100 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TILLAGE. 



BY PROF. L. li. TAFT, AGBICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



The original meaning of the word " till " is, to aim at excellence, and 

 we may define tillage to be handling of the. soil in such a way as will be 

 likely to produce the maximum results. It will then include all such 

 operations as plowing, sub-soiling harrowing, and the cultivation the crops 

 receive. 



Taking these up in detail, we may say that plowing is of value mechan- 

 ically, as it loosens up the soil and allows the roots to enter and pass 

 through it in search of food. It facilitates the entrance of air to aid in 

 the solution of the plant food, and of water which dissolves the food thus 

 made soluble. It also increases the reservoir capacity of the soil, enab- 

 ling the plants to better withstand drought. Plowing also, by breaking 

 and turning up the soil, exposes its particles to the action of the air and 

 water, and of the ferments which induce various chemical changes. 



Sub-soiling, which stirs up the soil to the depth of sixteen to twenty 

 inches, by means of a so-called subsoil plow, after each furrow has been 

 turned with a moldboard plow, is of value upon land where there is a stiff 

 hardpan within a foot or so of the surface, particularly for the pear and 

 plum. Very few of the other fruits should be placed upon land that needs 

 sub-soiling. It not only opens up the land and offers new feeding grounds 

 to the roots, but it increases the reservoir capacity of the soil. While 

 this is of advantage in dry seasons, it often proves injurious in seasons 

 when there is an excess of water in the soil. 



Especially for garden crops, too great care can not be taken to give the 

 land a thorough dragging after it has been plowed, as it breaks up the 

 clods, closes up the holes in the soil, thus preventing its drying out, and 

 brings it into such a condition as will favor the capillary power of the soil 

 and the ready germination of the seed. 



The cultivation that is given the crop itself will not only open it to the 

 entrance of air and water, but it is of even greater importance in forming 

 a soil mulch, by which evaporation of the water is prevented. 



Not only is water required as a part of the food of plants, since it makes 

 up from seventy-five to eighty per cent, of their weight, but it is also 

 necessary to dissolve the plant food that is obtained from the soil, which 

 can only be taken in by the plants as a solution. 



The rainfall of most parts of the country is from thirty to forty inches 

 annually, but of this amount nearly one half falls in the winter months 

 when the ground is frozen and a large i^art of it runs off into the streams. 

 During the heavy showers of summer a large amount is also lost in the 

 same manner. We must add to the amount that never enters the soil 

 about twenty per cent, which percolates downward through the soil and so 

 is lost to the crops. We thus find that the amount that is really at the 

 service of the plants is never more than fifteen or twenty inches. 



It is reckoned that many crops, such as corn, take from the soil during 

 the season about thirty-five times their own weight of water, or, as it is 

 sometimes expressed, three hundred times the weight of the dry matter 



