116 COVER CROPS 



fibrous, though not a very large, root system. Where a good stand 

 lives over winter it is sometimes rather difficult to get rid of it 

 and it is always unsightly. These are not serious matters, how- 

 ever, for a cover crop is not grown for its beauty, and by using a 

 cultivator with broad teeth it is quite possible to kill out the 

 worst case of this. On some cultivators there is a broad, V- 

 shaped affair in the centre called a "sweep," and two outside 

 wings, and the combination will pretty nearly clean out anything 

 in the weed line. The rape crop gathers no nitrogen from the air. 



Barley. — This is an excellent crop to use when one does not 

 care to have a nitrogenous crop and also does not want to use 

 buckwheat. It generally makes a good cover, particularly late 

 in the season, is not seriously expensive, makes an unusually fine 

 lot of humus, and leaves the land in very fair condition. Oats 

 are sometimes used in this way, but they do not leave the soil in as 

 good condition as barley and they are not included in the list. 



Rye.— This is one of the greatest covers on the list when 

 sown at the right time, but the great difficulty with it from the 

 orchard cover crop standpoint is that it makes very little growth 

 during the hot weather of July, August and early September, 

 so that it is of practically no value in assisting to stop the growth 

 of the trees. It will grow almost anywhere. Sown about Sep- 

 tember first it makes a fine covering for the land over winter. 

 When spring comes it has another shortcoming from the point of 

 view of the orchard and that is that it stalks up very quickly and 

 may get too tall and coarse to plow under well. It will also, on 

 heavy land, dry out the soil very quickly and make trouble with 

 lumps when the land is plowed. But it is fine to prevent washing 

 of the soil, is reasonably cheap, furnishes a good supply of humus, 

 and takes care of all soluble plant food, so that it can not be 

 spared from the list. 



Crimson Clover. — When this plant will make a good growth 

 in the autumn it comes the nearest to the ideal of a cover crop 

 of any plant in the list. It is reasonably cheap, and fulfils 

 nearly all of the offices detailed at the beginning of this chapter 

 as belonging to the ideal cover crop. It does not succeed in all 

 climates and it very frequently makes a poor growth for the 

 first year or two that it is tried on a particular block of land. 



