stated, cost more than the properly graded imported stock.



Apples and Alfalfa.



I have recently come across a proposition to sow apple orchards in the
interior of southern California with alfalfa. The apples are said to be
superior and the crop heavier, to say nothing of a half or two-thirds of
an alfalfa crop in addition to the crop of apples. What do you know
about it? Is alfalfa being used by others in this way?

It is perfectly rational to grow alfalfa in fruit orchards if the water
supply is ample for both the trees and the intercrop and the owner will
not yield to the temptation to waterlog his trees for the sake of
getting more alfalfa. It is even more desirable in the interior than
near the coast, probably. In Arizona some growers have for a number of
years practiced growing alfalfa in orchards, cutting the alfalfa without
removing it, counting that clippings are worth more to them through
their decay and the increase of the humus content of the soil. Even
where this is not done, the alfalfa will add to the humus of the soil by
its own wastes both from root and stem. The presence of an alfalfa cover
reduces the danger of leaf and bark burning either by reflected or
radiated heat from a smooth ground surface, and some trees are very much
benefited by this protection in regions of high temperature. This might
be expected to be the case with the apple, which is somewhat subject to
leaf burning in our interior valleys.