APPLES 269 
Fig. 3. 
improvement in the soil. It is difficult 
to get all the vetch out of the orchard as 
it volunteers badly, but for an orchard 
it is not considered a bad fault, but it is 
not desirable on a general farm. 
Clover—Clover has been profitable and 
is beneficial to the soil, but we have had 
some trees checked in growth by it. It 
takes the moisture from. the trees more 
than any other crop we have grown. This 
can be overcome by careful irrigation, 
but clover should not be grown in an 
orchard where water cannot be thorough- 
ly applied in a short period of time. 
Vegetables and Small Fruits—We have « 
grown good vegetables in the orchard, but 
on account of the market conditions we 
have not gone into it on a large scale. 
Many families have and are supported in 
the Northwest by growing vegetables and 
small fruit in the small young orchard. 
Where vegetables and small fruits are 
grown in the orchard, manure should be 
freely applied or the crops should be 
grown in a long rotation, or both. 
The Fourth Year Potatoes 
Are Planted on the Pea Land. 
Alfalfa—We have not given alfalfa a 
good trial, but there are thousands of suc- 
cessful orchards, young and old, in the 
irrigated districts of the Northwest, 
seeded to alfalfa. i 
In conclusion, the writer is safe in say- 
ing, without successful contradiction, that 
no orchard should be cultivated continu- 
ally for a period of five years without 
either an intercrop, companion’ crop, 
cover crop or a good application of barn- 
yard manure. 
INTERCROPS MADE TO PAY 
In employing cover crops I have had 
two objects in view. First, to bring up 
the fertility of the soil, as I started with 
sagebrush land. Second, to decrease as 
far as possible the ultimate cost of the 
orchard when in full bearing. That I 
am accomplishing my purpose is attested 
by the fact that by the end of the third 
year from sagebrush three-fourths of the 
40 acres I am caring for has been en- 
riched either by a cover crop of clover or 
alfalfa or by a dressing of manure. Also, 
