31 SUCCESSFUL PKUIT CULTURE 



frequent cultivation during the early summer must be 

 given, and as ordinarily grown the profit is more likely 

 to come from the increased value of the orchard crop 

 than from the crop of beans. The haulm or stalks of 

 the bean could be spread evenly over the land after 

 the beans are threshed out^ and be plowed under, or be 

 worked in with a wheel harrow and add much to its 

 ability to carry out a large crop of fruit. All things 

 considered, the author prefers Canada peas and barley 

 as a cover crop. Figure 18 shows a cover crop of 

 peas and barley in winter with no snow cover on the 

 land. 



MULCHING 



Without water in the soil, no fertilizer or manure 

 will have much effect upon plant growth; and upon 

 soils that are liable to injury from drouth, mulching in 

 some form must be resorted to. In the cultivation of 

 the land, the fine, loose layer of soil on top forms a 

 most effectual mulch. This kind of a mulch is much 

 to be preferred with perennial crops like the fruits, to 

 hay, straw or any other mulch of organic matter, 

 because the roots are kept deep in the soil where they 

 are not as liable to injury from drouth or extreme cold 

 in winter. 



If a mulch of hay or other organic matter is used, 

 the layer of moist soil is formed just under the mulch, 

 and when this decays, as it will in a year or two, it leaves 

 the roots of the trees so near the surface as to be 

 seriously injured by the first dry season or a very severe 

 winter. This kind of a mulch is often employed while 

 the fruit is ripening, with such varieties as the Graven- 

 stein, AVilliams and others that do not color until nearly 

 ripe, the falling fruit being gathered each morning. 

 This is the practice of Mr. Samuel Hartwell of Lincoln, 

 Mass., on his Gravenstein farm, where 2000 bushels of 



