44 beginners' guide to ^ruit growing 



sometimes later. It is allowed to stand on the 

 ground until the following spring, when the entire 

 crop is turned under for the benefit of the land 

 at the time of the spring plowing. In this respect 

 it is very different from truck crops, which are 

 sometimes grown between the rows of young trees. 



The cover crop is grown only in those orchards 

 which are cultivated during the early part of the 

 summer. The seed is usually broadcasted, though 

 sometimes it is drilled in. The drilling method is 

 particularly suited to soy beans and cowpeas. 



Several distinct services are performed by the 

 cover crop. The most important are as follows : 



(i) The cover crop helps to check the growth of 

 wood during the late summer. In this way it 

 prevents the soft autumn growth which sometimes 

 does not ripen well and is therefore injured by 

 winter freezing. This autumn check upon wood 

 growth comes chiefly from the tendency of the 

 cover crop to take up from the soil a considerable 

 portion of water which would otherwise go to the 

 trees. Acting in this way, it may become an actual 

 detriment to the trees, especially in seasons 

 when a heavy crop of fruit is to be harvested late 

 in the fall and after an insufficient rainfall. Under 

 such circumstances it will be better to delay the 

 sowing of the cover crop somewhat. In an emer- 

 gency it might even be wise to cut the cover crop 

 with a mower, to roll it down with a roller or to 

 check its growth in some other manner. 



(2) The cover crop often saves considerable 

 amounts of fertilizer. Where soluble fertilizing ele- 

 ments are left in the soil they are always subject to 

 loss during fall and spring through being carried 

 down into the soil. They are dissolved by the rains 



