grown, the weeder is impracticable for further use; and the many-shovel cultivator takes its place.

All sorts of cultivators are available: they are of many makes and of many kinds. Perhaps the most numerous sorts are the two-horse cultivators-walking and ridingthat permit one man to do the work of two men with single cultivators, doing the work just as well and with less fatigue. Double cultivators are made with shovels, disks, and spring tecth. Shovels and spring teeth are most in use, although for some kinds of work the disks are to be preferred. The latter are especially good to cut and cover in weedy land. Their fault lies in the ridges they make. It is level culture that you want, and this is difficult to get with a disk cultivator unless conditions are ideal. In wet lands, cultivation is resorted to as a drainage operation; in this case, the disk cultivator is the best. tool you can use.

Cultivation rids the land of weeds.-Lands must be kept free from weeds, else the best results will never be possible. This is shown by a test at the New Hampshire Experiment Station. The plan of the experiment and yields are shown in the table:

Much of the story of cultivation is told in these results. The need of culture is recognized at a glance. When

weeds are allowed to grow, they poison the land, steal plant food, rob the soil of its water, and shade the earth. It may cost something in labor and effort to keep weeds away, but it costs a great deal more to let them grow.

We find several other interesting facts in these results. The four inches of hay, used as a mulch, did not secure the best yield. An abundance of water was held in the soil; but the soil was cold-too cold-and the crop was cut short.

The dry earth mulch is better. It is better than a vegetable mulch, when either deep or shallow culture is given. It is a great deal less expensive, also. And it is effective; it keeps the water in the soil.

You will note but a slight difference between the two plots that were given frequent and infrequent shallow culture. What is the significance? Just this: there was no need for the excessive culture. The five cultivations Idid all that was needed: the mulch was made and maintained and the weeds were destroyed. All that was needed was on hand and the work was done. Hence, a moderate amount of cultivation, if it be done well, if it keeps weeds out and water in, is to be preferred to very frequent cultivation; not because it is less effective, but because it is a less expensive practise.

When the shallow and deep cultivated plots are compared, a slight difference is noticed-a difference of eight bushels per acre in favor of shallow cultivation. In this case, some of the roots of the deep-cultivated plot were disturbed and injured-we noticed that—and the yield was cut short. Had this not been the case, the yield might have been just as good; it might have been better.

The depth to cultivate growing crops.-This gives rise to the question: How deep shall we cultivate? That ques

tion has been answered with quite a good deal of certainty. At least a half hundred carefully planned and executed experiments have, by their results, answered in

favor of shallow cultivation. Since then we have heard much about this new idea in cultivating the soil. But we are in danger of going to the other extreme. Our fathers "plowed" corn; they cultivated too deep. Some of us, perhaps, cultivate too shallow; we get in trouble with weeds; and because of our thin mulch, let the water get away from the soil.

In sections where there is much rain, the shallow extreme may do; but where moisture is demanded-in, the North, where the ground is frozen for so many months; in the semi-arid regions, where the supply is generally limited-a deeper mulch and a more effective mulch is to be preferred. Four inches, perhaps, is too much and one inch is too little. A better depth is from two to

three inches; better for weed destruction and good enough for mulch making.

A most important point: level culture.-You will find farmers who still ridge their crops: they "hill" the crop that it may not be blown over by winds, nor pulled down. by storms and rain. But have you ever noticed that near-by crops, although given level culture, are no more troubled by storms and wind than the hilled and ridged crops? Often not so much, is the true situation.

Hilling and ridging the crop is advisable for just one reason: to drain the land. With proper drainage and seedbed preparation, there is no occasion for either of these. expensive practices.

Level culture, since it exposes a smaller area to sun and wind than ridge culture, actually protects, with greater efficiency, the water stores in the soil. Bedding the land is often advisable with some soils (although it increases the cost of planting), for the reason it secures a small amount of drainage and a greater warmth to the soil.

When to cultivate.-You must be in sympathy with the spirit of cultivation if you would get the best results. You must do it at the time when the soil is in the best condition to profit by the work. Just after a rain, the word goes out. But use your judgment here, else you may cultivate too early after the rain and “puddle" your land. When the next rain comes, the crust caused by the cultivation may be so hard and stiff the rain may slip away before it can secure entrance through the stubborn top.

Here is the better plan: just wait until the soil is slightly dried; enough so that when it is stirred it will not settle and connect with the capillary tubes below-thus defeating the very object you set about to secure. In times when you are depending upon cultivation for water