< 
8 
R. M. KBLLOaO'S OREAT CROPS OF 
of the plant. We take the weeding machine 
or fine tooth cultivator and separate the par- 
ticles of earth, breaking- up the capillary 
passages so that gravitation will not let the 
water come any higher and the loose earth 
and dust excludes the sun and wind so the 
water cannot get away, but will collect 
under this dust mulch for the use of the 
plants so that several inches of the upper 
earth will contain much more water than 
that a foot or so below it, and as this will 
cause the particles of earth to settle together 
again we must cultivate every few days. 
The inaimfr in which the water comes 
up through the ground might be illustrated 
by the wick of a lamp. The oil comes up 
the wick by capillary action precisely as the 
water does in the soil. We light the lamp 
and as fast as the oil comes up it is burned. 
Now blow the flame out and the oil comes 
to the top in such quantities that the wick 
holds all it can. The flame of the lamp 
carries off the oil just as the sun and wind 
does the water that comes clear to the sur- 
face. When we cultivate, it has the same 
effect as blowing out the light, it keeps the 
water below the surface or loose earth. 
The crust forming after a rain excludes 
the air from the roots and makes capillary 
attraction perfect and should always be 
broken up as soon as ground is dry enough 
to cultivate. 
The Lovett. 
The cultivator should only go deep 
enough to maintain the dust or loose earth 
mulch, rarely more than two inches are re- 
quired and often one inch is better, depend- 
ing on the texture of the soil. 
The roller. You cannot properly fit 
land without a roller or floater. The plow 
and harrow leaves the ground too loose and 
does not sufficiently exclude free air, and 
capillary action will not bring the water up 
A Floater. 
from below. The particles of earth must be 
brought near together. If you do not have a 
roller, take three two-inch planks about 
seven feet long and one foot wide; bolt or 
spike the edges together like the siding on a 
house and hitch a chain to each end and load 
it with as much stone as the team can draw,, 
and go over the surface. On many soils it 
will do better work than a roller. Do not 
attempt to .set plants in loose earth. 
The Masker. 
Marking oft' the ground. Have your 
ground properly firmed, leveled and rolled so 
the perfection plant setter will set the plants 
exactly the right depth or if you use the 
dibble or spade, you can determine quickly 
the right depth for setting plants. Mark as 
lightly as possible where the rows are to be. 
For this purpose we take a board about one- 
half inch thick, eight or ten inches wide 
and long enough to mark four rows at a 
time. Make four short sled runners and 
nail them under the board the distance the 
rows are to be apart, and nail shafts or 
handles on the top to draw it with. A man 
can draw it all day without fatigue. The 
object of using a thin board is to make it 
bend and accommodate itself to the uneven 
surface of the ground. Get the first row per- 
fectly straight and let one runner go in the 
last mark as a guide. This will make all the 
rows exactly so far apart so that late in the 
season when your plants get larger you can 
remove one or two teeth of the weeding 
machine and cultivate two rows at a time, 
enabling you to use the weeder all summer, 
doing the cultivating at the rate of fifteen 
or twenty acres per day. 
TOOLS. 
We herewith give a description of some 
very desirable tools with name and address 
of the manufacturers. We do not handle 
them and you should address the parties 
direct, who will advise you as to where they 
can be had, with price, etc. 
For berry boxe.s, crates, grape baskets, 
bushel baskets, berry box machines, egg 
cases, and all kinds of fruit packages, send 
for price list to the Wells-Higman Company, 
St. Joseph, Mich. We have bought all our 
boxes of them ever since we have been in 
