APPENDIX 185 



degrees. When the wheat had attained a height 

 of about four inches, a rain fell which settled the 

 mulch, and the day following we again harrowed 

 the field, getting rid of many weeds and re- 

 establishing the mulch to conserve moisture and 

 allow a more perfect circulation of air in the soil. 

 There was nothing further done until the heads 

 were visible. I then hired a man and it became 

 his duty to cull out any plants not true to type, 

 other grains, or noxious weeds, in fact, I do this 

 with all my fields. 



"I am convinced that if farmers understood 

 the controlling of moisture and the manufacture 

 of plant food better, there would be less crop 

 failures. Let me draw a simile: Suppose I were 

 to live entirely on broth. I would place a vessel 

 containing water over a fire, and in it a quantity 

 of meat, preferably cut into smaller pieces. The 

 chemical change now taking place in the water 

 would be caused by heat. The heated water 

 extracts the nutriment from the meat. The 

 longer the extracting process goes on, the stronger 

 becomes the broth, the less of it I would require 

 to satisfy my bodily need. A small amount of 

 the concentrated broth would be as nourishing 

 as a large amount of the weaker. 



"Now, how is that simile applied to soil culture 

 and plant growth? If I mix the stubble, straw, 

 manure and so forth with the surface soil, then 

 turn it into the bottom of the furrow and pack 

 it down well, I crowd out all air spaces and bring 

 moisture to the material I turned under, which 

 causes it to decay forming plant food. By 



