84 The Principles of Fruit-growing 



lage, and to repair the mulch as soon as it becomes hard 

 and crusted. The orchardist, therefore, will till as often 

 as the land needs it, however frequent that may be; but 

 as a general statement it may be said that fruit-lands 

 ought to be tilled every ten days and soon after every rain. 



USE OF THE VARIOUS TOOLS IN RELATION TO MOISTURE- 

 SAVING (adapted from L. A. Clinton) 



Many special tillage tools have been designed for fruit- 

 grounds practice. The primary office of these tools is to 

 provide the soil reservoir, to comminute the surface, to 

 keep down the weeds; and all this has important relations 

 to moisture. Figs. 16 and 17 show some useful forms of 

 tools. 



Plowing to save moisture. 



The first step in the saving of moisture must be the 

 preparation of the land so that the rain will sink down, and 

 not be carried off by surface drainage. In many regions, 

 especially in the southern states, the great handicap to 

 agriculture is the surface-washing of the land. Owing to 

 shallow plowing and shallow tillage, the water is unable to 

 settle into the hard soil with sufficient rapidity, and is 

 carried along the surface, producing the destructive gullies. 



The improvements in the plow have done much toward 

 remedying these defects, but there is still much ignorance 

 as to the proper use of this implement. As a tool to be used 

 in the preparation of the land for the reception of moisture, 

 it stands preeminent. Good plowing does not consist as 

 ordinarily supposed in merely inverting a strip of earth, 

 but in pulverizing and fining it and burying the sod or 

 refuse that may be on the surface. The quantity of water 



