legumes which thrive under high temperature, like cowpeas and other members of the bean family, and for which water can be spared without injury to the fruit trees which share the application of the land with them.  The plants which are worth trying are burr clover, common or Oregon vetch, Canadian field pea, and the common California or Niles pea.  Whichever one of these makes the best winter growth so that it can be plowed under early in the spring, say in February or March, while there is still plenty of moisture in the soil for its decay, without robbing the trees or rendering the soil difficult of summer cultivation, is the plant for you to use largely.  All these plants should be sown in California valleys and foothills, as soon as there is moisture enough from rainfall to warrant you in believing they will catch and continue to grow.  If the land is light they can be put in with a cultivator and plowed under deeply in the spring, as stated.  If the land is heavy, probably a shallow plowing would be better to begin with.

Cowpeas for Cover Crop.

I planted cowpeas between peach trees which I have kept irrigated; when should they be plowed under?

Cowpeas will be killed by frost in most places and should, therefore, be plowed in this fall whenever you have a large growth of green stuff and the ground gets moist enough so that the trees will not be endangered by drying out of the soil, which is likely to occur after plowing in coarse material, unless the soil is kept moist by rain or otherwise.

Garden Peas for Green Manure.

Would it be possible to plant the Yorkshire Hero pea in on orange grove as late as December 25 and get a crop from the peas?  Would this pea add much to the fertility of the soil?

You can sow any garden peas as late as December 25, if the ground is in good condition and the temperature not too low.  They are grown as a winter crop except when the ground freezes.  You would not get as much good for the grove by growing these peas for the market as you would by plowing the whole growth under green, but you certainly will get advantage from the decomposition of the pea straw and of the root growth of the plant.

Grass for Green Manuring.

I wish to sow this fall some green grass to be plowed in next spring to improve the soil of part of my land.  I read for that purpose a bulletin I had from the government, but the conditions are so different here in California that I am very much puzzled which kind to select.

There is no grass which grows quickly enough to be worth seeding in the fall for spring plowing.  It is a good deal better to use a grain, either barley or rye, for the seed is cheap, the growth quick and you can get a good deal of green stuff to plow under.  Legumes are, of course, better because of their ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen, but any plant which makes a large green growth is good, and it is better to have a heavy weight of wild vegetation than to have a light growth of an introduced legume.