CULTIVATING 



First we will see how she does it and then we can 

 find a way to prevent her taking it all. Wise men 

 tell us that water rises up in the earth through 

 tubes or chimneys. The power to do this is called 

 capillary attraction. As the moisture rises in these 

 chimneys the heat of the sun turns it into vapor and 

 it passes off into the air. You know if a brick were 

 out on your chimney, the smoke could not escape, 

 could it? Then let us put bricks on top of the soil 

 chimneys. Now I can hear you laughing or your 

 eyes are as big as saucers wondering what in the 

 world, or out of it, I mean. Well, I really mean 

 stop the chimney up so the moisture cannot escape, 

 but these chimneys are so small a grain of sand to 

 them would be as large as a brick to ours. And that 

 is why we "stir the surface of the soil" to stop the 

 sun and capillary attraction from taking away the 

 soil water which our plants need. But dear old 

 Mother Nature is such a worker and Madam Sun is 

 up so much earlier than we that they will have new 

 chimneys made before we have our breakfast, for 

 Madam Sun wants that moisture for her clouds and 

 Mother Earth will never stop making the chimneys, 

 so we have to put bricks on top of them very often. 



The hotter the day, the harder the sun is draw- 

 ing soil moisture, which is a good thing for us in 



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