SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 177 



ploughed the more productive they will be, and the 

 greater amount of moisture they will retain. Here, 

 you will find, is the great secret in treating and culti- 

 vating these dry lands. They must be ploughed deep 

 and rendered loose and friable in order to retain mois- 

 ture. If allowed to harden and bake and crack, the 

 evaporation passes off as does that from water poured 

 upon a heap of bricks ; but if the soil is well pulverized, 

 it will hold moisture like a sponge, and retard and re- 

 tain the evaporation constantly passing upwards, and 

 what is more, will allow the tender roots and fibers to 

 permeate the soil in every direction, licking up the 

 moisture, and to penetrate down to where the soil is 

 damp and cool. At the same time I am ploughing my 

 fallow I would procure my grapes and other cuttings, 

 preparatory to rooting them for the next spring's plant- 

 ing. I will have to prepare these myself, for if I pur- 

 chase nursery plants as now prepared, my labor will be 

 in vain, as the ground to be planted will be dry before 

 they have commenced sprouting deeper down than such 

 plants can be set. These plants I will make from 

 twenty-four to thirty inches long, and will put them out 

 in nursery rows, laying them almost horizontally in the 

 soil, so that the end designed to root shall not be more 

 than six inches under ground, while the other end 

 protrudes not over two buds. In this way I shall ob- 

 tain a long plant, when rooted, which I should not do 

 if they were placed perpendicularly in any soil adapted 

 for nursery purposes, as such soil is cold and wet at a 



