CHAPTER IV 

 A Perseverance That Pays 



TILLAGE AS MOISTURE PRESERVER AND WEED KILLER 



Little needs be said to the expert gardener about 

 cultivation and its objects. He knows the importance 

 of keeping the soil well stirred among all garden crops 

 in general, and among onions in particular. "Tillage 

 is manure" is an old saying. In the present case, how- 

 ever, we care little about the manurial effect, for we 

 have provided plant food in great abundance. The 

 great benefit we expect from cultivation is the pres- 

 ervation of moisture, and incidentally, the destruction 

 of weeds. An inch or so of loose soil acts as a mulch, 

 and a most excellent one at that, which prevents the 

 rapid evaporation of the soil water. The moisture 

 rises through the compact soil, by means of capillary 

 action, until it reaches the stirred portion. Here its 

 progress is arrested, and the only way to reach the 

 surface, and escape in the air, is by evaporation, which 

 is greatly retarded by the loose layer of soil. 



The chief tool required for the process of soil 

 stirring is a good hand wheel-hoe, such as the Iron 

 Age shown in Fig 29 or the Planet Jr, or any of a 

 number of others that you find on sale at seed and 

 supply stores. One of these tools you should and 

 must have. It is absolutely indispensable. I never 

 use the vine lifters even when using my Iron Age as 

 a row straddler. Somefimes I can do even more satis- 

 factory work with it, when I use it as a single wheel- 

 hoe and, reversing the hoes, go between the rows. You 



