n dry soils and in dry seasons
than it is of the smaller seeded clovers. It is usually best to sow in
drills the ordinary width, seven inches, apart.

Cow peas are universally used as a cover and green manure crop in the
South, but they do not thrive so well in the North. One and one half
to two bushels of seed are required per acre. In the North the earlier
maturing varieties of soy beans are almost equally good. One to one
and one half bushels of seed are sown per acre.

Leguminous cover crops are also the best and the cheapest source of
nitrogen for the apple orchard, after they are well established. Their
use may be overdone, however. Too much nitrogen results in a growth of
wood at the expense of fruit buds. To avoid this it is often advisable
to use non-leguminous and leguminous crops alternately, when the
orchard is making a satisfactory growth. Sometimes also these two
kinds of crops, as buckwheat and clover for example, may be combined
with good results. When this is done one half the usual amount of seed
of each should be used.

EARLY PLOWING.--Many people make the common mistake of thinking that
a green manure crop must be allowed to grow until late in June in
order to secure the maximum amount of growth. There are several
reasons why this is not good practice. In the first place cultivation
is most essential in the early spring as has been pointed out. Then
moisture is better conserved by plowing under the crop early and a
better physical condition of the soil secured. Plowing early in the
spring warms up the soil and sets plants to work more quickly. Lastly,
material rots much more quickly in the early spring when moisture is
more abundant, which is very important.

An apple tree is as much a crop as anything grown on the farm and must
be so regarded by those who would become successful orchardists. When
it is not properly fed and cared for, good yields of fruit may not
justly be expected. Especially is this true of an orchard which is
being intercropped. But because of the fact that an apple tree is not
an annual crop but the product of many years' growth, because its root
system is deeper and more widely spread out than those of other crops,
and because the amount of plant food removed in a crop of fruit is
comparatively small, fertilization is less important than many
persons would have us think. It is a fact that where orchards receive
good cultivation and a liberal supply of humus commercial fertil