The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1910-02-18
RAISE COVER CROPS
Fruit, GroWers Advocate Their
Use, But Few Try Them.
Wherever Experiment Has Been At
tempted II Has Proven Advantage
eous and Beneficial to the Orch
ard in Quantity and Quality

tBY J. NJ MINER.
One of the greatest problems thai
the orchard men in the west are con-
fronted with Is just what is proper
cultivation. In the years past orch
ardists have not found it necessary to
use cover crops very extensively, be-
cause it has not been absolutely nee
essary. and they have not given very
great thought to the matter. This is
more important question in the ir-
rigating districts of the west than
many of our orchardists realize. Many
fruit-growers are divided on the ques-
ton as TO whether 1t is better to give
clean cultivation in the orchard or
whether to plant it with good cover
crop of some sort Arguments on
both sides of the question are very
good, though we believe them to be
more so on account of local soil con
ditions than as general plan.
We find that while the majority of
the fruit-growers believe that cover
crops are the proper thing, very few
are actually trying them. They are
putting in all their time keeping the
|
! fellows growing cover crops are those
| growing crops of weeds. They have
! two reasons for the propagation OF
| this latter crop--either too busy or
/ too lazy to clean and cultivate. Wher-
| ever it has been tried ii has been
| proven advantageous and beneficial
to the orchard, both In quantity and
| ~f ,,Dl 10 q
Just what this should be is left to the
discretion of the orchardist. Some say,
! clover; some, COW peas; some think
alfalfa. 1t depends upon the hurry
one is in to receive the benefit from
the cover crop. Some have suggested
that better plan would be to use
Judgment and divide between clean
cultivation and a cover crop. During
early years of an orchard a great
many people like to grow crops OF
some kind between rows in the orch
ard AS to the extent of this we must
leave it to the judgment of the orch
aardists entirely. He must determine
whether or not the class of soil In
which his orchard is planted will
rioration Soils especially adapted to
orcharding are very frequently soils
that are not suffi GENTLY deep or oil
the proper quality to produce other
crops without impairing their fertility
These crops so taken from the ground
in the earlier years of the orchard ere
not In the nature of cover crops; they
| 141 70 40
usual thing until the orchard Is abou
six years old ii is not necessary tt
use cover crops. At this stage in thu
, life of the orchard 1t is certainly
good plan to use a cover crop for on
, season at least Then after two o
r three years, depending upon the char
acter of the soil, 1t is good plan t
repeat this process Even in the rich
, est of soils this plan. will show a.
Improvement over continual clean GU
tivation.
In growing cover crops great car
7 must be exercised that too much ws
ter is not given the trees. Careless
, ness in this results at times in grea
damage, almost as great as the failur
If the orchardist is supplied from
D poor water right and apt to be a littl
shy of water it is better not to TT
y to raise a cover crop, as in doing s
he is always sure to have his orchar
too dry, in trying to keep up the SUI
ply of the cover crop. Then, too, II
asmuch as he cannot sufficiently Gu
i, tivate. he will be able to retain onl
a small part of the moisture which b
put on the ground. II orchardist
must work with the problem of cove
crops or clean cultivation he mus
= act according to his judgment of LOCI
! conditions water supply and soil co
! iitions and should make clear stud
l Of these with that end in view.
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