Agriculture for Beginners | Page 5

soils a
two-horse plow is necessary to break up and pulverize the land.
A shallow soil can always be improved by properly deepening it. The
principle of greatest importance in soil-preparation is the gradual
deepening of the soil in order that plant-roots may have more
comfortable homes. If the farmer has been accustomed to plow but four
inches deep, he should adjust the plow so as to turn five inches at the
next plowing, then six, and so on until the seed-bed is nine or ten
inches deep. This gradual deepening will not injure the soil but will put
it quickly in good condition. If to good tillage rotation of crops be
added, the soil will become more fertile with each succeeding year.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. MIXED GRASSES GROWN FOR FORAGE]
The plow, harrow, and roller are all necessary to good tillage and to a
proper preparation of the seed-bed. The soil must be made compact and
clods of all sizes must be crushed. Then the air circulates freely, and
paying crops are the rule and not the exception.
Tillage does these things: it increases the plant-food supply, destroys
weeds, and influences the moisture content of the soil.
=EXERCISE=
1. What tools are used in tillage?
2. How should a poor and shallow soil be treated?
3. Why should a poor and shallow soil be well compacted before
sowing the crop?
4. Explain the value of a circulation of air in the soil.
5. What causes iron to rust?
6. Why is a two-horse turning-plow better than a one-horse plow?
7. Where will clods do the least harm--on top of the soil or below the

surface?
8. Do plant roots penetrate clods?
9. Are earthworms a benefit or an injury to the soil?
10. Name three things that tillage does.
SECTION III. THE MOISTURE OF THE SOIL
Did any one ever explain to you how important water is to the soil, or
tell you why it is so important? Often, as you know, crops entirely fail
because there is not enough water in the soil for the plants to drink.
How necessary is it, then, that the soil be kept in the best possible
condition to catch and hold enough water to carry the plant through dry,
hot spells! Perhaps you are ready to ask, "How does the mouthless
plant drink its stored-up water?"
The plant gets all its water through its roots. You have seen the tiny
threadlike roots of a plant spreading all about in fine soil; they are
down in the ground taking up plant food and water for the stalk and
leaves above. The water, carrying plant food with it, rises in a simple
but peculiar way through the roots and stems.
The plants use the food for building new tissue, that is, for growth. The
water passes out through the leaves into the air. When the summers are
dry and hot and there is but little water in the soil, the leaves shrink up.
This is simply a method they have of keeping the water from passing
too rapidly off into the air. I am sure you have seen the corn blades all
shriveled on very hot days. This shrinkage is nature's way of
diminishing the current of water that is steadily passing through the
plant.
A thrifty farmer will try to keep his soil in such good condition that it
will have a supply of water in it for growing crops when dry and hot
weather comes. He can do this by deep plowing, by subsoiling, by
adding any kind of decaying vegetable matter to the soil, and by
growing crops that can be tilled frequently.

The soil is a great storehouse for moisture. After the clouds have
emptied their waters into this storehouse, the water of the soil comes to
the surface, where it is evaporated into the air. The water comes to the
surface in just the same way that oil rises in a lamp-wick. This rising of
the water is called capillarity.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. AN ENLARGED VIEW OF A SECTION OF
MOIST SOIL, SHOWING AIR SPACES AND SOIL PARTICLES]
It is necessary to understand what is meant by this big word. If into a
pan of water you dip a glass tube, the water inside the tube rises above
the level of the water in the pan. The smaller the tube the higher will
the water rise. The greater rise inside is perhaps due to the fact that the
glass attracts the particles of water more than the particles of water
attract one another. Now apply this principle to the soil.
[Illustration: FIG. 6. THE RIGHT WAY TO PLOW]
The soil particles have small spaces between them, and the spaces act
just as the tube does. When the water at the surface