PREPARATION OF LAND FOR THE SEED 155 



the last cultivation, for at that time the potatoes 

 will have begun to form near the surface or in 

 the subsurface soil, according to soil conditions, 

 moisture, climate and variety. Then, to throw a 

 mass of dirt on top of these underground stems, 

 after they have chosen the best position for 

 highest development, is to force them to adapt 

 themselves to new conditions. 



SUGGESTION'S OX CHAPTER X 



242a. In this chapter, the word seed is used in its general 

 agricultural seuse, to designate seeds or other parts (as tubers) 

 which are planted for field crops. 



243a. A seed-bed is the soil in which the seed is planted or 

 sown. It may be the size of a window box, a hotbed frame, a 

 garden bed, or a field of wheat. 



244. The sprouts which appear on potatoes in cellars are 

 supplied from the nutriment stored in the tuber. If a winter 

 branch of a tree is stood in water in a warm room, leaves and 

 sometimes flowers will appear in the course of a few weeks ; and 

 the growth is made from the nutriment stored in the twig. All 

 seeds have stored nutriment, but the small ones have very little, 

 and it may be exhausted before the plantlets can get a foothold in 

 the soil. The better and finer the seed-bed, the sooner the plant - 

 let can establish itself. 



250. The subsurface soil is that lying just below the surface, 

 between the surface and the subsoil. It is the lower part of the 

 soil which has been loosened by the plow, that part which is 

 below the reach of the surface tilling. 



2306. The subsurface soil may be compacted by rolling (102), 

 after which the surface is loosened by harrowing. When land is 

 given much surface tillage, as for wheat, the tramping of the 

 horses compacts the under soil. Loose, sandy lands may be 

 plowed shallow in order to keep tho subsurface compact (94). 



