170 



ANNUAL REPORT OP THE 



Off. Doc. 



year, and rearrange them loosely, but with as many points of con- 

 tact as possible, just like meal in a barrel. Cavities are waste 

 places in the soil, and should be removed by cultivator, disc or 

 roller. If we arrange oranges in a box, placing each one on top 

 of the other, each with four points of contact, they will occupy 52 

 per cent, of the space. But if we slip them in between one another, 

 in alternate rows, we have six points of contact for each orange, and 

 gain over 10 pen' cent, of space in the box. (See Figures 5 and 6). 



Fig. 5. 



Fig. 6. 



The more uniform the soil grains can be arranged, giving most 

 points of contact, the more water can be held back from drainage 

 and stored in the tilled soil for the use of the plants. The greater 

 the depth of tillage, the greater the water supply near the root 

 zone, but the land should not be plowed deeper than it can be thor- 

 oughly worked, and should be deepened by degrees, making no 

 marked change in any one year. It will take about two inches of 

 dry soil eartli to form a satisfactory dry earth mulch to protect 

 the soil moisture on the mountain farms, and two and one-half 

 inches for the lowlands and the southern part of the State. If the 

 land is plowed six inches deep there only remains three and one-ha^f 

 inches of stirred soil in which the finer roots can develop and grow. 

 If the land is plowed eight inches, then the root zone is increased to 

 five and one-half inches, or an increase of 36 per cent, of new feed- 

 ing ground for the plant roots. This is just like taking a ten-acre 

 pasture that will carry seven cows, and by fertilizing it, making it 

 produce enough more grass to carry ten cows equally w^ell. It is 

 another way of increasing the size of the farm by adding two inches 

 to the bottom instead of buying 36 per cent, more land to add to the 

 side, and putting the same amount of labor one one hundred acres 

 that would be put on the one hundred and thirty-six acres. 



The study of this question suggests that in the preparation of the 

 seed bed, the finest soil should be worked into the lower half of the 

 depth stirred, where the roots grow thickest, and the coarse soil, 

 clods and trash should be worked to the surface to break the force 

 of the heavy rain drops, and partially prevent packing and pud- 

 dling of the surface soil. This suggests further the fining of the 

 surface soil with disc or harrow before plowing and turning this 

 fined soil into the bottom of the furrow. After plowing, the tool 

 used should pack the under surface to remove the cavities left 

 by the plow. It should press downward. The roller may be used 

 to break clods, but never to finish with. Eolled land should be har- 

 rowed at onre to sift the fine soil down and lift the coarse soil up. 

 A spring tooth is good for this. 



