CHAPTER VI. 

 THE PRINCIPLES OF TILLAGE 



Tillage is the manipulation of the soil by means of 

 implements for the purpose of making a more favorable 

 environment for the growth of useful plants, 



79. The Chief Functions of Tillage. — During the long 

 ages in which our best crops have been developed by 

 man as he sought plants to supply food for himself or 

 his domestic animals, the ability possessed by the original 

 wild forms to rustle for themselves has largely been lost. 

 None of our cultivated plants can compete with the wild 

 forms and continue to exist without the aid of man. The 

 first function of tillage is to furnish the protection these 

 highly developed plants require from the aggressive 

 competition of wild and useless forms. 



The first home of the human race was where food 

 plants grew wild and furnished sustenance for man with- 

 out his care. As population increased and food became 

 scarcer these plants were fostered by growing them 

 under more favorable environment. The ancient civil- 

 ization of Egypt grew up where the Nile overflowed its 

 banks and watered the thirsty fields, while tliat of the 

 Orient developed around the coastal plains above which 

 the mountain streams were harnessed and made to water 

 the tilled fields. In the recent history of the race men 

 have grown crops on lands that could not be watered ex- 



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