THE HANDLING OF THE LAND 



97 



suit any taste and almost any kind of tillage. For the best 

 results, it is essential that the wheel should be large and with a 

 broad tire, that it may override obstacles. Figure 90 shows an 

 excellent type of wheel-hoe with five blades, and Fig. 91 shows 

 one with a single blade and that may be used in very narrow 

 rows. Two-wheeled hoes (Fig. 92) are often used, particularly 

 when it is necessary to have the implement very steady, and 

 the wheels may straddle the rows of low plants. Many of these 

 wheel-hoes are provided with various shapes of blades, so that 

 the implement may be adjusted to many kinds of work. Nearly 

 all the weeding of beds of onions and like plants can be done 

 by means of these wheel-hoes, if the ground is well prepared in 

 the beginning; but it must be remembered that they are of 

 comparatively small use on very hard and cloddy and stony- 

 lands. 



The saving of moisture. 



The garden must have a liberal supply of moisture. The 

 first effort toward securing this supply should be the saving 

 of the rainfall water. 



Proper preparation and tillage put the land in such condition 

 that it holds the water of rainfall. Land that is very hard and 

 compact may shed the rainfall, particularly if it is sloping and 

 if the surface is bare of vegetation. If the hard-pan is near the 

 surface, the land cannot hold much water, and any ordinary 

 rainfall may fill it so full that it overflows, or puddles stand on 

 the surface. On land in good tilth, the water of rainfall sinks 

 away, and is not visible as free water. 



As soon as the moisture begins to pass from the superin- 

 cumbent atmosphere, evaporation begins from the surface of 

 the land. Any body interposed between the land and the air 

 checks this evaporation; this is why there is moisture under- 

 neath a board. It is impracticable, however, to floor over the 

 garden with boards, but any covering will have similar effect, 



