Manure with a Clover Crop.

I have an old apple orchard in which I intend to sow burr clover.  In order to get the clover to grow I know that I shall have to use fertilizer of some kind and this is what I want your advice about.

If you can get it, use stable manure at the time of sowing the clover seed.  Stable manure alone will restore the humus and overcome the rebellious behavior of the soil.  Possibly you cannot secure sufficient quantities of it.  In that case a little with the burr clover seed will give the plant a good start, or use a complete fertilizer to secure the growth of a legume in the freest and quickest way.

Fenugreek as a Cover Crop.

Fenugreek has been recommended to be as a nitrogen-gathering plant, but I cannot find information as to the amount of nitrogen it gathers in its roots and tops, nor the amount of crop per acre.

Fenugreek is a good nitrogen gatherer and is desirable for green manuring wherever you can get a good growth of the plant.  You can count it worth as much as peas, vetches, etc., if you can get as much growth of the plant.  It is most largely used in the lemon district near Santa Paula.  The best way to proceed would be to try a small area of all the nitrogen gathering plants of which you can get the seed easily, and determine by your own observation which makes the best growth under your conditions.

Improvement of Cementing Soils.

I would like some advice in handling the “cementy” gravel soil.  Manure is beneficial in loosening up the soil, but there is not enough available.  Would the Canadian field pea make a satisfactory growth here if sown as soon as the rains begin?  I would try to grow either peas or vetch and plow under in February or March and then set trees or vines on the land.

The way to mellow your soil is certainly to use stable manure or to plow under green stuff, as you propose.  This increases the humus which the soil needs and imparts all the desirable characters and qualities which humus carries.  You ought to get a good growth of Canadian field peas or common California field peas or the common Oregon vetch by sowing in the fall, as soon as the ground can be moistened by rain or irrigation, and, if the season is favorable, secure enough growth for plowing under in February to make it worth while.  Be careful, however, not to defer planting trees and vines too late in order to let the green stuff grow, because this would hazard the success of your planting by the reduction of the moisture supply during the following summer by the amount which might be required to keep the covered-in stuff decaying, plus loss of moisture from the fact that the covered stuff prevented you from getting thorough surface cultivation during the dry season.  For these reasons one is to be careful about planting on covered-in stuff which has not had a chance to decay.  This consideration, of course, becomes negligible if you have water for summer irrigation,