252, 
tivation they plowed a strip and left a 
strip. The strip left standing thus be- 
came a seeder for the strip turned under, 
and so caused fairly good cultivation. 
Captain Shawhan of Payette, Idaho, 
the products of whose orchards attracted 
most favorable attention and some blue 
ribbons at the Council Bluffs Apple Show, 
aud also at the Spokane Apple Show— 
believes in cover crops, and the adding 
of humus to the soil, thus feeding his 
trees. He says when he takes such won- 
drous crops of fruit from his trees that 
he feels in duty bound to give them 
something in return. Therefore, in addi- 
tion to cover crops he makes generous 
application of barnyard manure, and the 
soil is so porous and loose that in walk- 
ing through the orchard one sinks to his 
shoe tops. 
Commercial Fertilizers 
In planting a later addition to the 
Rolla orchard, consisting of 15,000 trees, 
mostly one-year, but with some two-year, 
we applied to each tree several pounds 
of Commercial 583 and bone meal. Every 
tree lived, not one failed to grow and all 
made a most vigorous growth. Planters 
of Western orchards on Jand deficient in 
humus have supplied the deficiency by 
this method rather than lose a year’s 
time in the cultivation of some crop. We 
suggest that each tree be given, at the 
time of planting, several pounds of sheep 
or other manure, or some commercial 
brand of fertilizer, as may be convenient. 
Abundant humus may then be supplied 
by the cover crop to follow. This method 
is also suggested for old lands lacking 
in fertility. The money and time spent 
in applying a stimulant will prove a 
profitable investment. 
WILLIAM P. STARK, 
Louisiana, Mo. 
Cover Crops for Eastern Conditions 
There are two distinct classes of cover 
crops. There are those that live over 
winter and commence growing in the early 
spring, like the clovers, vetches, and rye, 
and those that die down in the fall, like 
cow peas, soy beans, turnips, rape and 
buckwheat. Many of those of the latter 
class make a very large growth and in 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
many respects are superior to those of 
the former class. The winter cover crops, 
however, furnish better protection to the 
soil and roots during cold weather, ang 
on the whole are better suited to New 
England conditions. 
Cover crops may also be classified ae. 
cording to their ability to contribute to 
the supply of plant food in the soil. Plants 
belonging to the legume family, such as 
clover, alfalfa, vetch, peas and beans, have 
the power of assimilating nitrogen from 
the air and when turned under contrib- 
ute to the supply of this valuable form 
of plant food. It will be observed that 
some of these nitrogen-gathering crops 
belong to the winter group and some to 
the fall group. Under certain conditions 
a non-leguminous crop may be more serv- 
iceable than a nitrogen-gathering one and 
in like manner a fall cover crop may 
often be just as useful as a winter one 
If the trees were not making sufficient 
growth a leguminous crop would probably 
be desired, while if the trees were making 
sufficient growth and there appeared to 
be a lack of vegetable matter in the soil, 
a rapid growing non-leguminous crop, 
such as winter rye, would be more suit- 
able. In locations where good covering 
of snow may be depended upon and where 
soils are not likely to wash, a fall cover 
crop such as turnips, rape, buckwheat, 
cow peas, soy beans, or horse beans would 
be very suitable. The three last named 
crops are nitrogen-gatherers and would 
be more suitable than the former three, 
if the trees were not making satisfactory 
growth. 
Oats, barley and corn are occasionally 
used as cover crops, but have very little 
to commend them. They draw heavily 
upon the moisture of the soil when the 
fruit is maturing and are likely to affect 
the yield seriously. 
Turnips and rape are very similar and 
are sometimes used for cover crops. They 
are more useful when sown in combina- 
tion with clover than when grown by 
themselves. They continue growing late in 
the fall and furnish good protection to the 
clover plants. Their chief value les in 
their ability to attack and break up in- 
soluble compounds that other plants can- 
