Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-12-26

| ferably double diSced. Then the COW
| err crop should be sown. 1t has been
| found advantageous to use the open
furrow drill for seeding the cover
crop, especially Is this SO on land
that is rolling, as the open furrow
| method not only helps to protect
the grain from winter injury, but
! to washing
TIL Cocer Crop
The cover crop is an important
thing under Georgia conditions. There
| is a great loss of organic matter all
through the year in the south. Not
only does this valuable material dis
appear during the summer time, but
| there is sufficient warmth during the
winter to cause a loss of organic
matter when plants are normally not
| growing. The organic matter con-
| tent Of Georgia's soils is low, and
until it is replenished and maintain
| ed in sufficient quantities the trees
will not produce as they should. The
cover crop in the orchard should con-
tain some legume. Under ordinary
conditions it is advisable to start
building up the land through the use
of small grain in combination with
a 1egume. Rye, oats and wheat make
good small grains for winter growth.
On poor soils a bushel of rye and
| twenty pounds of innoculated hairy
vetch should be sown per acre. If
the land will produce it, oats will
| take the place of rye. This cover
crop should be turned under the fol-
lowing spring. In tine course Of time
the orchardist may get the land in
such condition that it will support
crimson clover and then this valu-
BILE legume may be used alone as a
cover crop for the orchard. Do not
neglect to turn the cover crop under
in the spring, for should the small
grain crop mature under the trees.
or if the crop should be allowed to
grow long enough to make hay, the
| trees will be injured. 1t is not in
furious to orchards for small grain
to grow among the trees as a cover
crop, but where the small grain is
allowed to produce a crop the in
jury may be serious, as the grain de-
mands an enormous amount of water
early in the spring and summer when
the trees also require large guam
titles of moisture. Cowpeas are
sometimes sown in the orchard in
the early season and worked into
the ground in time to SOW a cover
crop in the fall. This is an advisable
practice. Where used, the peas should
be sown in rows, so they may be Gull
! tivated, and care should be taken not
to SOW any cowpeas except the Brab-
ham and Iron, the latter preferred.
These two varieties are resistant to
nematode worms and may be used
other varieties may be all right on
clay lands, but they will prove in
=
soils should be sweetened by using
from 1000 to 1000 pounds of ground
limestone per acre every three or
are expected.
Orchard Inter-Crop
Under certain conditions it is ad-
visable to grow an inter-crop in the
orchard. There are a few rules that
should be followed in producing any
crop for profit between the trees.
First, no crop except the cover crop
should be grown in the orchard if
the orchard is bearing. Second, any
crop grown in the orchard should be
a clean cultivated crop, and the third
point is that this crop should be off
the land in time for sowing the COW
er crop in the fall. There are some
orchardists who do not consider corn
a good crop to grow in the young or
chard. They. think it Injuries the
t.groWth of, tie trees. This. is true
twllen the corn is planted too close
to the young trees. If after setting
the orchard, one desires to grow a
crop of corn, a strip should be left
on either side Of the trees of from
three to four feet. and there should
be no corn planted in the tree rows
This will give a strip eight feet
wide for the trees to grow in the
first year. Corn should be fertilized
and cultivated as ordinarily; it is
also good principle to cut and
shock this corn in the early fall in
order that the land may be free for
the cover crop. Sow peas in the
corn at its last cultivation, SO they
may be worked into the ground be-
fore the cover crop is sown; or plant
velvet beans with corn. 1t is wei,
to rotate the crop in the orchard fol
the same reasons that rotation is
practiced under ordinary farming
conditions.
A Third Crop
The next crop in the young or
chard could be of cotton and the
grower should leave a strip at least
ond year. In south Georgia, under
boil weevi l conditions, the cotton
should be picked as soon as possible
the stalks destroyed and the orchard
planted to a winter crop. In north
Georgia, where cotton is late in ma
turing, about the time of the sec.
ond picking seed a cover crop be.
tween the rows of cotton. This may
be done economically by using a one.
horse, three-row. drill that will put
three rows of oats and vetch, or rye
and vetch, between each two rows OF
cotton. AS soon as possible after the
cover crop comes up, get rid of the
cotton stalks, especially where the
cotton boil weevil is present. The
next year a crop of corn may be
grown between the trees, provided II
is not grown closer than seven OF
eight feet to the tree row. After
this the peach trees should not be
Intercepted.
Other crops that may be grown in
a peach orchard for three years
would be tomatoes, besns, Irish po-
tatoes, cowpeas in rows, or soy beans,
or practically any crop that demands
planting in the spring, with clean
culture to the middle of the summer.
Winter cabbages and Strawberries
though some times used. are not
recommended. Cabbages mature dur
ing the winter or early spring, and
Strawberries prevent good blowing
for two or three years. BY a jul
dicious system of cropping the or
chard, it is possible, where the land
is good, to bring the orchard through
the third year at little or no cost to
the grower. Where the young Or
chard is overcropped, or cropped for
too many years, the trees may be
severely hampered and injured in
their growth and production.
SHEEP SUITED TO SOUTHERN
FARMS
I T. r Haz1ehurst Ga writas. am