ely easy to
secure a good stand of them even in dry weather. Sown in late July in
the North they will produce a great bulk of humus and add much
moisture to the soil, especially if they cover the ground well. Their
broad, abundant leaves and high tops also hold the snow well in
winter. Cow Horn is the best variety of turnips to use, as it is a
large, rank grower. Use one to two pounds of seed to the acre. Rape
makes an excellent pasture crop in an orchard both for sheep and hogs,
but especially for the former. Eight or nine pounds of seed are
necessary to the acre.

Barley, oats, and millet are not as good crops as the foregoing,
because, with the possible exception of millet, they make their best
growth early in the season. Moreover they take up too much moisture
from the soil at a time when the tree most needs this moisture. In
fact they are sometimes used for this specific purpose on wet land in
too wet seasons. Two to two and one half bushels of oats or barley and
one to one and one half bushels of millet to the acre are necessary
for a good seeding.

Although weeds can hardly be classified as cover crops, they are often
valuable ones. They grow rapidly and rank, making a large bulk of
humus, without the expense of seeding. If they are not allowed to go
to seed so as to scatter the seed about the farm, they often make the
best of cover crops. This necessitates a mowing in September. Weeds
are plants out of place, and when these plants are in place they are
not necessarily weeds, as they have then become serviceable.

LEGUMES.--In general, legumes are more valuable as cover and green
manure crops than non-leguminous plants, because as a rule they are
more rank growers and more deeply rooted, as well as because they add
nitrogen to the soil. But it is rather more difficult to secure a good
stand of most legumes than it is of the crops previously mentioned for
several reasons. As a rule the seeds are smaller and a large seed
usually has greater germinating power than a small one. This often
means much at the time of the year when the cover crop is sown. Then
legumes are more difficult to grow, requiring better soil conditions.
Still these should be present in good orchard soils. Drainage must be
good, the soil must be at least average in fertility and physical
condition, it must not be sour--hence it is often necessary to use
lime--and soils frequently require inoculation before they will grow
legumes satisfactoril