everyone
to learn; a lesson, not of the trees, but of the soil, of the dense mass
of mold, of partially decayed leaves, of vegetable matter, of humus that
covers the forest floor. The soil in the pecan orchard needs humus,
vegetable matter; so does the soil in any other kind of orchard, and to
obtain results it must be provided.

Now, it is a well-known fact that a number of years (ten or twelve) must
elapse before a pecan orchard will begin to give any adequate returns
for the time and care bestowed upon it and the money invested in it.
During this period, if rightly handled, the ground may be made to
produce something else than pecan trees, and that, too, without injury
to them. But in growing a crop in the orchard, bear in mind that the
trees need, and are benefited by, cultivation, and that fertilizer will
make them grow.

But, as already noted, humus is needed, and since this is the case, corn
or cotton or clean-culture crops, which leave little behind them to make
humus after they are removed, should not be grown every year. Some of
the legumes should be brought in. Cowpeas, soja beans, beggarweed,
velvet beans, alfalfa and melilotus can all be grown in the pecan area.
Not all of them in every locality, but some one or more of them in every
section. To keep up the supply of vegetable matter, grow one of these
leguminous crops every two or three years, or oftener, and after they
have died and dried on the surface, plow them into the soil. And when
corn is grown, sow cowpeas at the last working of the crop, to enrich
the soil. These legumes will add nitrogen to the soil and help to reduce
the fertilizer bills, for nitrogen is the costliest of all the
fertilizer materials which we buy.

Sometimes, it will not do to crop the orchard. A condition may have to
be met, in which there is not enough water to supply both the trees and
the growing crops and one or the other will suffer--the trees, usually.
In such a case the advisability of cropping is questionable unless, of
course, water in sufficient quantity can be supplied by irrigation.

Small grains, oats, wheat, etc., should be rigidly excluded. When corn
or cotton is planted, leave out a row or two of the crops where the tree
row is. Let the trees have feeding space, but cultivate all the ground.

If the season is dry, then give cultivation just as often as can be
done. Every week or ten days, between the first of April and the first
or middle of July, the grou