34 



Gardening for Amateurs 



Why Hoeing is so Beneficial 



THE continuous stirring and breaking 

 up of the surface soil has very much to 

 do with the success or failure of many 

 crops, and the process of hoeing should be 

 one of the most important and regular acts in 

 summer work. Hoeing prevents the growth 

 and spread of weeds, but this is of minor 

 importance when considering the good that 

 may be done by a constant use of the handy 

 implement. Before the real action of the 

 hoe is described readers must remember 

 that in the soil there are countless myriads 

 of micro-organisms or bacteria working 

 there unseen, breaking up the humus and 

 converting the products into those useful 

 nitrates so necessary for plant existence. 

 Ammonia compounds and other nitro- 

 genous manures are also altered, largely 

 by bacteria, into the nitrate, in which form 

 the salts are then assimilated by the tissues 

 of the plant, while organic manures, like the 

 humus, are slowly changed in a similar 

 fashion. Now, these tiny organisms, which 

 are the best friends of the gardener, cannot 

 work unless they get fresh air. Oxygen is 

 a necessity before they can live and carry 

 out their work in oxidising the soil contents, 

 and then, again, any bad gases produced by 

 them must also be got rid of. The gardener 

 who is wise, therefore, will supply the ven- 

 tilation necessary for his armies of bacteria ; 

 he will hoe and stir the surface soil, thus 

 aerating the ground and assisting bacterial 

 development. Modern science recognises 

 the great amount of good done by the 

 bacteria, and the up-to-date gardener ap- 

 plies the precepts of the laboratory at the 

 edge of the hoe. Constant tillage in ordinary 

 garden soil means renewed supplies of 

 nitrates, therefore it is not necessary to 

 supply large quantities of the chemical 

 nitrates if the hoeing is carried out sys- 

 tematically and regularly ; that is the 

 economic side of the matter. Hoe freely 

 and only add phosphates and potash (always 

 presupposing that there is a sufficiency of 

 humus or organic manures for the bacteria 

 to act upon). 



Hoeing has much to do with the water 



content of soils. Water rises through the 

 soil by a physical phenomenon called capil- 

 larity ; it is sucked up, as it were, to the 

 surface, where it passes off as vapour. 

 Compact soil facilitates the process, and the 

 rise of water, and therefore loss through 

 evaporation at the surface is much greater. 

 The thin layer of mulched and broken soil 

 formed in hoeing prevents this loss from 

 continuing ; it acts as a kind of insulating 

 layer whereby the process is checked. Thus, 

 in a sense, hoeing counteracts the evils of 

 an injudicious weather clerk ; the rain falls 

 and sinks rapidly through open soil, and the 

 loss on dry days is regulated in such a way 

 that the roots are kept in fairly equable 

 conditions of humidity and temperature. 

 Rapid evaporation, such as takes place on 

 a fine day, cools the soil to a great extent, 

 so retarding growth, hence prevention of 

 that process tends to keep the soil at a con- 

 stant state ; even in a bright sun, wet soil 

 is cold. Bacteria require moisture and 

 steady heat, and these conditions are en- 

 sured in the uniformity which results from 

 constant hoe-mulching of the surface. The 

 ideal plan for the gardener is to tramp the 

 soil firm round the roots of plants, then to 

 break up the surface and leave it in that 

 state until the time comes round for repeti- 

 tion of the act. 



The fourth great benefit derived from 

 hoeing is the assistance given to free root 

 action and improvement of the physical 

 condition of the soil. Aeration and loosen- 

 ing of the ground by means of the hoe 

 encourages healthy root formation ; plants 

 are constantly increasing their roots, as well 

 as their stems, and to stop the one process 

 entails checking the other. We all know, 

 too, how the condition of the soil is improved 

 by constant working 



These, then, are the four great benefits 

 to be derived from the useful hoe : The 

 checking of weed development, aeration of 

 the soil and consequent help to the soil 

 bacteria, regulation of the passage of water 

 through the ground, and improvement of 

 the mechanical conditions of the soil. 



