Gkowijng Vegetables on Muck Lajsids 124!) 



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. 

 40 



