34 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



ceases or the plants may even wilt and finally die. 

 We thus see the great importance of doing every- 

 thing possible to provide, first, for drainage to 

 prevent the soil from becoming water-logged and, 

 second, for the conservation of moisture to prevent 

 the drying up of these fihns of so-called hygrostatic 

 moisture on which the growth of our crops so com- 

 pletely depends. Tillage is our most efficient means 

 for accomplishing this latter purpose, since a mellow 

 tilled soil takes in all the water that falls in a light 

 rain, while much of it runs off from the surface of a 

 hard soil and is lost ; and the stirring of the surface 

 after a rain largely prevents the loss of water by 

 evaporation. It should be the general rule on every 

 farm to stir the ground around growing crops as soon 

 after every rain as it can be worked without injury. 

 The man who waits for a crop of weeds to grow be- 

 fore he cultivates fails to secure the greatest benefit 

 from his labor. 



The above remarks do not apply with such force 

 in those tropical countries where there is a well- 

 marked rainy season, since the rainfall is sufficiently 

 frequent and abundant to insure a constant supply 

 of moisture for many months. Here on fertile, virgin 

 lands enormous crops are produced without any pre- 

 tense at tillage. Even here, however, tillage eventu- 

 ally becomes necessary in order to mellow and aerate 

 the soil and as being the most economical means of 

 killing weeds. When crops are to be grown during 

 the dry season, it becomes absolutely indispensable, 

 although unfortunately its importance does not seem 

 as yet to be appreciated in those countries. 



