CHAPTER V 



TILLAGE AND CULTIVATION 



BY tillage (or preparation) is properly meant the 

 loosening of the ground for seeding or planting ; while 

 cultivation is what is done while the crop is growing. 



Wild plants do not need tillage or cultivation, because 

 they themselves keep the ground loose by shading and 

 covering it from beating rains; by their leaves which 

 fall on it, and by their roots. In our bare fields, on the 

 contrary, the surface of the soil is beaten and compacted 

 by the rains so that a crust is formed. This will not 

 let in water or air enough for growing plants unless 

 the soil is loosened by tillage first, and then kept loose 

 by cultivation. 



Plows. The first plows used in historic times, e.g. 

 in ancient Egypt, were simply forked sticks, of which 

 the short end served to scratch the ground more or 

 less deeply, while the longer end served as the tongue 

 to which the man or draft animal was hitched. Such 

 plows, or others differing but little from them, are still 

 used in parts of China, India, Turkey, Russia, and even 

 in parts of Europe. In light, naturally loose soils fair 

 crops are made even with such poor tillage, but in heavy 



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