EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 27 



vating, and these evidences of care increase until, at the further side, we find 

 tliat every method known to benefit or render the development of the crops 

 more perfect has been employed. On the one hand we find the varying degree 

 of care given by the mass of honiculturists, and on the other the highest 

 types of what are known as intensive methods. 



IK WHAT IT CONSISTS. 



The difference between horticulture as commonly conducted, and ''inten- 

 sive horticulture," is measured by the amount and character of attention paid 

 in each case. It is a small area well tilled, compared with a larger tract over 

 wliich the same amount of care has been spread. 



The character of the crop, the cost of land and labor, and the nature of the 

 market, will be important factors in determining the extent to which these 

 methods can be employed with profit. Among the conditions which should in 

 all cases be sought after, and without which the best success can hardly be 

 expected with any crop, are a suitable climate, a soil well drained and of such 

 a physical and chemical composition as it requires for its best development. 

 Moreover, the proper preparation of the soil, the supplying of plant food in suf- 

 ficient quantities, and cultivation given at the right time, and of a nature 

 adapted to the crop, will meet with its reward and success can not be hoped' 

 for with any crop if these essentials are neglected. 



NOT AN" EXACT SCIENCE. 



Owing to the outside circumstances which bear upon our operations, the 

 time will never come when any general rule can be adopted for use under 

 all conditions. In the very beginning we are confronted by.a diversity of 

 opinion as to the comparative virtues of spring and fall, deep and shallow,, 

 and flat or lap, plowing. The character of the soil, the nature of the climate 

 and of the crop, have so much to do in determining these points, that a method 

 which is adapted to one section will prove utterly unfitted to another. Subsoil- 

 ing, too, has its advocates and its opponents, equally firm in their belief. All 

 agree that on shallow soils, underlaid with compact strata, which are designed 

 for deep rooted crops, subsoiling will generally prove beneficial and profitable. 

 It is claimed by its advocates that it opens new feeding areas to the roots of 

 the plants; that it breaks up the soil, admitting the air and favoring disin- 

 tegration and the formation of plant food, and that it increases the water- 

 holding, or reservoir, capacity of the soil. 



EKSULTS OF SUBSOILING. 



In plats subsoiled to the depth of fifteen inches, contrasted with adjacent 

 unsubsoiled plats. Prof. Sanborn (Missouri State Board of Agriculture report, 

 1885, p. 375) obtained the following results: 



Water Yield of Corn. 



Per cent. Bushels. 



SubsoilecM883 10,1 70.1 



Unsubsoiled, 1883 8.33 49.8 



Subsoiled, 1884 11.16 52.1 



Unsubsoiled. 1884 9 16 62.8 



Subsoiled, 1885. 14.2 93.5 



Unsubsoiled, 1885 10.4 97.8- 



