MIRACLES IN THE GARDEN 119 



and a half to four and a half feet, while corn 

 roots have been known to bore for moisture to a 

 depth of six feet. 



Potatoes and corn and other garden vege- 

 tables know a lot more about their business 

 than we do; but we are gradually learning, 

 thanks to the recent study of root anatomy, 

 which thoroughly condemns the vigorous hoeing 

 and hilling that used to be fashionable and 

 disastrous. Use your little fork and you will 

 see that such plants as corn and potatoes have 

 networks of horizontal roots in the topmost 

 inch or two of the soil, which are destroyed by 

 even moderately deep tillage. For an excellent 

 account of the harm done by not letting intelli- 

 gent plants grow as they want to, see Samuel 

 Eraser's book, The Potato, pp. 11-16. 



My corn and my potatoes are not touched by 

 hoe or plow, except to remove the weeds. I 

 wish you could see their luxuriant growth. 



HOW PLANTS UTILIZE DEW 



A few years ago I discovered an interesting 

 fact that others, of course, must have noticed, 

 though I have never read about it. Maine is a 

 great region for dew; nearly every morning it is 

 so heavy that I always wear my rubber boots 

 till eight or nine o'clock. On the other hand, 

 we don't usually get our just share of rain. 

 There are showers, but you know how aggra- 

 vating local and limited showers usually are. 



