20 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



well. Many of you may have heard the story of the dying 

 father who called his sons about him and whispered feebly, 

 " There is great treasure hidden in the garden." The sons 

 could hardly wait to bury their dead father before, thud, 

 thud, thud, their picks were going in the garden. Day 

 after day they dug ; they dug deep ; they dug wide. Not 

 a foot of the crop-worn garden escaped the probing of 

 the pick as the sons feverishly searched for the expected 

 treasure. But no treasure was found. 



" Let us not lose every whit of our labor ; let us plant this 

 pick-scarred garden," said the eldest. So the garden was 

 planted. In the fall the hitherto poor garden yielded a har- 

 vest so bountiful, so unexpected, that the meaning of their 

 father's words dawned upon them. " Truly," they said, " a 

 treasure was hidden there. Let us seek it in all our fields." 



The story applies as well to-day as it did when it was 

 first told. Thorough culture of the soil, frequent and intelli- 

 gent tillage, these are the foundations of soil restoration. 



Along with good tillage must go hillside ditches, or 

 terraces, and good drainage. The ditches, or terraces, are 

 to prevent heavy rains from washing the soil and carrying 

 away plant food. Drainage is to act with good tillage in 

 allowing air to circulate between the soil particles and to 

 arrange plant food so that plants can use it. 



Then we must add humus, or vegetable matter, to the 

 soil. You remember that virgin soils contained a great 

 deal of vegetable matter and plant food, but by the con- 

 tinuous growing of crops like wheat, corn, and cotton, and 

 by constant shallow tillage, both humus and plant food have 

 been used up. Consequently much of our cultivated soil 

 to-day is hard and dead. 



