68 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
to begin with I would suggest the plant¬ 
ing of cover crops such as velvet beans, 
cow peas and beggar weed. Of the three 
named, I prefer the velvet bean, not only 
from the fact that being one of the leg¬ 
umes, it gathers nitrogen from the air, and 
stores it up in the soil, but it also gives a 
greater amount of humus, the great es¬ 
sential in our light, sandy soil, and hav¬ 
ing a tremendous vine growth it shades 
and prevents the leaching of the soil. My 
method of handling it as a cover crop is 
to begin, say in October or November, by 
running a heavy disk harrow over the 
vines going two ways the first time, but 
few of the vines are cut, but they are 
mashed down so that the sun can get at 
them. I then let it lie for a few days 
when I go over it again in the same way. 
This time more of the vines are cut and 
broken. This is kept up at intervals of 
two or three days until the vines are well 
cut up. As a general thing, after going 
over the vines the second time, if they 
have been planted in a grove, the fertili¬ 
zer can be applied and subsequent har¬ 
rowing will help not only to cut up the 
vines more thoroughly, but will thor¬ 
oughly mix the fertilizer with the soil. I 
find that all cover crops handled in this 
way become available as plant food much 
sooner than when they are turned under 
with the plow. 
I have been following this method for 
several years and find it much cheaper 
and more satisfactory than plowing under. 
For doing this work, we use a four-gang 
cutaway harrow, the two forward gangs 
throwing the earth one way and the rear 
splitting the forward furrows, and turn¬ 
ing in opposite directions, thus pulveriz¬ 
ing the soil perfectly. 
Aside from the cover crops, there is 
much waste material which, if returned 
to the land, would greatly add fertility 
and help build up our soils. Many tons • 
of good fertilizing material are being 
wasted on the farm and in our groves 
through carelessness and lack of fore¬ 
thought each year. A case was brought 
to my notice only last spring. In gather¬ 
ing up the drops and decayed oranges 
from the groves, for fear of the spread of 
Melanose and Stem-End Rot, we in¬ 
structed the men to haul them out and 
spread on land where we intended plant¬ 
ing cow peas for making hay. The leaves 
and small twigs were also hauled out and 
disposed of in the same manner. When 
cutting time came the effect on the crop 
was plainly discernible, especially where 
the oranges were put. The result was a 
rank heavy growth of vine where the 
oranges were used, while the land on 
which no oranges or trash was used was 
light and thin. 
I do not think it wise to bury the 
oranges in the grove as I think there is 
danger of inoculating the ground with the 
fungus germs. I may be wrong in this 
idea, but I find we had less Stem-End 
Rot and Melanose this season than for 
several years past, and we have been fol¬ 
lowing this method for the past two years. 
It takes but a short time to gather up the 
oranges—a man can take four rows at 
one time, placing the oranges in piles in 
the middle of the rows, so that the team 
in hauling them out does not have to 
cover so much ground. 
If the fruit is falling badly, this should 
