222 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



generally to roll ; indeed, if the weather remains dry, rolling is 

 generally repeated at intervals until the plant is up and for a 

 little time after. The object of rolling is, of course, to consoli- 

 date the land, especially the surface layer, a condition which 

 facilitates the rise of water from the subsoil until it is brought up 

 to the very surface which has been made firm and smooth. Con- 

 sequently there is loss by evaporation, accompanied by a little 

 cooling due to the evaporation, but these two disadvantages 

 have to be faced in view of the necessity of maintaining a proper 

 supply of water for the small seeds or tiny seedlings. The plant 

 is at the most critical stage of its existence, and everything must 

 be done to keep it going, even though the waste of subsoil water 

 may be disproportionate to the growth at the time. In gardens 

 it is often possible to check the evaporation, which is most intense 

 during the strong easterly winds and bright sun occurring in 

 most of our springs, by erecting wind screens or even by strew- 

 ing a few light fir boughs and the like over the seed bed. In dry 

 wind-swept districts it is astonishing to see the marked benefit 

 that young vegetation derives from even the most trifling wind- 

 break. As soon, however, as the plants are well above ground, 

 hoeing should begin, so as to establish a mulch and save the loss 

 of water and consequent cooling from all the unoccupied land 

 between the plants. This, indeed, constitutes the routine of 

 cultivation for the rest of the season, to maintain the firmest 

 possible soil round the roots of the plant, and to keep renewing 

 the loose surface mulch with the hoe. An old gardener used to 

 say that he watered his plants with a hoe, and indeed if the 

 cultivation is only good enough, artificial watering will rarely 

 be needed. In one sense many gardens are over cultivated ; 

 it is never necessary to trench the soil deeply every year or even 

 every other year; to do so only results in a loose condition of 

 the subsoil, from which the crops will begin to suffer in the 

 shortest drought. The commonest fault to be seen in the 

 management of the soil in gardens is this over looseness of the 

 subsoil as distinct from the loose mulch on the surface. A gardener 

 will sometimes show you with pride that he can thrust his stick 

 in his beds up to the handle, it has all been waste of labour 

 that has left things worse than they were before, waste only to 



