118 COVER CROPS 



and then if it is cultivated two or perhaps three times before the 

 orchard is laid by, it will do splendidly. For sowing soybeans 

 in this way the grower may use a small five-hole drill which is 

 used largely in the Middle West for drilling wheat in the autumn 

 into land where corn has been grown the summer previous. Stop 

 up all but the two outside holes and then spread the drill as 

 wide as possible. Thus two rows at a time are drilled far enough 

 apart to cultivate. After the plants are up they are given two 

 or three cultivations and then the land is seeded down to rape 

 or turnips or buckwheat or rye. This makes a fine combination 

 cover. If the beans come along nicely and ripen a good crop of 

 seed, it may be harvested and threshed and will usually bring two 

 and a half to three dollars per bushel wholesale. This leaves 

 whatever else was sown on the land as a cover and the soil gets the 

 benefit of the root-systems of the soybeans after they are mown 

 off. On the other hand if the crop is not good enough to warrant 

 harvesting, if the stand is poor or the frost comes before the 

 beans are mature enough, then there is a fine crop to plow 

 under. The common white pea-bean may be grown in much the 

 same way, and with equal satisfaction. 



Care should be taken, when this method is used on land that 

 is subject to wash, to have the rows run crosswise of the slope. 

 If this is overlooked they help rather than hinder washing by 

 keeping the water in certain channels. 



Canada field peas are sometimes used and will make the 

 most humus to the square inch of anything that ever grew in an 

 orchard. It is the only crop that really gives serious trouble in 

 plowing it under. The vines are so rank and the stal^ks are so 

 heavy that it is like tiying to plow under a field of bean poles. 

 With a good crop, the only way to get them under is to use a 

 rolling coulter on the plow, and even then they wnll sometimes 

 clog up under the plow-beam. But they do furnish humus and 

 nitrogen in abundance. When they mat down on the surface 

 they will stop any "wash" but a cloud-burst. 



Mixtures. — Since very few or perhaps no crops serve all, or 

 even a large part of the "functions" for which cover crops are 

 sown, it is often desirable to use mixtures which may be made to 

 do practically everything which is required. 



