many small points or hoes. The spring-tooth cultivator i- well 

 adapted to accomplish these purposes. In case the soil is lacking in 

 vegetable matter and tends to become packed below, some form of cul- 

 tivator with larger and rigid points or sliovels may be necessary dur- 

 ing the earlier cultivations. Let us now consider "why" tillage will 

 conserve moisture. It does it by loosening the upper two or three 

 inches of soil and thus destroying or weakening the capillary power 

 of the upper soil. By capillary power I mean the power of the soil 

 to lift water from below toward the surface. You have often ob- 

 served how soon the surface soil appears dry after being cultivated. 

 This is because the upper soil has been made so open or porous that 

 it can no longer lift the soil water to the surface. The moisture 

 therefore remains in the lower soil just where the plant roots may 

 profit by it. Some farmers will roll their fields during dry weather. 

 This will do while seeds are germinating, as it will tend to bring the 

 soil moisture near to the surface so that the seeds will sprout more 

 quickly. But when the young plants get two or three inches high the 

 roll should give place to the cultivator in order that the moisture may 

 be more fully saved for the growing crop. 



4. }[anure. According to an old adage we are to make the soil 

 (1) dry, (2) clean, (3) rich. Sooner or later all heavily cropped soils 

 must be enriched by the addition of manure or fertilizer. In our 

 efforts to enrich the soil we should keep two ends constantly in view, 

 (1) to restore humus to the soil and (2) to renew the supjily of availa- 

 ble plant food. 



We need to restore the humus because it rendiTs the soil open and 

 friable, enables it better to enclure the extremes of wet and drv sea- 

 sons and, also, because it will aid in the elaboration of mineral plant 

 food from inert matters in the soil. We need also to i-enew the supply 

 of available plant food, as the soil, when constantly cropped, is unable 

 to elaborate tliis food rapidly enoitgh from its own store to meet the 

 demands of full crops. 



Fresh stable manure is best to enrich the soil, as it supplies both 

 humus and available plant food. 



Commercial fertilizers may be used in connection with ^reen man- 

 uring crops (such as clover or rye plowed under), the former to supply 

 the plant food and the latter to renew the sup]ilv of hiunus. 



I prefer the stable manure whenever it can be had, Ijecause its 

 effects are uniformly good and lasting, while commercial fertilizers 

 are quite variable in their action and their effects are transient. In 

 one experiment at Purdue University fresh horse manure has pro- 



