VIII 



COVER CROPS 



In discussing tillage we have several times spoken 

 of cover crops. The cover crop is nowadays con- 

 sidered to be an important — in fact, almost an 

 essential — item in a proper system of orchard man- 

 agement. 



The term cover crop stands for any sort of annual 

 crop sown among fruit trees during the summer 

 and plowed under the following spring. It is grown 

 solely for the benefit of the land and the trees. In 

 this respect it dififers from what is often called a 

 " catch crop," such as potatoes or corn, often grown 

 between orchard rows. The catch crop is grown and 

 harvested for itself, and though it may prove a real 

 'benefit to the land, this is not its sole or prime end. 



A cover crop performs various valuable services. 

 Those especially worthy of notice are the following: 



I. The cover crop helps to check the growth of 

 the trees in late summer, thus preventing late 

 growth, and encouraging the early maturity of the 

 wood. In regions where winterkilling is serious 

 this service becomes important. It should be re- 

 membered, however, that apple trees carrying heavy 

 crops of fruit seldom need anything more to check 

 their growth ; and as this check is applied by 

 taking a certain amount of water from the soil, and 

 as the trees will sometimes need this water in matur- 

 ing a heavy crop of fruit, the cover crop may become 



