96 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



well as sheep are preferable for the farmer on the average farm 

 and for the average care and food they get. 



Question. — ■ Does not cultivation take the place of rain? If 

 so, why? 



Mr. Rice. — No; it cannot do that wholly, but it is supposed 

 that dry soil will absorb moisture at night, which escapes in the 

 morning. But when the surface of the ground is made fine a 

 few inches deep, it acts as a blanket, which prevents the moisture 

 from escaping from the soil. We find this true when we turn 

 over a plank, or something of that sort, in summer. When we 

 do that we always find the ground moist. It was in such places 

 that we looked for angle worms for fish bait. We never looked 

 for them in a hot, dry soil. So that, thorough cultivation, in 

 part, takes the place of rain. The man who keeps his cultivator 

 going every day during a drouth, at a slight depth, gets a crop 

 of corn, while the other man does not. By the other man I 

 mean the one who does not cultivate, but, on the other hand, 

 allows his land to bake. 



Question. — Does the mulch caused by cultivation produce a 

 chemical change in the soil, or merely take the place of a cover 

 to protect it from the sun? 



Mr. Rice. — Cultivation does not change the chemical character 

 of the soil, except that it liberates plant food. The mulch is 

 most valuable to induce capillary attraction, that is, for pumping 

 moisture from a depth below the surface, and preventing it from 

 escapting by evaporation. To illustrate: Rake over a piece of 

 ground in the garden, and make the surface very fine but shallow. 

 Do it at sunset, after dark; allow a cat to walk across it. In the 

 morning every one of her tracks will be moist, showing that, by 

 the compacting of the surface by the cat's feet, the moisture had 

 a chance to come up and get away. 



Question. — I have a drilled well, furnishing an abundance of 

 water. Shall I erect a storage tank and windmill or pump it 

 from a spring 80 rods away? 



Mr. Woodward. — Build a storage tank, put up a windmill and 

 pump the water directly from the well. I have two windmills, 

 one in use 15 years. It furnishes water for the barn and house, 

 and costs but little. I do not see how any farmer who can have 

 such a device, can get along without a windmill. Its cost, like 

 some men's religion, is not more than 15 cents per year. 



Question. — How would you prevent the appearance of weevil 

 in beans? 



