CHAPTER XX. 



COVER CROPS. 



The improvement of orchard soils with cover 

 crops is one of the most important operations of 

 fruit growing. This is the practice of raising 

 grains, grasses, legumes and garden truck between 

 trees with the primary object of improving the con- 

 dition of the soil rather than for direct profit. In 

 the Rocky Mountain States it is done, says the di- 

 rector at Fort Collins, as well to protect the ground 

 from injury by direct sunlight as to add nitrogen to 

 the soil. Throughout the North Central States the 

 practice is quite thoroughly established, cultivating 

 the ground until midsummer, and then growing le- 

 gumes until frost, as they make a mat during winter 

 and add much humus material when plowed under 

 in spring. Every experiment station in these States 

 has adopted this as a cardinal method for main- 

 taining soil in good texture, and there is not a dis- 

 senting opinion in the New England stations as to 

 its beneficial effects. Winter cropping has become 

 quite general among the fruit growers of the Pa- 

 cific Coast where clean cultivation usually con- 

 tinues until frost, and then a winter growth — usu- 

 ally a vetch or field peas — is planted until spring 

 and plowed under. In the South cover crops are 

 steadily gaining favor, for orchards continually 



