APPLE-ORCHARD CULTURE 



417 



be grown profitably between the trees (Fig. 163). Such crops 

 should consist of any cultivated crop from which money can be 

 made. Tomatoes, beans, potatoes, cabbage, corn, or in fact 

 almost any of the truck crops wdll be satisfactory. A grain or 

 hay crop, because of the nitrates and moisture used, is not 

 recommended under most conditions. 



The truck crops, of course, are fertilized and cultivated, 

 and as a result, conditions 

 for tree growth are also 

 good. The rows of crops 

 should be kept a few feet 

 from the tree rows, this dis- 

 tance being increased each 

 year until intercropping 

 ceases. A cover crop should 

 be sown each year at the 

 last cultivation of the cul- 

 tivated crop so that the 

 organic-matter content of 

 the soil may be increased 

 when the cover crop is 

 turned under. 



(6) Clean Cultivation, Strip 

 Cultivation and Alternate-row 

 Cultivation: The practice of 

 cultivating orchard soils from early spring until late in the fall with- 

 out seeding or allowing any cover crop to grow means that, sooner or 

 later, tree growth and fruit production will seriously diminish. Such 

 soils gradually become devoid of organic matter and nitrogen, mois- 

 ture is not absorbed or held, and the soils puddle in winter and bake 

 and crack in the summer. As a result of such soil conditions, tree 

 growth is checked, the foliage looks yellow, and smaller crops of poor- 

 sized fruit result. If such orchards are growing on slopes or hillsides, 

 soil washing occurs and fertility is lost. 



In young orchards, growing on steep land, a combination of culti- 

 vation and cover crops along the tree rows, with sod mulch in the 

 center of the rows to prevent washing, is often profitable and satis- 



{Md. Exp. Sta.) 



Fig. 164. — Strip cultivation. Tree 

 rows cultivated, with permanent alfalfa 

 between the rows cut for hay. 



