Do not wait to put under the winter growth until
it is safe to put on the cowpeas, for, if you do, you will lose so much
moisture that the cowpeas will not amount to much.
Handling Orchard Soil.
We average about 35 inches of rainfall. With this heavy rainfall, is
there any advantage to be gained by early plowing and clean cultivation
right through the winter? Would such plowing and cultivation result in
any serious loss of plant food? Would you advise an early or late
application of nitrogen, such as nitrate or guano? If there is any loss
from an early application, can it be determined by any means?
The old policy of clean winter cultivation has been largely abandoned.
Nearly everyone is trying to grow something green during the rainy
season to plow under toward the end of it. Even those who do not sow
legumes for this purpose are plowing under as good a weed cover as they
can get. This improves the soil both in plant food and in friability,
which promotes summer pulverization and saves moisture from summer
evaporation. Much less early plowing is done than formerly unless it be
shallow to get in the seed for the cover crop; the deeper plowing being
done to put it under. Guano can be applied earlier in the winter than
nitrate, which can be turned in with the cover crop, while the former
may be sown with the seed to promote the winter growth. Whether you are
losing your nitrate or not the chemist might determine for you by
before-and-after analyses.
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