Tools with which to Save Moisture. 145 
summer tilling is done. The winter covering of 
plants is quite as efficient in holding the precipi- 
tated water as fall plowing is, and the other ad- 
vantages of it are invaluable (as explained in Chap- 
ter IV.). 
Any body or substance which is interposed be- 
tween the air and the moist soil will prevent the 
evaporation of the. moisture. The ground is moist 
underneath a board. So is it underneath a layer 
of sawdust or of ashes; and so is it underneath 
a layer of two or three inches of dry earth. It 
is expensive and difficult to haul this dry earth 
onto the land, and, moreover, it soon becomes hard 
and dense, and is no longer a mulch. It is better 
to make the mulch on the spot by shallow cultiva- 
tion, and to repair the mulch as soon as_ it be- 
comes hard and crusted. The orchardist will, there- 
fore, till as often as the land needs it, however 
frequent that may be; but as a general statement 
it may be said that fruit-lands ought to be tilled 
every ten days and after every rain. 
USE OF THE VARIOUS TOOLS IN RELATION TO 
CONSERVATION OF MOISTURE.* 
Plowing to save moisture.—The first. step in the 
conservation of moisture must be the preparation of 
the land so that the rain will sink down, and not 
be carried off by surface drainage. In many seec- 
* Adapted from L. A. Clinton, Bull. 120, Cornell Exp. Sta. For a fuller 
discussion of the subject, consult Roberts’ “The Fertility of the Land.” 
K 
