VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 101 



THE MAN WITH THE HOE." 



By Joseph L. Hills, Member of the Board. 



The writer does not intend to discuss either Millet's mas- 

 terly work of art nor Markham's poem. " The Man With a 

 Hoe " for us to consider is neither the painter's French peas- 

 ant nor the poet's " brother to the ox, " but the American 

 tiller of the soil. What does he with his hoe? Is he, as 

 Markham indicates, brutalized by its use? The poet votes 

 yea, the writer nay. If its user knows not what he hoes nor 

 why he hoes, if his work is mechanical and unthinking - , the 

 poet may be right. If, however, he knows the reasons for 

 tillage, how and why he cultivates his crops, if intelligence is 

 linked to industry, agriculture becomes an ennobling pursuit 

 and he who votes affirmatively is forever wrong. 



The study for us today is not of the man, however, but 

 of the hoe, the primal instrument of cultivation. We shall 

 study the work of the hoe, the plow, the harrow, the culti- 

 vator, — cultivation, its whys and its wherefores. 



What is tillage ? It is the fitting of soil to crop needs, 

 the promotion of " condition." 



Why is tillage necessary ? The principal reasons for soil 

 cultivation may be summarized as follows : 



1. It enlarges the total surface area of soil particles, 

 thus presenting larger surfaces to soil water, to root acids, to 

 soil ferments and to weathering influences. This means more 

 soluble plant food. 



2. It areates the soil, promoting soil breathing. 



3. It favors the growth and action of desirable forms of 

 bacterial life and hinders those of species which are often 

 harmful. 



4. It permits a wider and easier root penetration, larger 

 foraging powers, and the production of more humus. 



5. It admits of a closer control of the water supply. 



6. It kills weeds, an important matter, not because they 

 are weeds, but because they are consumers of water and plant 

 food. 



Let us elaborate these points somewhat, for if they are 

 apprehended the farmer will till the more inteligently and 

 successfully. 



Tillage frees f hint food. A pound of granulated sugar 

 will dissolve more quickly if stirred in a gallon of water than 

 will a pound of sugar in lumps, and the latter more quickly 



