GENERAL PRACTICE CLEAN CULTURE. 81 



Soils of this nature may be pointed more frequently for admitting air and promoting 

 amelioration, which favours absorption, but it must be done when the ground is in the best 

 condition for working, not otherwise. It is a mistake to work clayey soils when they 

 are out of condition, and to disregard this in any soil is in a degree only less ruinous. 

 If too wet they are puddled and made impenetrable by air, and resist water. Clay 

 worked in wet weather forms clods difficult to bring into a friable state, and working 

 it when perfectly dry is impossible, for it is then hard, lumpy, and altogether unmanage- 

 able. The cultivator should ever seek the fine tilth that is essential for the retention 

 of moisture and the healthy growth and productiveness of the trees. 



Hoeing. Clean culture is essential to the production of superior fruit. Weeds ought 

 never to advance beyond the seedling state, for thirsty grass and weeds exhaust the soil. 

 The loss of water from a soil covered with growing weeds is twice that lost by bare soil ; 

 the water saved in a week by clean culture is equal to a quarter of an inch of rainfall, for 

 evaporation in our moist climate proceeds rapidly during the summer months. In January 

 it is 0-95, February 1-01, March 1-77 inch ; April 2-71, May 4-11, June 4-25 inches. It 

 decreases rapidly as the weather becomes cooler ; therefore between the autumn and 

 spring equinoxes the rainfall very much more than balances the evaporation. In sum- 

 mer, however, it is different, evaporation then being in the ascendant, and plants and 

 trees are only kept from perishing by drought through the conservation of moisture in 

 the soil. Nothing effects this so well as clean culture. 



Orchardists in supposing that grass and weeds are beneficial by shading the ground 

 make a great mistake, for their growth is had at the expense of the fruit trees. Shading 

 ground by a live grassy or leafy growth may keep the immediate surface soil moister, 

 but the lower layers are invariably made drier, and it is there in a droughty time that 

 fruit trees seek their sustenance. Besides, trees growing in a well- cultivated soil have 

 the water in the lower soil held for their use, and as fast as they use it it is replaced by 

 capillary attraction. In a properly stirred soil, moisture will 'be found two or three 

 inches from the surface, while on neglected ground digging two feet deep or more will 

 show nothing but hard dry soil. The well-cultivated surface is also calculated to catch 

 dew and rain ; hard surfaces derive very little benefit from either, for dew is slow in 

 forming on them, while much of the rain that falls flows off quickly to a lower level. 



Hoeing the ground in dry weather thus not only prevents the growth of weeds, but 

 lessens evaporation and secures moisture for the roots when it is most needed by fruit 

 trees. 



VOL. I. M 



