Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-07-13

ORCHARD COVER CROPS.
What They IncIude-Where They Ar
&C.,. ILL.,. 4. g.

What They IncIude-where They Are
GrOwn-When to Sow.
AT the New York station Mammoth
clover formed a dense covering and re
manned alive over winter, comparing
favorably with winter vetch and win
ter rye. A mixture of the latter formed
a perfect mat of vegetation and re-
manned green over winter. At the New
York Cornell station the European
Yetch sown early in summer, though
starting slowly, made thick cover by
the middle of September. 1t remained
green and continued growing for some
time after frost, the vines standing two
feet high at the beginning of winter.
On the approach of hard freezing
weather it fell. forming an even, carpet
like cover, and by spring the plants
were decayed so they could easily be
plowed under. They must not be sown
too early for best results with summer
cultivation, but the plant is neverthe-
less considered one of the best for New
York. 1t is recommended to SOW the
seed the last of June of first of July or,
if in very good soil, as late as the last
of July.
Sofa beans and cowpeas have been
successfully grown in peach orchards
In Connecticut. In Canada they are re-
ported to have grown rapidly, but were
killed by the first frost and did not
make as good a cover as rye, buck
wheat or fields peas.
Cowpeas, and perhaps velvet beans
also, may prove valuable in the south
ern states, but are not so well suited
to the north. Both the New York sta
tons report cowpeas as making a good
growth, but the seed must not be sown
too early to allow of the best cultiva-
ton. The plants are killed by the frost,
lose their leaves and afford little win
ter protection. Field beans, while bet
ter than no cover are open to the same
objections as cowpeas. Field peas are
often grown as a cover crop.
At the New York Cornell station field
peas sown in the middle of August pro-
duced vines from two to three feet long
and remained green after frost, making
good mulch. When sown as late as the
middle of September, they did not make
a satisfactory cover. At the New York
state station Canada peas and buck
wheat and blue peas and buckwheat
gave satisfactory results, both mix
lures making good growth and the
peas remaining green until winter. The
growth of the Canada peas and buck
wheat was SO great as to interfere with
the gathering of winter apples.
Field peas are considered among the
best crops for winter cover at the Ne
braska station, though most crops
make rather small growth in the dry
falls of that region.
Crimson clover Is considered an ideal
cover crop wherever 1t withstands the
winter, though it does not thrive on
hard, poorly titled soil as well as many
other crops. 1t is reported by the New
Jersey station as being hardy through
out the state and considered much
more economical than city manure as a
heterogeneous fertilizer. 1t may be sown
there from the middle of July to the
middle of September. According to the
Delaware station, it is grown largely in
the peach orchards of that state. 1t
sends its roots to depth of four feet
even in hard soil, fiourishes on poorer
soil than red clover and makes its
growth during the fall, winter and
spring, growing when wheat and even
rye seem dormant. In spring the sod
is plowed in such way as to leave
many Of the clover heads above the
soil to ripen and reseed the orchard.
On poor soil eowpeas are sometimes
grown during summer and are followed
by crimson clover sown in the pea vine
in August. This practice is also recon-
mended by the Virginia station. Grim
son clover has not proved entirely
hardy at the Rhode Island, Michigan.
New York state and New Hampshire
stations and at the Canada experiment
tai farms, and was not satisfactory at
the Nebraska station on account of dry
weather In the fall. In the locality
of the New York Cornell station Grim
son clover winter kills If sown too late.
About the middle of July or LIST of Au-
gust is recommended as the best time
to sow 1t. II sown earlier, it natures
and dies before winter. Failures with
crimson clover are frequent but no
more so than with red or mammoth
clover sown at the same time A re-
cent report of experiment station work,
which is authority for the statements
here made. mentions still other crops
suitable for cover.