. Agriculture for southern schools. ial that is already can make a mulch of the soil itself, provided the toplayer can be made loose and dry. How this is done willbe learned in the next chapter. Exercise. —Repeat with several soils the dripping test given inthe second paragraph (p. 65). Which of these soils is least in need ofartificial drainage? Note TO THE Teacher. — If practicable, let pupils weigh cans oftwo different soils, before addingwater and after dripping much water does each re-tain? Emphasize the differencein the water-holding power of thetwo soils. If possible
. Agriculture for southern schools. ial that is already can make a mulch of the soil itself, provided the toplayer can be made loose and dry. How this is done willbe learned in the next chapter. Exercise. —Repeat with several soils the dripping test given inthe second paragraph (p. 65). Which of these soils is least in need ofartificial drainage? Note TO THE Teacher. — If practicable, let pupils weigh cans oftwo different soils, before addingwater and after dripping much water does each re-tain? Emphasize the differencein the water-holding power of thetwo soils. If possible, compactlyfill two lamp chimneys, or bottleswith the bottoms off, with ratherdry soil, one a coarse sand, andthe other a clay (Fig. 46). Tiecloth over one end of each to re-tain the soil. Several hours be-fore class time, set both in a basinin which the water is kept aboutan inch deep. Notice differencein height to which capillary moisture rises in each. Crosbys Exer-cises 31, 33, 40, 41, will further impress these Fig. 46. — Showing the Height toWHICH Moisture rises in differ-ent Soils On left, coarse-grained soil; on right,fine-grained soil. SECTION XII. PREPARATION AND CULTIVA-TION OF THE SOIL Before the seed is sown the land is plowed. The mainobject of early plowing is to form a loose, mellow layer ofsoil through which the roots can spread in any direction. When to plow. — When the plowing is well done, thesoil is broken into small particles. This will not re-sult, however, if the soil is very dry when plowed, for thengreat lumps and clods are turned over. On the otherhand, the soil does not pulverize well if plowed when wetenough for it to stick together and to show a shiny,polished surface on the furrow slice. Only experience willtell just how wet or how dry the soil should be whenplowed. Extremes should be avoided. Plowing when is very dry means poor plowing, but it does the landno permanent harm. But to plow land when it is too wetmay inj
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