190 An American Fruit-Farm 



in order to become light, or like a feather-bed, to 

 be kept wholesome. If you examine a well-tilled 

 field on a sultry day, or amidst drouth, you will 

 discover that the dusty surface covers a moist, 

 porous, warm, productive soil. Scratch but with 

 your finger and you reach moisture. This is an 

 ideal setting for plants. The ground cannot be 

 kept too porous, or circulation too complete. 

 We avoid peril to the plant, or to seeds, by setting 

 or sowing root or seed down moisture deep. The 

 moisture-gage measures all plant-growth. 



It follows then that artificial watering is the bas- 

 est abuse of the soil. It gives wind and sun a 

 chance to bake the surface; it fills the earth-pore 

 and drowns the plant's roots. The best watering- 

 pot is a hoe, a cultivator that stirs the surface of 

 the ground. No thoroughly tilled soil needs 

 irrigation. Dry farming is best farming. Plants 

 differ in habits, but every plant on the fruit-farm 

 prospers by cultivation. Take the trouble to 

 overturn a stone, a bit of wood, an old carpet, the 

 board in front of the kitchen steps, even a bunch 

 of hay or straw lying on the ground over night — 

 the earth beneath is moist. Cover the soil with 

 fertilizer and you catch and retain the moisture as 

 it exudes from the land. You stop it on its way 

 from earth to air. You make a like cover when 

 you stir the surface with cultivator or hoe. The 

 thoroughly tilled soil stops the moisture on its way 

 to evaporation. So by stirring the ground fre- 

 quently, hoeing the garden often, running the 



