PREPARATION OF SOILS FOR CROPS 255 



the manufacture of sugar, flax for fine fiber, or 

 tobacco under shade, requires a high degree of 

 both knowledge and skill. For the production of 

 special crops the preparation of the seed bed and the 

 subsequent cultivation of the crop are matters of prime 

 importance, and should receive careful consideration 

 on the part of the cultivator. Many times agricultural 

 industries undertaken in new countries have failed 

 because the cultivation of the special crop used in the 

 industry has not been successfully accomplished on 

 account of lack of knowledge of the cultural methods 

 necessary for successful crop production. 



341. Cultivation to Prevent Washing and Gully- 

 ing of Land. In regions of heavy rain fall, rolling 

 lands of clay texture often become gullied by the 

 water flowing in large amounts over the surface. 

 Under such conditions the preparation of a seed bed, 

 and cultivation of the soil so as to prevent washing 

 are often difficult problems. To prevent gullying, the 

 water currents should be divided as much as possible 

 by plowing narrower 'lands' and by increasing the num- 

 ber of shallow dead furrows. The larger drains should 

 be constructed with the view of preventing the forma- 

 tion of deep gullies, this can in part be accomplished 

 by encouraging the growth of special grasses with 

 fibrous roots which serve as soil binders. Soils which 

 gully are improved by the addition of farm manures 

 and other humus forming materials which bind the 

 soil particles ; also by seeding and cultivating at right 

 angles to the slope of the land so as to break the force 



