IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS. 9 1 



Hoe and rake the soil after every rain, or at least once 

 a week, about hills No. i, and let hills No. 2 take care 

 of themselves except to pull up the larger weeds by 

 hand. After the tassels appear, measure the height of 

 all the stalks in No. i, and find their average height 

 by dividing the number of hills by the sum of all their 

 heights. Do the same with the stalks of No. 2, and 

 compare and record the results. Count and compare 

 the number of good ears on each. 



3. Plant ten hills of Early Rose potatoes. When 

 they come up, give five of them two good hoeings 

 during the summer, to keep down the weeds. Hoe 

 or rake the other five every pleasant day through the 

 growth of the plants (Sundays excepted). This will 

 take but a moment, and, if the plants are near the 

 house, will not be a difficult thing to do. Record 

 the number of times the plant is hoed or raked ; and 

 when the potatoes are dug, carefully weigh the whole 

 crop, large and small, of each hill, and record the dif- 

 ference in weight. 



4. To make a variety in this last experiment, and 

 to see if tillage has any money value, plant two lots 

 of potatoes, say half or quarter of an acre each ; or, of 

 the same number of hills, one hundred hills being a 

 good number. Mark each lot; and plough, hoe, or 

 use the cultivator on one lot three times, and the 

 other lot ten times, during the growing-season. Make 



'a careful estimate of the cost of this extra culture. 

 Weigh each crop ; and if there is a gain in the crop 

 cultivated ten times, over the one cultivated three 



