Photograph of our employes. No boys and no careless men: all are under perfect discipline and a responsible 
foreman at the head of each division insures accurate work. 
WHY WE STJBSOII,. 
tide them over the droutli,v season. The soil grains 
being separated thej' -will surround themselves 
with a tliicker film of water. As an illustration 
put some small gravel stones on a wet cloth and 
see the water pass up and quickly cover them and 
remain so as long as the cloth is wet. 
Sometimes ■when the ground has been plowed 
the same depth for a number of years the bottom 
of the furrows becomes glazed and baked so hard 
the water cannot settle through it or come up from 
below by capillary action and when heavy rains 
come the plants are drowned out and during a 
drouth can get no water from the subsoil, all of 
which is remedied by subsoiling. 
Some soils are injured by subsoiling, as a 
waxy clay or gumbo soil, which, when very wet 
will run together in a solid mass. Earth worms 
tunnel such soils and keep them porous and it is 
better not to disturb them. A loose gravel or light 
sand is already as loose as it should be to secure 
capillary action and will be injured by making it 
looser. 
A composition of sand, gravel and clay or what 
is called "hard-pan" or any soil so dense you can- 
not dig it up with the hands would be very greatlj' 
benefitted by breaking it up. I urge subsoiling 
wherever the conditions permit it. It should 
always be done very early in the spring so the 
rains will fill the "reservoir" before the drouth 
sets in. 
WHY WE CUI^TIVATE. 
We cultivate to destroy weeds, prevent the 
ground from drying out and to admit the air to the 
soil so as to keep the plant food soluble. Having 
properly prepared the ground in the spring the air 
will find Its way through the soil if jou prevent a 
crust from forming on the surface. We want 
plenty of root pasturage for the plants and so we 
must not stir the ground more than two inches 
deep to break the crust and keep the surface 
covered with the loose earth mulch, so the water 
cannot rise to the surface to be carried oft" by the 
sun and the wind. CULTIVATION DOES 
NOT ADD axvy water to the soil but prevents 
that already there froui getting away. 
Water is moved in the soil by two forces. 
Gravitation pulls it down into the ground and 
capillary attraction draws it up to the surface 
again. Capillary means a hair-like tube or pas- 
sage. The irregular .shaped soil grains have a 
minute jxissage around them and the molecular 
force causes the water to come up through these 
hair-like openings just as the oil flows up through 
the wick of a lamp. The water will not rise in 
this way unless the soil grains are very close 
together. Now when we cultivate about two 
inches d.eep we make the surface so loose that 
while water draws up above the roots which are in 
the firmer soil it must stop as soon as it reaches the 
loose earth, because capillarity isovercome by grav- 
itation and the water must stay below for the use 
of the plants. 
When the lower strata of the soil is quite 
wet as it generally is in tlie early spring, the water 
will draw up fast and the soil gradually settle 
down by havmg the soil particles slip around and 
adjust themselves close together and tlie water 
draws up to tlie surface so the hot sun and wind 
will carry it off just as the flame of a lamp burns 
the oil as fast as it rises in the wick, and for this 
reason we must cultivate more frequently when the 
lower strata is wet than later in the season when it 
is dry. It is a great mistake to suppose we must 
not cultivate until the ground gets dry. We culti- 
vate every week to prevent the soil from getting 
dr}-, and always after every rain. 
You do not need irrigation to produce the finest 
fruit. Grow your berries in hedge row or in hills 
and maintiiin the dust mulch the first season and 
mulch in the fall with straw and let it remain on 
in the spring to keep the berries clean and to hold 
the water down until after the berries are picked 
and then burn it off and cultivate as described on 
another page. In the spring we cultivate every 
week and oftener during a drouth on spring set 
plants- 
Marking off the ground.— Have yom ground 
properly firmed, leveled and rolled so the perfec- 
tion plant setter will set tlie plant exactly the 
right depth, or if you use the dilihle or spade you 
can determine quickly the right depth for setting 
plants. Mark as ligh't as po.ssilde 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 
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