98 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



roots may freely penetrate them to a depth of fifteen 

 to twenty inches, finding nourishment all the way, 

 with incitement to go further if ever failing mois- 

 ture shall render this necessary. Drouth habitually 

 shortens our Fall crops from ten to fifty per cent. ; it 

 is sure to injure us more gravely as our forests are 

 swept away by ax and fire ; and, while much may be 

 done to mitigate its ravages by enriching the soil so 

 as to give your crops an early start, and a rank, lux- 

 uriant growth, the farmer's chief reliance must still 

 be a depth of soil adequate to withstand weeks of 

 the fiercest sunshine. 



I have considered what is urged as to the choice of 

 roots to run just beneath the surface, and it does not 

 signify. Roots seek at once heat and moisture ; if 

 the moisture awaits them close to the surface, of 

 course they mainly run there, because the heat is 

 there greatest. If moisture fails there, they must 

 descend to seek it, even at the cost of finding the 

 heat inadequate though heat increases and descends 

 under the fervid suns which rob the surface of mois- 

 ture. Make the soil rich and mellow ever so far 

 down, and you need not fear that the roots will de- 

 scend an inch lower than they should. They under- 

 stand their business; it is your sagacity that may 

 possibly prove deficient. 



I suspect that the average farmer does far too little 

 plowing by which I mean, not that he plows too 

 few acres, for he often plows too many, but that he 

 should plow oftener as well as deeper and more 



