CONTENTS xix 



PAGE 



The duty of water 264 



The character of the soil 265 



The kind of crop 265 



The amount of rainfall 266 



The frequency and time of irrigation .... 267 



Indications in the soil and crop .... 268 



The folly of over-irrigation 268 



The time of day to irrigate ..... 269 



Directing the flow .269 



Tillage after irrigation ....... 270 



Methods of irrigating important crops . . . .271 



Meadows ........ 271 



Fruits .271 



Potatoes .273 



Garden vegetables ....... 274 



The cost of irrigation ....... 274 



National aid in irrigation ...... 275 



The Reformation Act of 1902 276 



Windbreaks . 278 



CHAPTER XI. MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF 

 THE SOIL 



What fertility is . . . . . . .280 



Many views ........ 281 



The native richness of soils . . . . . .281 



The soil a storehouse of plant food ..... 282 



Plant food locked up 282 



Soils exhausted of plant food ...... 283 



The loss of fertility by erosion ...... 284 



An insidious leak ....... 286 



Erosion in the South 287' 



Methods of checking erosion .... . 237 



Preserve forests and wooded strips . . . .288 



Re-forestation . . 288 



Directing water. ....... 289 



Terracing . 291 



Side-hill ditches 291 



Soil-binding crops . . . . . . .291 



Breaks . 292 



Deep-plowing and humus ...... 294 



Tillage operations ....... 295 



