Study of Soil and Climate. 281 
dition. If the land is soddy or infested with bad 
weeds, however, a regular plowing may be necessary. 
A handy plow for such plantations is one of the 
type shown in Fig. 16, page 158, managed by a 
single horse. The management of the land in 
small-fruit plantations does not differ in principle 
from the management of orchard lands, and the 
tools are of the same general kind, except smaller 
and generally adapted to a single horse. If the 
rows are far enough apart, however—as they usually 
are in blackberries and black raspberries—it may 
be necessary in hard lands to hitch two horses to 
such a tool as the spring-tooth cultivator. 
It is scarcely necessary to repeat that it is essen- 
tial to give the fruit plantation just as good tillage 
as the corn receives, if equally good results are 
desired. Wholly aside from the direct benefits of 
tillage (which have already been explained), the 
operation is necessary in order to supply the enor- 
mous quantities of moisture which are exhaled from 
the leaves of the ‘plants. Professor Burrill, of the 
University of Illinois, estimates* that a good-sized 
apple tree, having 25,000 square feet of evaporating 
surface, which is not a large estimate, will give off 
31,200 ounces of water per day in the hot season, 
or say 250 gallons. 
It is generally a matter of a few years to thor- 
oughly learn one’s soil and climate, after moving 
onto a new farm. The farmer has a local and per- 
* Trans. Il. Hort. Soe. 
