Tools with which to Save Moisture. 145 



summer tilling is done. The winter covering of 

 plants is quite as efficient in holding the precipi- 

 tated water as fall plowing is, and the other ad- 

 vantages of it are invaluable (as explained in Chap- 

 ter IV.). 



Any body or substance which is interposed be- 

 tween the air and the moist soil will prevent the 

 evaporation of the moisture. The ground is moist 

 underneath a board. So is it underneath a layer 

 of sawdust or of ashes ; and so is it underneath 

 a layer of two or three inches of dry earth. It 

 is expensive and difficult to haul this dry earth 

 onto the land, and, moreover, it soon becomes hard 

 and dense, and is no longer a mulch. It is better 

 to make the mulch on the spot by shallow cultiva- 

 tion, and to repair the mulch as soon as it be- 

 comes hard and crusted. The orchardist will, there- 

 fore, 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 after every rain. 



USE OF THE VARIOUS TOOLS IN RELATION TO 

 CONSERVATION OP MOISTURE.* 



Plowing to save moisture .The first step in the 

 conservation 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 sec- 



* Adapted from L. A. Clinton, Bnll. 120, Cornell Exp. Sta. For a fuller 

 diteussion of the subject, consult Roberts' "The Fertility of the Land." 



