Growine VEGETABLES on Mucx Lanps 1249 
capillary movement is so slow that the upper soil may be suffering 
severely when abundance of water is to be found a few feet 
beneath. Thus the conservation of the moisture which exists in 
the parts of the soil where the roots are most highly developed 
is not to be neglected, and cultivation usually insures sufficiently 
favorable moisture conditions for high production without irriga- 
tion, although some practice artificial watering. 
The maintenance of a surface mulch on muck soil is exceed- 
ingly easy. The material itself is well adapted for the purpose; in 
fact, the coarser muck soils would be found effective for the 
mulching of other soils. Only a very light crust is ever formed, 
and the lightest tools are adequate. The intensive planting plans 
practically banish the horse cultivator on many farms, celery be- 
ing the only important crop for which it is used. Wheel hoes are 
very widely employed. Different attachments are used at differ- 
ent stages of the crops, among them being sets of small discs, of 
light, slender teeth, mold boards which throw a considerable 
amount of soil to or from the row, and also blades which pass 
just beneath the surface, cutting weeds and leaving a fine mulch. 
A two-wheeled tool is best for straddling the rows, while a single 
wheel is better for working in the middles. When crops begin to 
close the middles, a single wheeled tool, known as the gooseneck, 
is used. The frame consists of a single bent tube, and it carries 
a blade which passes immediately beneath the surface. 
The most widely used of the hand tools is the scuffle hoe or 
shove hoe, as it is commonly known. ‘This consists of a handle, a 
shank, and a flat blade similar to that just described from one 
and one-half to three inches wide and from six to twelve inches 
long. The shank is riveted to the blade in such a way that it is 
pushed in a horizontal position ahead of the worker. This 
passes readily beneath the foliage and is exceedingly useful in 
this type of soil. Ground may be covered very rapidly. 
Another tool that is used for thinning and for working beneath 
plants in the row is a hoe which consists merely of a narrow 
strip of metal bent in the form of a triangle and set in a handle. 
An enormous amount of hand weeding is necessary for closely 
planted crops. Especially is this true of onions and of celery. 
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