1776 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



treatment is justified. Unless it breaks through the hardpan soil to some 

 porous layer below, dynamite is likely to make drainage conditions worse 

 rather than better, and on the great majority of New York lands its use 

 for this purpose has no place. Thorough drainage, which costs little more, 

 will in time have much the same effect on the subsoil and it produces more 

 generally desirable and permanent results. The best results on very hard 

 soil are likely to follow the combined use of dynamite and drainage. 

 Dynamite should be used fist. 



In conclusion it should be remembered that cultivation and all the 

 operations that aid in maintaining good tilth contribute to the ventila- 

 tion of the soil and are especially beneficial in their sanitary influence. 

 Stirring and turning and thorough preparation before seeding, together 

 with as much tillage as possible during the growing season, are essential in 

 order to keep every active soil in a healthy, fresh condition. If little cultiva- 

 tion is possible, it is more important before planting. The intelligent 

 farmer knows that the prize crop usually follows the most thorough 

 preparation of the soil. He works the soil over and over even after it seems 

 to be in good tilth. Jethro Tull, the shrewd English farmer of two cen- 

 turies ago, was wise beyond his day when he said, " Tillage is manure." 

 It is manure and it is health to the soil. Centuries before the time of Tull, 

 Vergil had written the same experience into his verses descriptive of 

 Roman husbandry: 



" Much more advantage to the swain it yields 

 To use the rake, than harrow sterile fields: 

 Nor golden Ceres, from the lofty skies 

 Shall view his labor with regardless eyes. 

 And who, athwart the furrows, plows the plain, 

 Then breaks the clods obliquely o'er again, 

 Turning his team, and by a frequent toil, 

 To obedience brings a disobedient soil." 



Sometimes better results have followed hand work with fork and hoe 

 than the use of larger implements. This may be attributed to the deeper 

 and more thorough preparation of the soil in hand work, and emphasizes 

 the well -observed fact that thorough tillage is a prime requisite for good 

 crops. 



