ORCHARD CULTIVATION 53 



5. Cultivation conserves moisture. We have al- 

 ready seen that deep cultivation enables the soil to 

 absorb and retain great quantities of moisture which 

 would otherwise rapidly drain away. Shallow culti- 

 vation helps very greatly to hold this moisture after it 

 is caught. One of the greatest sources of loss of 

 moisture is evaporation from the surface of the 

 ground. If the soil is uncultivated it soon hardens 

 a fact which everyone has observed repeatedly. The 

 hard surface layers are then filled with thousands of 

 little capillary passages through which the water is 

 quickly pumped up to the surface, thence to be evapo- 

 rated into the air. When cultivation is practiced 

 these capillary tubes are broken up, the movement of 

 water to the surface is prevented, and the wasteful 

 discharge of water from the soil into the atmosphere 

 is greatly mitigated. The fine, loose soil left on the 

 surface by proper cultivation acts as a mulch, pre- 

 venting the evaporation of water from below. Every- 

 one knows how a mulch acts on the soil. The pres- 

 ervation of this soil mulch, or dust blanket, as it is 

 sometimes called, has now come to be recognized as 

 one of the best established and most useful of agri- 

 cultural practices. 



6. Finally, cultivation kills weeds. Weeds steal 

 moisture and plant food, and, therefore, ought to be 

 killed. But the good farmer or fruit grower has very 

 little quarrel with the weeds. He kills them inciden- 

 tally while he cultivates for more important purposes. 



METHODS OF CULTIVATION 



The fruit growers of this country are almost unani- 

 mously agreed as to what constitutes the best routine 



