90 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



mind thought on hoeing which never came before. Then 

 it becomes plain that the shallow weed-cutting stroke is 

 not the dash of the hoe which saves the plant. 



One who goes through this experience once will know 

 better how to hoe next time. * He will see that by sharp, 

 deep strokes, often using the corners of the blade, he will 

 maintain a loose layer upon the surface which will be 

 thick enough to prevent direct evaporation from a hard- 

 pan layer and thus break the connection between capil- 

 lary action and the atmosphere. Such hoeing is harder 

 than light work with the blade nearly horizontal. It 

 takes muscle to give a strong vertical stroke which pene- 

 trates well, and one cannot waltz along the rows whistling 

 a lively tune, as is quite possible while weed-cutting in 

 moist soil in February. 



There is little grace, we admit, in the attitude of the 

 Italian market gardener, as he straddles the row, arches 

 his back and grunts as he sends his heavy mattock its 

 full depth into the soil around the plants. The American 

 with his fine, new, full-width, bronze-shanked, green-la- 

 beled steel hoe, marching along the rows, touching the 

 soil with disdain as ill worth exertion on his part, is a 

 much handsomer picture. But the Italian's plants laugh 

 at drought. When irrigated the soil takes water like a 

 sponge and it goes plump down to the roots of the plant. 

 Irrigate the shallow-hoed plat; a pailful will run a rod 

 and the plant root gets but the gurgle of the water as it 

 flows along the surface of the hard pan just beneath the 

 dust. 



Evidently, if one begins early in the season with deep 

 hoeing, the midsummer tussle with hard-pan will be ob- 

 viated. This is really the lesson to be learned. 

 CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION. 



All that has been said about the relations of tillage to 

 reception and conservation of moisture from rainfall is of 

 equal truth as related to moisture derived from irriga- 

 tion. Soils not readily absorptive must be opened by 



