| OCR Text |
Show COVER CROPS FOR ORCHARDS Many Sides to Question of Bait Way to Supply Vagetabla Supply Mattar of Irrigation. The subject of the beat crop to us for aupplylng vegetable matter to our ulla to young orchard la one that baa many sides. We think there la do doubt that In moat of our orcharda, particularly where the land baa not "teen In alfalfa, a cover crop of aome pt-gume la very desirable. Just what 'cover cropa ahall be uaed and bow thia ahall be handled muat depend on the aoll, ace of treea and other factor. For the young orchard we believe that the beat ayatem la to grow whichever leguminous crop can beat be grown In the district between the trees during the latter cart of the grow ing season. Where the seed can be aUrtid and a crop grown successfully, red clover la probably aa good aa anything, though Canada peaa, aoy beana, vetch, criiiiNon clover, etc., are all good where the condition are right to produce pro-duce planta of growth. We think the crop should be grown In the latter part of the season becauae the tree needs all the plant food available during dur-ing the early growing season. Normally, Nor-mally, a young orchard tree ahould begin be-gin growing In April or early May, aa it ahould make the larger part of the growth before the lat of July. If the seed la aown In early aprlng for a cover crop the young planta aoon beglu to take Lhla plant food and are apt to materially cut down the growth of the treea. Tbla taking up of plant food by outalde planta la d-alrable d-alrable the later part of the season, for we always have a tendency where clftn cultivation la given and plenty of water to keep our trees growing too long, and aa a reault tbey are apt to go Into the winter with Immature wood. In many casts we think that the beat practice la to aow this cover crop In drills, leaving an open apace from three to five feet either aide of the tree row. The cover crop la of twofold advantage. It adda vegetable fiber to the aoll, which makea the aoll more active and easier to irrigate, and if left on the ground In the winter win-ter protect the aoll from the drying and freezing and holda the anow and leaves from drifting. Many of our growers object to leaving the crop on the ground In the winter, a; they thing that fall plowing la necessary In the orchard In order to have the ground In condition to Irrigate. Tbla la true to a certain extent, but In few cases, we believe, la there any real difficulty in Irrigating orcharda that are plowed In the aprlng. If the land lacka slope, It simply means that the Irrigating furrow muat be deeper aiul the furrows need net be so close together, as, of course, the flatter the ground, the more water will be taken up as the water advances across the Held |
