120 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Now the soil is a vast storehouse of plant food, and the first 

 effort of the husbandman should be to make this store available 

 to plants. 



In discussing the culture of any class of plants it is import- 

 ant to consider just how the processes of nutrition are carried on, 

 that we may know the reason for the operations performed 

 and the effect likely to be produced by any given operation. 

 A plant derives the greater portion of its food from the soil in 

 the shape of soluble inorganic materials. These materials ascend 

 to the leaves, through the young wood, and then, by the action 

 of sunlight, become changed into organized compounds like 

 starch, sugar, etc. These organized compounds are used in 

 the repair and growth of all parts of the plant, and they are 

 therefore distributed to the leaves, twigs, trunk and roots. The 

 growth of the roots is, therefore, largely determined by the 

 amount and vigor of the leaf-bearing surface, while the latter 

 is also dependent on the ability of the roots to secure the neces- 

 sary inorganic elements. 



For practical purposes the benefits of tillage may be con- 

 cisely given under three general heads, viz. : 



(a) Tillage improves the physical conditions of the soil. 



(b) Tillage conserves moisture. 



(c) Tillage may augment chemical activities. 



The phvsical condition of soil is nearly always of more 

 importance than mere richness in plant food. Particularly is 

 this the case with such lands as remain hard or lumpy if left 

 to themselves. The chemical composition of a soil is not neces- 

 sarily a measure of productive capacity, since plant food is 

 of no consequence, unless the plant can make use of it. 

 Every farmer knows that hard and lumpy soil will 

 not grow good crops, no matter how much fertilizer he may 

 apply, and there is no doubt that the number of "worn-out" 

 farms in New England is much smaller than is generally sup- 

 posed. Any clay soil may be so injured by one season's inju- 

 dicious treatment as to render it comparatively worthless for 

 several succeeding years. It is useless to apply commercial 

 fertilizers to lands which are not in proper physical condition 

 for the best growth of crops. The average New England hillside 

 contains a sufficient amount of food material, and tillage, by 

 improving the texture of the soil, is the key which is to unlock 



