 

 other time than that in which the orchard makes its most vigorous 

 growth. This is one reason why beans, for example, are to be 

 preferred to currants. The beans are not planted until the trees 

 are at the height of their growth, and they do not begin to draw at 

 all heavily on the soil moisture and plant food until the trees 

 have come to a point where they can easily and even advan- 

 tageously spare a part of both moisture and plant food. The 

 currants, on the other hand, come along at precisely the same 

 time as the trees and compete with them step by step for both 

 fertility and water. 



Area Reserved for Trees. — It ought to be said, before going 

 farther, that in any scheme of cropping the orchard a certain 

 portion of land must be reserved for the exclusive use of the 

 trees. This will vary with different crops and with the age of 

 the trees, but as a rule a strip six or eight feet wide along each 

 row of trees should be reserved the first year and this should be 

 enlarged year by year as the trees grow. 



Lists of Companion Crops. — With the above requirements in 

 mind the writer has chosen the following list of companion crops 

 and has attempted to arrange them under three classes— good, 

 bad and indifferent. They are also arranged in the different 

 sections roughly in the order of their value from the standpoint 

 of the orchard, the most objectionable ones coming last. 



