PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR ORCHARD AND GARDEN 



WORK. 



PETER YOUNGERS, JR. 



As the two things most essential to plant life are air and water, so 

 in the preparation of the soil the prime object should be to so pre- 

 pare it as to retain all the moisture possible. All living plants con- 

 tain a very large per cent of water. For instance, the potato contains 

 nearly 75 per cent, while experiments have developed the fact that an 

 ash tree cut down in January contained 29 per cent of water, maple 

 34 percent, and fir 53 per cent. The same kinds of trees felled early 

 in April contained 39, 40, and 61 per cent respectively. This water 

 must come from the soil, and as the roots are the feeders that convey 

 it to the plant or body of the tree, the most essential thing is the feed- 

 ing ground of the roots. 



The soil of a large portion of Nebraska is of a very refractory char- 

 acter, and in order to properly fit it for the orchard and garden it is 

 very essential that it be loosened as deep as possible with the imple- 

 ments of the day for the purpose of storing the moisture necessary to 

 plant life. We find by experiments conducted on our nursery grounds 

 the past season that the preparation of the soil has much to do with 

 the relative amount of water it will retain. We sent samples of soil 

 daily to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, commencing 

 on the 2d day of May and continuing until September 13. These 

 samples were taken at 6 o'clock p. m. in brass tubes about eighteen 

 inches long. The tubes were driven into the ground to the depth of 

 sixteen inches, then taken up and tightly sealed with rubber caps, 

 making them air tight, and sent to Washington. There each sample 

 was carefully weighed, all the moisture extracted, and weighed again 

 to determine the amount of moisture in each sample. The samples 

 were all taken within a radius of ten rods, the ground having been se- 

 2 (9) 



