CHAPTER FIVE 



How 

 plowing 

 saves 

 rainfall 



Effect on 

 rools 



The value 

 of a dust 

 mulch 



CULTIVATION AND DRAINAGE 



Plow deep while sluggards sleep. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



ONE of ^Esop's fables tells of a farmer who assured his 

 sons, to whom he bequeathed his land, that in it there 

 was buried treasure which they would find by digging. 

 The treasures they found were the bountiful crops which 

 their stirring of the soil produced. The soil, which is 

 our country's richest treasure house, yields this nation 

 annually about ten thousand million dollars in the value 

 of crops and of animals fed upon crops. This amount, 

 large as it is, could probably be doubled by more intelli- 

 gent and thorough cultivation. 



The effects of cultivation, (i) Cultivation allows rain 

 to be absorbed. It keeps the water from running off the 

 surface of the soil and being lost. In dry regions the 

 ground should be plowed or disked as soon as the crop is 

 removed, so that water will be stored in the soil. 



(2) It mellows the ground. The stirring of the soil 

 allows the roots to penetrate every part of it, and the 

 more abundant the root system the better the plant is 

 fed. 



(3) It prevents loss of water by evaporation. Soil 

 water is constantly being raised to the surface by cap- 

 illarity and lost by evaporation. In dry weather this loss 

 may be so serious as to injure the crop. One remedy is 

 to keep the first two or three inches of the topsoil broken 

 up to form a "dust mulch," or, in dry and windy regions, 



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