104 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



shallow rooted is less able to stand droughts or adverse cir- 

 cumstances of any kind. Its opportunities to appropriate 

 water and plant food are lessened and its growth of neces- 

 sity stunted. If however the seed bed is mellowed by 

 cultivation so that the roots may ramble as they will, 

 they will search out and utilize more food and water. The 

 quantity of water needed by a crop is so large and the amount 

 in a given area of soil so small that the foraging power of a 

 plant for water needs to be encouraged to the utmost. Proper 

 tillage persistently carried out, may enable a man to double 

 his acres for crop growing purposes without increasing the 

 area on which he pays taxes. This does not mean deep plow- 

 ing at once, but the slow, gradual deepening of the furrow, 

 taking a fraction of an inch at a time. Twenty or more years 

 should be consumed in attaining a full depth. T. B. Terry 

 of Ohio has spent twenty-seven years in deepening his arable 

 soil four inches. But by the frequent use. of the cultivator, 

 the total surface of soil particles exposed may be increased 

 and thus the available acres be really enlarged. A full crop 

 on one acre is better than a half crop on twice that area. 



5. Tillage saves water. The cultivator may be used as a 

 watering cart, may serve in lieu of a rain storm, and may be- 

 come a first rate substitute for an irrigating ditch. What does 

 this mean? It means that a penny saved is a penny earned, that 

 a drop of water in the soil is as good or, indeed, better than 

 one falling from the sky, that it may be saved and applied to 

 plant uses if one will. In order to grasp this idea one needs to 

 know somewhat of nature's methods of handling soil moist- 

 ure. The water in any ordinary soil is found permeating it 

 throughout. Some way below the surface, varying according to 

 conditions, is located the permanent standing water. This is 

 at the same level as the water in wells and is known as the 

 "water table." When rains fall or snow melts there is per- 

 colation or draining of water downwards towards this lower 

 level. When the rains stop and the snow is gone, the water 

 begins to move in the other direction upwards. This move- 

 ment which seems contrary to the law of gravitation, is 

 caused by what is known as capillary attraction. This is the 

 power that causes a blotting paper to absorb ink or water, or 

 a lamp wick to become saturated with oil. The curves of the 

 surface of water standing in a narrow glass tube are also caused 

 by this peculiar phenomenon. The soil grains do not pack 

 together without crevices but are more or less loosely piled 

 together. The minute spaces between these particles form 

 long, crooked tubes, up which the soil water is drawn by cap- 

 illary attraction. 



The kerosene lamp and the soil are strikingly alike in 



