INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 621 



Prof. Latta: Would you cultivate in this way once a week or 

 oftener? 



Mr. DeVilbiss: Oftener if I could. Tlie more I stir the soil the 

 better, for I get a mulch of fine soil about two inches deep. 



Mr. Henry: Yes. This Ijeeps evaporation from taking place so 

 rapidly, and keeps the soil moist. I think subsoiling is one of the best 

 things that can be done. This makes a reservoir for holding water. 



Mr. Widney: If you have noticed after a rain often there will be a 

 crust formed on the top of the ground. Whenever this happens if is the 

 same as allowing the wick in your lamp to be pinned loosely, the capil- 

 lary action of the soil is paralyzed, and that is the reason we ought to 

 keep up this constant cultivation. Along this line allow me to mention 

 one thing that some of you have heard. Last winter at our institute 

 Mr. Johnson was with us. I believe his idea was correct, although our 

 spring was so late this year that not many of us got to practice what he 

 preached. His idea was to thoroughly pulverize the surface before turn- 

 ing over with a plow, and then to pulverize the upper surface. 



Mr. Stanley: I would like to ask this question. During harvest we 

 are so busy that we do not have time to go into the corn for possibly 

 two weeks. I want to know if it would be injurious to go into the corn 

 and cultivate it after it had laid these two weeks, or had we better 

 leave it alone? 



Mr. DeVilbiss: I believe I have been very successful as a coi-n grower. 

 I go right into the corn and keep the ground stirred. 



Mr. Stanley: The theory advanced is that we should just break the 

 crust. I do not think it is a wise policy to break the crust after it is 

 once formed, for it will break the roots. I allow the crust to remain 

 until after a rain comes. 



Prof. Latta: I have been in corn fields and examined them after a 

 rainy spell, and if you will examine them after several days of rain yon 

 will find many little root heads coming close to the surface. This is only 

 after a spell of dampness— several days of rain— and in such a case I 

 think you will have to choose against a limited amount of root destruction 

 and the renewal of the moisture. You may need this for the dry 

 weather which Avill follow. I do not know that we can answer this ques- 

 tion more definitely. 



Now I wish to say a word on the question of pulverization. Take 

 Prof. King's first book on the soil, and it is based on actual laboratory 

 tests. We have made the same tests in our laboratory that were sug- 

 gested by him. He discovered that in cans filled Tvith soil the evapora- 

 tion was greatly reduced by stirring the top of the soil, not allowing it 



