184 Our Farming. 



way out of the difficulty, but no one thought it out. It was to 

 abandon deep tillage, use light implements that would not go 

 more than two inches deep and then continue right on working 

 crop as long as you wish, or can get through. Little by little 

 this was worked out, and tools suitable to the work came with 

 the demand, and now one may cultivate as long as he can and do 

 no harm, and some years do a great deal of good. In a dry year, 

 like 1 88 1 , we have had the cultivators running in the field at the 

 same time we were digging the first early ones for market. They 

 were going very shallow and narrow, of course, making a slight 

 earth mulch between the rows, to help save moisture. It was so 

 dry the tops did not grow large enough to cover the ground or to 

 fall down and prevent cultivation. If they had, the cultivation 

 would not have been needed so late. As the season advances, and 

 the tops shade more, we narrow up as well as run shallower with 

 our cultivators. The Iron Age harrow, running an inch deep with 

 its fourteen harrow teeth, would be sufficient at the last. We 

 want to devote all the soil possible to the roots. 



