Vegetable Cultivation 103 



edges firmly together, and try it again. The mois- 

 ture refuses to cross the line; the connection has 

 been severed. 



In the same way the water stored in the soil after 

 a rain begins at once to escape again into the atmos- 

 phere. That on the surface evaporates first, and 

 that which has soaked in begins to soak in through 

 the soil to the surface. It is leaving your garden, 

 through the millions of soil tubes, just as surely 

 as if you had a two-inch pipe and a gasoline engine, 

 pumping it into the gutter night and day! Save 

 your garden by stopping the waste. It is the easiest 

 thing in the world to do — cut the pipe in two. And 

 the knife to do it with is — dust. By frequent culti- 

 vation of the surface soil — not more than one or 

 two inches deep for most small vegetables — the soil 

 tubes are kept broken, and a mulch of dust is main- 

 tained. Try to get over every part of your garden, 

 especially where it is not shaded, once in every ten 

 days or two weeks. Does that seem like too much 

 work ? You can push your wheel hoe through, and 

 thus keep the dust mulch as a constant protection, 

 as fast as you can walk. If you wait for the weeds, 

 you will nearly have to crawl through, doing more 

 or less harm by disturbing your growing plants, 

 losing all the plant food (and they will take the 

 cream) which they have consumed, and actually 

 putting in more hours of infinitely more disagree- 



