2 5 8 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 



The locality of the orchard has much to do with the kind 

 of cover crop grown. Crops adapted to special conditions 

 of soil should also be selected. Vetches thrive best upon 

 sandy lands while clovers do well on a clay soil. 



Certain crops are frequently combined as cover crops. 

 Oats and Canada peas, rye and winter vetch, buckwheat 

 and clover, and turnips and clover are desirable combina- 

 tions. 



An ideal plant for a cover crop is one that starts to grow 

 quickly and with which it is not difficult to secure a uni- 

 form stand. It must produce a fair amount of growth in 

 late summer and be able to withstand tramping during 

 the picking season. If the plant is one that lives through 

 the winter, it must start to grow early in the spring. 



QUANTITIES OF COVER CROP SEED TO SOW PER ACRE 



LEGUMES 



NON-LEGUMES 



Winter vetch 25 Ib. 



Spring vetch 90 Ib. 



Mammoth clover . . . . 20 Ib. 



Crimson clover 20 Ib. 



Sweet clover 15 Ib. 



Cowpeas 90 Ib. 



Velvet beans 25 Ib. 



Soy beans 90 Ib. 



Rye 48 Ib. 



Oats 2 bu. 



Buckwheat 2 bu. 



Turnips 2 Ib. 



Plowing under Cover Crops. Cover crops should be 

 turned under as early in the spring as the soil can be worked. 

 Then the plant tissues are soft and decay readily after 

 being turned under. If the cover crop is allowed to reach 

 large size before plowing much soil moisture is lost by 

 transpiration from the growing plants. 



