10 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE SUPPLEMENT 
February, 1919 
moisture is needed for plant growth, 
and unless there is an abundant sup- 
ply, growth ceases and the parts used 
for food fail to develop or are of such 
a nature as to be undesirable. Mois- 
ture, then, becomes the chief concern 
of the gardener at this time. Tillage 
is the chief means the average gar- 
dener has of insuring this essential of 
successful gardening. 
But tire demand for moisture is not 
tlie only one made by the plant at this 
time. An abundance of available 
plant food is necessary for good 
yields. The manure or commercial 
fertilizer which is applied in prepar- 
ing the soil will be of no use to the 
plant unless it becomes changed in 
the soil. Tillage not only aids in this 
change but it also helps make the 
food material, originally held in the 
soil particles, suitable for use by the 
plant. 
The old sayings “Tillage is essen- 
tially manure” and “The best garden 
fertilizer is the hoe” indicate the value 
of tillage in giving the plant an abun- 
dant supply of available food. 
Weeds cause many a garden con- 
vert to backslide. In the conflict with 
weeds tillage is of prime importance. 
Proper tillage makes weeds an unim- 
portant factor in gardening. Under 
some conditions it may not do so the 
first season, but unless quack grass or 
some weed of similar character is the 
offender, the conflict is a compara- 
tively easy one. 
The importance of tillage makes 
the summer months the “Three T” 
period of gardening — the thorough, 
timely, tillage period. 
Thorough Tillage 
Conserving soil mosture, making 
plant food available, and keeping out 
weeds are the objects of tillage. 
Thorough tillage is that tillage which 
produces conditions best fitted to ac- 
complish these results. The ideal way 
to accomplish them is to keep a shal- 
low layer of soil, as nearly dustlike as 
practical, over the entire surface of 
tlie soil at all times. The methods of 
securing this ideal matter little so 
long as the purpose is accomplished. 
The first essential of success is 
proper preparation tillage early 'in the 
season. This should have been such 
as to create a large moisture-holding 
reservoir and to put the soil in a fine, 
fairly loose condition. If this was 
done, the following program is well 
adapted to maintain the desired 
mulch. 
1. Till the area to be planted immedi- 
ately preceding sowing or plant- 
ing. This gives a good seed bed 
and removes the necessity of 
disturbing the seeds after plant- 
ing. 
2. Till the area between the rows im- 
mediately after planting. The 
object is to' loosen the soil com- 
pacted by tramping during the 
planting operations. 
3. Till the entire garden at least once 
a week if soil conditions permit. 
When vegetables planted close 
together cover the entire area 
between the rows tillage of these 
rows may cease. 
4. Till after each shower of sufficient 
extent to pack the surface soil. 
This tillage should be shallow. 
Deep tillage would destroy many 
roots and possibly do more harm than 
good. 
Remember the object to be attained 
is a shallow layer of soil as nearly 
dustlike as practical over the entire 
surface. 
Timely Tillage 
“Don’t put off till tomorrow what 
should be done today” pays big divi- 
dends if put into practice in garden- 
ing. “A stitch in time sames nine” 
when garden conditions are most fa- 
vorable for tillage. 
Aim to destroy weeds just as thev 
appear above the surface. It will 
save hard work in getting rid of them 
later. 
The soil mulch destroyed by a rain 
is restored much more easily by till- 
age before the surface becomes baked. 
A few hours’ delay at this time means 
more work and usually less satisfac- 
tory results than if the work had been 
done on time. 
Tillage may be untimely by working 
a soil which is too wet. Heavy loam 
or clay soils worked when too moist, 
cement or puddle and then bake. 
Their tilth is destroyed, and it be- 
comes difficult or impossible to re-es- 
tablish a good soil mulch. “Make 
haste slowly” on heavy soils after a 
rain. Timely tillage on such soils 
means not tilling too soon, as well as 
not delaying too long, after a rain. 
If in doubt, take a handful of soil 
and squeeze it firmly. Tillage is safe 
if the soil falls apart or crumbles 
easily when the hand is opened. If 
the particles adhere tenaciously let it 
dry more before tilling. 
Tillage Tools 
The best tillage tools are the ones 
you can use most efficiently in estab- 
lishing and maintaining the soil 
mulch. Gardeners have their likes 
and dislikes regarding tools. What 
suits one does not suit another, but in 
any case the list does not need to be 
extensive. 
The spading fork is better than the 
ordinary spade for use in preparing 
the soil and will often be found useful 
even on gardens that are plowed. The 
■hoe and rake are the chief tillage im- 
plements in the average small garden. 
If they are of the proper kind and 
properly used no others are necessary. 
The Norcross type of cultivator saves 
much time and does efficient work if 
properly used, and there is less danger 
of doing poor work with It than with 
the hoe. 
More than half the garden hoeing is 
less than .half done. This is because 
most inexperienced and many experi- 
enced gardeners do not know how to 
use the hoe as a tillage implement. 
The aim in hoeing should be to leave 
the entire surface fine, loose and 
level; hoeing properly done stirs all 
the soil possible. Many gardeners fall 
short of this by pulling a quantity of 
soil on top of an undisturbed area. 
This leaves the surface in small hills 
and hollows. Then the hills are 
raked into the hollows and only about 
half the area is covered with an effec- 
tive soil mulch. Operate the hoe not 
only so as to stir all the soil but also 
to leave it level and fine. In most 
hoeing the soil is moved too far. 
Many a gardener becomes so intent 
in hoeing that he overlooks the pur- 
pose of the hoeing. It does little good 
to establish a soil mulch and then to 
destroy it immediately by tramping 
the loosened soil. Aim to have as few 
foot prints visible after the hoeing is 
finished as practical. With this pur- 
pose in mind you will quickly devise 
ways of reducing the tramping with- 
out loss of time or efficiency in tillage. 
The small hoe and narrow rake are 
preferable to the larger sizes. They 
are easier to operate, can be used 
closer to the plants, and, if the soil is 
compact, better work can be done 
with less expenditure of energy. A 
three-cornered hoe with the handle 
attached at one corner (an onion hoe 
with a long handle) serves as both 
hoe and weeder, and does as good or 
better work with greater ease than 
the hoe with a large blade or the 
hand weeder. 
The garden rake is essentially a 
"preparation tillage” tool but can be 
substituted for the hoe when the rows 
are far enough apart to permit of its 
use. Used with a slight chopping 
motion it saves time in establishing- a 
soil mulch. The straight rake with 
straight teeth is preferred. 
The time saver in maintenance till- 
age is the Norcross type of hand cul- 
tivator. It is built on the plan of the 
wheel hoe or horse cultivator but is 
operated by hand with a motion sim- 
ilar to that used by most people in 
hoeing. 
Resolve to make your garden in- 
vestment pay maximum dividends by 
thoroug-li, timely tillage. 
