10 
R. M. KBLLOOG'S GREAT CftOPS OF 
amount of plant food washed down into it 
where it becomes insoluble and remains 
there. By breaking- up the subsoil we 
admit the air dissolving- this food and the 
water returning to the surface by capillary 
attraction (see engraving-) it is carried to the 
upper soil where the plant can use it. 
Again we plow and subsoil because in so 
doiivg- we separate the particles of earth so 
they will contain many times as much 
water as in their natural dense condition. 
In sub.soiling we actually create a reservoir 
under the plant which will hold enough 
■water in suspension which can be conserved 
by surface cultivation to tide us over the 
most protracted drouth. 
vTgu LTI VATED E ARfH .u : i N c H -.^ 
f DEPTH PLOWED 
One inch cultivated soil sn loo.se water w-ill not rise 
bv canillaiv attraction. Ten inches plowed arid 
firmed so water will rise. Ten niches of reservoir ni 
subsoil. 
Water iii tli<' soil is moved by two 
forces. First by gravitation which draws 
the water down and seC(nid by capillary 
attraction {.see engraving) which returns it 
to the surface again. Capillary niea^ns a 
hair-like tube or minute passage. If we 
enlarge the passage by separating the parti- 
cles of earth too far apart it would take so 
much water to fill the space that this force 
would be overcome by gravitation and no 
water would rise. Thus when we plow and 
leave the ground very loose it sooti dries out. 
Water cannot come up from below and free 
air finds its way through the openings and 
carries the water off. 
So immediatelv after plowing, before the 
water has time to get away we go over it 
with a roller and press the particles of earth 
together so as to exclude this circulating 
air and make these passages so small that 
capillary attraction will bring the water 
up to the surface. 
Why AV»> oultivilti'. Now when the 
water 'comes up if it reaches the surface so 
as to come in contact with the bright sun it 
will readily pass off into the air. We want 
it to come within an inch or so of the surface 
of the ground so as to nourish all the roots 
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 lii^lR r anil the loose earth 
and dust excludes tlic 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 to- 
gether again wo must cultivate every few 
days. 
The lliaillHT in which the water comes 
itp throug-h the ground might he illustrated 
hy the wick of a lamp. The oil comes up 
the wick by capillary action precisely as the 
-vN-ater does in the soil. We light the lamp 
and as fast as the oil comes up it is burned. 
Now blow the fiame out and the oil comes 
to the top in such quantities that tlie wick 
holds all it can. The fiauie of tlie lamp 
carries off the oil just as the sun and wind 
does tiu- water that comes clear to the sur- 
face. When we cultivate, it has the same 
efl'ect as blowing out the light, it keeps the 
water below the surface or loose earth. 
The crust forming after a rain excludes 
tlic air from the roots and makes capillary 
attraction perfect and should always be 
broken up as soon as ground is dry enough 
to cultivate. 
As an <'vi«leii<'o of the value of this 
method of cultivation in a drouth permit me 
to cite my plantation of forty-one acres of 
strawberries set last spring. The year 1895 
will be li>ng known as the year of the great 
drouth in Micliigan. 
No laiii IV'll the previous fall and 
the deep snow of winter went off when 
the ground was frozen and found its way 
direct to the rivers. There were no .spring 
rains nor did we get any more than enough 
to lay the dust until nearly the first of 
August, and yet there was not a day during 
the stinimer when by removing less than 
an inch of the surface you could not take up 
a handful of earth containing so much water 
y<ni could mould it in the hand and the 
growth of our plants has been a marvel to 
all who have seen them. I have never seen 
such truly large and magnificent plants. 
They were cultivated regularly twice per 
week until fall rains came. 
A FloativK. 
The I'oller. Yoit cannot properly fit 
land without a roller or iloater. The plow 
and harrow leaves the ground too loose and 
does not sufficiently exclude free air and 
'■apillary action will not bring the water up 
