86 



of the plant. It is usual to stir the surface after e ich rain. If another 

 rain follows within a short time, this cultivation may do little or no 

 good ; but if a dry season follows, the cultivation may save the crop 

 by its having diminished the evaporation While cultivation does 

 not add water to the soil, as some claim, it prevents excessive loss, and 

 thus maintains more water in the soil, which means about the same 

 thing. 



The kind of treatment adapted to the cultivation of different soils 

 depends upon local conditions, climate, and the kind of crop. The 

 object sought is the same in all cases but the means of attaining it 

 must be adapted to the local circumstances. As a rule, cultivation 

 should be shallow, for two reasons, namely, to avoid disturbing the 

 roots of the growing plants, and to avoid losing any more of the soil 

 moisture than possible. A single cultivation after each rain is not 

 necessarily enough, especially if a dry season is expected. 1 he sur- 

 face must be kept loo-e and dry, and this may require more than one 

 cultivation, even if there has been no subsequent rain. 



Few of our agricultural crops require cultivation after they have 

 attained their vegetative growth, and a crop is frequently injured 

 when cultivation is continued too long, because the soil is thus kept too 

 wet, and the plants are not inclined to ripen as early as they should or 

 to mature as large a yield of fruit or grain Most of our grain crops 

 will mature more seed if the ground is moderately dry during their 

 ripening period. 



TJNDERDRAINAGE. 



A soil containing too much water during the whole or a considerable 

 part of the season should be underdrained to draw off the excessive 

 amount of moisture. Most of our agricultural crops do better in a soil 

 containing from 30 to 60 per cent of the amount of water which 

 the soil would contain if saturated. With less water, crops suffer ; 

 with more, they suffer from lack of air around their roots. Wheat may 

 be grown very successfully, and will attain a perfectly normal 

 development in water culture with its roots entirely immersed in a 

 nutritive solntion, provided the water is supplied with air at frequent 

 intervals, but it will not grow in stagnant, saturated soil, not because 

 there is too much water, but because there is too little air. A soil, 

 therefore, which contains too much water contains too little air, and 

 part of the water should be drawn off through ditches or tile drains. 



Centuries ago the Romans used to overcome this trouble by plant- 

 ing the crop on very high ridges or beds, often 8 or 10 feet high and 

 fully as wide In this way alleys were provided at frequent intervals 

 to carry off the surface water, and the greatest extent of surface was 

 presented for the drying out of the soil, while the roots were kept at a 

 considerable distance from the saturated subsod. Storer states that 

 some of these ridges are still to be found in localities in Europe. 

 They are used to-day in a modified form in the cultivation of the sea- 

 island cotton off tbe coast of South Carolina, but are being gradually 

 given up as the practice of underdrainage is introduced, which is cheaper 

 in the end and more effective. 



Tile drainage is usually most effective in stiff clay soils and in low 

 bottom lands, but it is occasionally beneficial in medium grades ol 



