Show 1 VALUE OF THE COVER object Is to add humus to soil and turn it back to farm as nature prepared in beginning fall sowing of catch or crops in the orchard and on ground that has had a crop removed by the harvest is a good plan in many instances the object is to add humus to the soil and turn it back to the farm as nature prepared the soil in the beginning in many soils the mineral elements rei main but the humus has been removed by successive cropping of land the average soil ot many orchards show a considerable amount ot potash phosphate and other necessary elements by sowing of leguminous chopa nitrogen is added to the soil and a large amount ot cheap fertility ob talked where a cover crop such as crim son clover hairy vetch cowpeas cow peas beans etc are bowed sowed on ground after the last cultivation and then turned under in late fall or early spring not only is fertility increased but this green manure acts as a sponge makes soil more porous and holds water longer it will stiff clay soils which Is often desired and makes the darker hence w armor in the carlyl spring A good plan to follow in the central west in orchards Is to provide clean cultivation through the spring months until the middle or latter part of june j then seed to cowpeas or beans either broadcast or in drills in catl j audes tudes where crimson clover annuals annu alj will stand the winter months it makes one of the best cover crops that can be sown in the spring after few weeks growth it can be turned under to good advantage 1 where orchard land Is subject toi washing of soil cover crops should be sown every tall before tall rains corner in connection with cover crops a coating of well rotted manure applied during winter or early spring and turned under with the cover crops Is a good plan and the time and money spent in adding this necessary humus and fertility to the soil will prove al profitable investment WOULD DWARF FRUIT TREES of department of t ture presents novel proposition to increase yield A novel proposition to increase tha orchard yield of the country by dwarfs ing all fruit trees and plants was ad vacated by prof close a bomol ogest of the department of agriculture in a lecture on the home fruit gar den delivered before the Y M A professor chloee s lecture was one of others delivered by ex of the department designed to help the city man reduce the cost of living by teaching him how to grow fruit vegetables and flowers in his own back yard I 1 grow 40 varieties of fruits on less than a quarter of an acre of land at my own home said professor close and any other man can do the the secret la in dwarfing dwar fing all trees by pruning or pinching off the top buds till they do not exceed a height of two feet above the ground in this way the full strength of the tree or plant Is given entirely to fruiting FRUIT PICKING MADE EASY work simplified by use of device pat by southern inventor operated by string fruit picking should certainly be simplified by the use of a new device just patented by a southern inventor his invention comprises a basket made of a fixed and a movable mem convenient fruit picker his invention comprises a basket Is provided with slots while the movable member Is so constructed and pivoted that it turns and in so doing its teeth pass the slots of the fixed portion and thus act as shears any fruit to be picked from the tree Is approached by this device mounted on a long pole held by the person it anding on the ground and when the item of the fruit Is between the teeth i string Is pulled and the stem Is cut sy the movable blades the fruit then crops into the basket which Is ready p receive it practice to bo encouraged cover cropping the orchard la a practice trac tice that should come into more beneral use 1 it arsu i |