556 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



quire no heat during night further than to exclude frost. It has been stated 

 and urged as a reason for keeping a higher temperature that it is necessary to 

 do so in order to secure a succession of bloom, but it has been amply proved 

 that by allowing a more liberal heat, say from 70° to 80°, during day, that a 

 more profuse crop of flowers will be gained than in the more equable condi- 

 tions insisted upon. 



Another injury consequent upon a high night temperature during winter 

 arises from the great extraction of moisture from the atmosphere. To maintain 

 an inside temperature of even 50° when the external is near zero involves a 

 rapid generation of heat, and as the capacity of air for taking moisture increases 

 in proportion to its rise, a great demand is made upon the plants and every- 

 thing in the house capable of giving up moisture. The quantity of water thus 

 carried off may be seen by the deposition of ice on the inner surfece of the 

 glass after a night of sevei'e frost. Ice one-fourth of an inch in thickness is 

 often found under these circumstances, the result of condensation and freezing 

 of the water carried from the contained moisture in the atmosphere and from 

 the surfaces of the plants. The parched and unhealthy aspect of the plants 

 subjected to such treatment is sufficient evidence against the propriety of the 

 practice. The expense of fuel and labor required to maintain this injurious 

 temperature is also an important consideration. 



CULTIVATION. 



The great aim of all thorough cultivators is to maintain a continued healthy 

 and vigorous growth fi-om the period the seed vegetates until the plant reaches 

 its maturity. The word cultivation may be defined as a term whereby we re- 

 cognize those operations necessary to maintain a constant and proper equilibrium 

 of the elements of plant-growth. Therefore, in order that we should be able 

 to do so understandingly, it is absolutely necessary that we be thoroughly con- 

 versant with the principles governing vegetable growth ; in the absence of such 

 knowledge practice is merely empirical. 



One of the prominent operations in culture is that of stirring the surface of 

 the soil around growing crops. The soil may be looked upon as the laboratory 

 of nature where her great decomposing agencies, air and water, prepare the 

 food of plants, and the object of culture is to facilitate these chemical opera- 

 tions as far as our knowledge will admit ; and experience fully proves that 

 frequent forking, loosening or stirring the surface stratum of the soil, thus 

 allowing an unimpeded access of air and moisture to penetrate and follow the 

 various ramifications of plant roots, is undoubtedly the most essential item in 

 what is termed cultivation. 



The efficacy of this treatment depends, however, upon the nature and condi- 

 tion of the soil, as, also, upon the time and mode of performing the operation. 

 Unless the subsoil is also porous and permeable, its benefits will be compara- 

 tively slight. Hence soils that are not naturally pervious must be rendered so 

 by draining and subsoiling. 



Soils so treated will continue to support vegetation in a healthy and luxuriant 

 growth even in long-continued dry seasons. This is owing to the facility with 

 which the rain water can penetrate deeply, its downward passage being 

 encouraged by the admission of air, and when, in addition to drainage, the 

 surface is kept loose and open, the rains of a heavy shower penetrate at once 

 instead of passing off on the surface, as will be the case when the top soil is 

 compact, and the sub-soil undisturbed. Clayey and tenacious soils requii'e more 

 careful treatment than those of a gravelly or sandy character; these are liable 

 to become hardened on the surface after even slight showers. This is occasioned 

 by their easy solubility, and good management of such soils demand that they 

 should be surface-stirred after every heavy rain. Much now depends upon the 



