12 FACTS AND FIGURES OR THE 



CHAPTER II. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



This, I consider, the most important subject for the truck 

 farmer, as everything depends on having the land in a 

 perfect condition. You can have it irrigated, use all the 

 high grade fertilizer your crops can take up, have fine, 

 healthy plants, but if the land is not in proper shape, 

 >our time, labor and fertilizer will be lost. 



The first thing to do after you have looked up the title 

 to your land is to put a good hog and cattle-proof fence; 

 the American Steel and A¥ire Co. make an excellent one. If 

 the land has trees on it, you will have to cut these down, sav- 

 ing the best ones to make posts for the fence. Ne.xt, remove 

 the stumps, either by pulling them out with a stump puller, 

 blowing them out with dynamite, or burning them out. 

 After you have these removed, take out all the roots, as it 

 is from them, particularly the palmetto roots, that the land 

 is kept acid. When }'0U have all the roots removdJ, it is 

 time to put in the tile for sub-irrigation, if you wish to 

 use this system (see chapter on Irrigation). Next, plow the 

 land several times, both ways, as deeply as the soil will 

 allow without turning up the subsoil. Now give the land 

 an application of lime or Canadian hardwood ashes, to 

 remove the acidity. Either one will answer, but I prefer 

 the ashes, as they seem to give better results, making up for 

 the difference in price in the quality and yield of the crop 

 raised. If you use lime, get the air-slacked, applying about 

 1,500 pounds to the acre; if you use ashes apply from a ton 

 to a ton and a half to the acre. Both are applied broadcast 

 and harrowed, not plowed, in. Do not use lime or ashes on 

 land you wish to plant in Irish potatoes, as the acidity in 

 the soil seems to keep the fungus in check that causes potato- 



