Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



113 



way most advantageous to him, and even avoiding or preventing the evil results 

 of natural occurrences. The very methods employed in the tillage and care of the 

 soil not only fail to secure the best possible results, but are causing actual de- 

 pletion and exhaustion of the soil. If present methods continue and are not re- 

 placed by modern scientific methods of tillage and culture, there will come a time, 

 and it will be very soon, when the virgin strength of the soil is exhausted and 

 then agriculturally the nation will surely suffer. 



The many books treating of soil and its care have not been written without 

 careful and scientific investigation and experimentation, and there is not a single 

 authority that would advise the use of a forked stick as a plow. Of course, 

 whether or not oxen are used in place of horses or mules is a matter to be decided 

 by the people concerned. If a man is willing to take ten days to plow with oxen 

 the same area which he could in one day with mules or horses, or even in much less 

 time with steam power, then he is at perfect liberty to do so. All that can be 

 said for that man, however, is that he is practicing poor economy and will sooner 

 or later be distanced by the rapid advance of civilization in other regions. But as 

 to the plow itself, there is a far different question at stake. In order to conserve 

 and increase the plant foods stored up in the soil and to furnish the right amount 

 of moisture to the plant roots a good mulch is essential. This mulch should be 

 made by turning over and pulverizing the surface soil from time to time, the 

 depth to which it is turned varying with attendant circumstances. All that the 

 wooden "plow" performs is to merely push the dirt to one side, or sometimes not 

 even that, and thus only scratch the surface, whereas the steel plow completely 

 turns the surface layers and thus makes available for use the nitrogenous and 

 phosphorous foods formed farther under the surface. This, of course, applies 

 more to the annual preparation of a yearly cereal crop rather than to the regular 

 care of an orchard, although in the latter case it is not out of place. As an illus- 

 tration of this principle one need only to look at the corn fields near Mount Popo- 

 catapetl, north of Popo Park. There the steel plow is in extensive use and the 

 results show it plainly. Acre after acre produces some of the richest corn im- 

 aginable, while other fields in the same belt not plowed with the steel plow are 

 greatly inferior in their yield. Fortunately the steel plow is gradually replacing 

 the old worthless wooden plow, but this displacement must surely be hastened and 

 not allowed to take its present too gradual course. It was a great surprise to 

 hear a man, who is actually in charge of one of the government experimental sta- 

 tions, say that he had tried mules and horses and steel plows but that he had found 

 that they did not pay and so had returned to the use of the forked stick dragged 

 along at a snail pace by two oxen. His explanation was thai the mules and horses 

 could not endure the intense heat. There is absolutely no reason why these an- 

 imals may not be perfectly acclimatized in a comparatively short time to endure as 

 much as any native animal, as they already have been in other countries. If an 

 experimental farm persists in using the wooden plow, as is done at Oaxaca and at 

 Rio Verde, what can be expected of the common farmer? If it is high tariff duties 

 on farm implements or lack of possible manufactories for them that is preventing 

 or hindering the use of modern tools, then steps should be taken by the govern- 



