76 BIGGIE ORCHARD BOOK 



a cover crop, says John Craig, Cornell Experiment 

 Station, New York. These are : the nitrogenous class 

 on the one hand and the non-nitrogenous class on the 

 other. The difference between these two is marked 

 by the power of the plants of the nitrogenous class to 

 appropriate the free nitrogen of the air and store it 

 up in their tissues in such a way that it is more or less 

 readily available to the succeeding crops. Prominent 

 among plants which have this property are the clovers, 

 peas, beans and vetches. These are the farmers' 

 friends the ' ' nitrogen collectors. ' ' 



Prof. C. P. Close, Delaware, says: "The amounts 

 of seed per acre, and crop or combination of crops 

 which may be used, are about as follows : Rye, one to 

 one and one-half bushels ; cowhorn turnips, one to 

 two pounds ; dwarf Essex rape, eight to ten pounds ; 

 red, mammoth or crimson clover, fifteen to twenty 

 pounds ; cowpeas, ninety pounds ; soy beans, ninety 

 pounds ; hairy vetch, forty to fifty pounds ; hairy 

 vetch, forty pounds, and rye, thirty pounds; hairy 

 vetch, twenty pounds, and cowpeas or soy beans, 

 forty-five pounds ; hairy vetch, twenty pounds, and 

 turnips, twelve ounces ; hairy vetch, twenty pounds, 

 crimson clover, eight pounds, and turnips, eight 

 ounces ; hairy vetch, twenty pounds, and red, mam- 

 moth or crimson clover, eight pounds ; turnips, eight 

 ounces, rye, twenty pounds, and red, mammoth or 

 crimson clover, four pounds ; turnips, twelve ounces, 

 and crimson clover, eight pounds ; turnips, twelve 

 ounces, and soy beans or cowpeas, forty pounds ; 

 dwarf Essex rape, four pounds, and rye, one bushel ; 

 rape, four pounds, soy beans or cowpeas, forty pounds, 



