but if you expect to get the growth of your trees and vines with the rainfall of the previous winter, be careful not to waste it in either of the ways which have been indicated, and above all, do not plant trees and vines too late.  Theoretically, your position is perfect.  The application of it, however, requires some care and judgment.  Rather than plant too late, you had better grow the green stuff the winter after the trees have been planted.

Needs Organic Matter.

I have what I believe to be decomposed sandstone.  Many rocks are still projecting out of land which I blast and break up.  The soil works freely when moist or wet, but when dry it takes a pick-axe to dig it up; a plow won’t touch it.  Among my young fruit trees I tried to grow peas, beans, carrots and beets, and although I freely irrigated them during the summer and fall, and although I planted at different times, my peas and beans have been a total failure, and the beets, carrots and onions nearly so.  For years the land has grown nothing but weeds.

Your soil needs organic matter which would make it more easy of cultivation, more retentive of moisture, and in every way better suited to the growth of plants.  Liberal applications of stable manure would produce best effects.  No commercial fertilizer would begin to be so desirable.  If you can dig into the soil large amounts of weeds or other vegetable waste material, you would be proceeding along the same line, but stable manure is better on account of its greater fertilizing content.  You ought to be thankful that the soil has spunk enough to grow weeds.  The Immanent Creator is still doing the best he can to help you out; take a hand yourself on the same line.

Two Legumes in a Year.

I have land on which I wish to plant to fruits, and I wish to build up the soil all I can, by planting cover crops and plowing under.  What would be the best to plant this fall, to be plowed under next spring, and to plant again next spring to plow under in the fall?  I will not be able to plant any trees before next fall or the following spring.

Get in vetches as soon as the ground is in shape in the fall.  Plow them under early in the spring and close the covering and compact the green stuff by running a straight disk over the ground after plowing.  This will help decay and save moisture.  Follow with cow peas as soon as you are out of the frost, disking in the seed so as not to disturb the stuff previously covered in.  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?