88 The Principles of Vegetable- Gardening 



the land should be loosened and pulverized as deep as 

 ordinary roots go. To maintain the soil in ideal con- 

 dition, the surface should be tilled or stirred as often 

 as it becomes crusted or compacted. It is essential 

 that every farmer keep in mind the differences between 

 preparation -tillage and maintenance -tillage, for these 

 ideas are associated with two classes of effort. Culti- 

 vating should be thought of as maintenance -tillage, not 

 as preparation -tillage. 



1. The tillage of preparation insists that the land 

 be broken and pulverized. The depth to which this 

 pulverization or plowing shall extend must be deter- 

 mined for each particular case: it depends on the 

 character of the soil and the crop. Land which is very 

 hard, or in which there is a high sub -soil, nearly always 

 needs to be plowed deep; the effort must be to deepen 

 the soil. Lands which are sandy or leachy may need 

 to be plowed shallow and approximately the same 

 depth every year ; the effort is to compact the under 

 soil and thereby to prevent the leaching. The root- 

 crops demand deep soil in order that the roots may 

 grow long and symmetrical. This is emphatically true 

 with such long- growing roots as parsnips, late beets, 

 carrots and horse-radish. Forty or fifty years ago it 

 was the general advice that land be plowed deep. But 

 neither deep plowing nor shallow plowing is the unit. 

 The depth of plowing is a question of conditions 



It is a favorite practice with the gardener to plow 

 land in the fall. There are three objects of fall plow- 

 ing : (1) To make the land earlier in the spring; (2) 

 to be forehanded with the work; (3) to improve the 



