carefully. Do not turn a heavy head of water into a 

 furrow until after the furrow is soaked a little and 

 the fine earth compacted. This will lessen washing. 

 The ideal movement of water is up and down, with 

 as little movement on the surface as possible. In 

 this way the rich top soil with its humus and fer- 

 tilizers will be retained where it belongs. 



VALUE OF SOIL ANALYSIS. 



Soil analyses are valuable for determining in a 

 general way the needs of a crop. The greater the 

 number of samples examined, the more accurate will 

 be the information obtained. Very little can be con- 

 cluded from one sample. Taken in connection with 

 the appearance of trees and vegetation raised on the 

 soil, many a useless expenditure for fertilizing ingre- 

 dients may thus be avoided. 



If samples of soil be taken according to the direc- 

 tions of the State Experiment Station the results 

 may be relied upon as indicating that soil's capacity 

 for various crops. This information, with the 

 owner's knowledge of previous treatment, together 

 with the appearance of the vegetation and growth 

 gives a pretty thorough diagnosis. Each of these 

 sources of information acts as a check or supplements 

 the other two. 



Soil analysis should be interpreted by an expert, 

 for where Vio of 1 % would be considered a sufficiency 



47 



