. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COVER-CROPS COVER-CROPS 259 are grown between the rows of other crops, as turnips grown between potatoes. The purpose of the catch-crop is to utilize the land to the utmost, securing an incidental crop. Green-manure crops are those grown for the purpose of enriching the land, whereas cover-crops are grown to protect the land, or trees, or other plants that may be growing on it. Cover-crops may or may not be green-manure crops. Cover-crops usually remain on the ground in winter. [See the article on Fruit-growing for another discussion of co
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. COVER-CROPS COVER-CROPS 259 are grown between the rows of other crops, as turnips grown between potatoes. The purpose of the catch-crop is to utilize the land to the utmost, securing an incidental crop. Green-manure crops are those grown for the purpose of enriching the land, whereas cover-crops are grown to protect the land, or trees, or other plants that may be growing on it. Cover-crops may or may not be green-manure crops. Cover-crops usually remain on the ground in winter. [See the article on Fruit-growing for another discussion of cover-crops.] Uses of cover-crops. Cover-crops are used, (1) to prevent the loss of soluble plant-food, which occurs when lands are left uncovered during the late fall and winter, especially in the case of corn, potato and tobacco lands, and for small-fruits or cultivated orchards; (2) to prevent the galling or surface erosion of hill- sides or slopes by winter rains; and (3) to prevent root injury by excessive freezing of orchard lands, which danger, however, is apparent chiefly in the North and West, from Nebraska to North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Can- ada. In all of these cases, the benefits, in addition to those mentioned, are due to the introduction into such soils of vegetable matter. The advantages of cover-crops in conserving and increasing fertility may be stated more in detail as follows: They absorb the plant-food from insolu- ble sources, and convert it into organic forms; they retain plant-food, particu- larly of a nitrogenous character, that would be carried away from a bare soil by leaching; and they regulate temperature and moisture conditions, thus promoting nitrification when seasonal conditions are favorable. Cover- crops improve physical character by providing roots to break up the soil particles and make them finer, besides adding vegetable matter or humus-forming material to the land, thus making the moisture conditions more favorable. They encourage
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