Condition of the Soil 



77 



The methods of tillage are of course endlessly variable. 

 The novice should inspect the methods of good growers. 

 The pictures accompanying this Chapter (Figs. 9-15) 

 show what results have been secured by successful men. 



The structure of the soil. 



The structure or physical state of the soil is com- 

 monly more important than its mere richness in plant- 



Fio. 11. The tillage strip in a vineyard. 



food. That is, the productivity of the land is not deter- 

 mined wholly, and perhaps not even chiefly, by the amount 

 of fertilizing elements it contains. This is particularly true 

 of all lands like the clays that tend to become and to 

 remain hard and unpleasant if left to themselves. Plant- 

 food is of no consequence unless the plant can use it. The 

 hardest rocks may contain various plant-foods in abundance, 

 and yet plants cannot grow on them. A stick of wood con- 



