IMPROVEMENT OF ADOBE 45 



yet we do not mean to suggest that the farm gardener should in 

 all cases expect to reach satisfactory results without due effort 

 for soil improvement on the small area which he expects to yield 

 so much. 



Improvement of Adobe Soils. Our adobes, especially those 

 of the darker hues, are rich and durable. In common with heavy 

 clay soils everywhere they are retentive of moisture. In our arid 

 summers, however, they lose their moisture speedily by evaporation, 

 if untilled, and dry out to a greater depth than lighter soils. They 

 are refractory under tillage and unless caught at just the right 

 moment they are either wax or rock under the plow, and the culti- 

 vator will either stick fast or ride over the surface. And yet if one 

 has nothing but adobe he is not as badly off as he might be, because 

 adobe is easily susceptible of improvement. The points to attain 

 are several, but they are inter-related and effort for one measureably 

 helps toward all. 



The free use of air-slaked lime applied about the time of the 

 first rains is the first and simplest effort toward breaking up the 

 tenacity of the soil. This should be done no matter what greater 

 efforts are to be undertaken later. 



Deep and thorough tillage, taking the soil at just that condi- 

 tion of moisture when it works well with plow and harrow, will 

 be found to progressively improve its tillability by mere action of 

 air and implements. If this is all that can be undertaken at first, 

 do this thoroughly and put in the cultivator after each heavy rain 

 as soon as the proper condition of soil arrives, so as to prevent 

 baking of the surface. For winter growth of vegetables in re- 

 gions of ample rainfall, use the ridge system, which will be de- 

 scribed in a subsequent chapter. 



But liming and persistent tillage are only temporizing with 

 adobe and do not accomplish permanent reform. The first rational 

 step is to resort to adequate drainage. Tile drains two and a half 

 or three feet deep and twenty feet apart will do for garden plants. 

 This leaves a clear surface for working over, but, if the expense 

 of tiling is not desired, open ditches will answer, but they restrict 

 cultivation to one direction, waste land, and are expensive in hand 

 work in killing weeds in the ditches. Open ditches are, however, 

 better than no ditches at all. The effect of drainage is to promote 

 friability, to render the soil tillable earlier and oftener, by the 



