CAMBPELL'S SOIL -(.'iTi/mii-; MANUAL 137 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



The cultivation of the soil embraces, in a general way, 

 about all of farming that relates to crop growing, but in 

 a more restricted sense it relates merely to the treatment 

 of the surface of the soil during the crop growing period. 



It is absolutely necessary o good farming that the 

 farmer have a clear understanding of the philosophy of 

 soil cultivation. He must be able to consider why the 

 surface is cultivated, how best to cultivate it, why different 

 kinds of cultivation are necessary under different condi- 

 tions, the implements to use, the time of cultivation and 

 the frequency of cultivation. As already known to the 

 reader who has conscientiously followed these pages, 

 no general rule can be laid down for any portion of the 

 work incident to agriculture. The processes nesessary to 

 securing good crops cannot be put on a diagram that 

 all may read. The most that can be done and this ought 

 always to be sufficient is to thoroughly explain the gen- 

 eral principles and make clear why each operation is per- 

 formed and to tell just what effect may be expected from 

 following any given line of work; then the farmer must 

 apply this knowledge intelligently to the problems which 

 come to him from day to day in actual experience in the 

 fields. 



So it is with cultivation, there can be no exact rule 

 as to depth, or time, or frequency of cultivation. But 



