USE THE HOE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 9

USE THE HOE.

Thero is not the least doubt that much ij lost both among turnips and potatoes by not doing the hoeing more thoroughly. Few who have had considerable experience in the- work of arable 4rmß will be dispose.! to question the utility of the hoe in tha production of various crops, however much they may differ in their estimate of the measure of its usefulness.

Unlike some other implements, the use of the hoe is not limited to any particular purpose It is able to render services of a varied character, and some of these services would appear to be not fully appreciated.

By some farmers it is believed to be of value, chiefly for the assistance it is enabled to render in the repression of weeds ; but, valuabls as it undoubtedly is for that purpose, it is equally useful as a means by which the soil may be aerated, and the moisture conserved.

The writer was very much struck the other day while reading an account of the benefits that were to be derived by the use of the hoe in the garden during summer, and what is true respecting the kitchen gaidcn affects equally as much our fields.

To bo in a position to fully appreciate the value of the hoe in conserving moisture, it is necessary to take into consideration some of the physical properties of soils, and the changes that take place in them under certain conditions.

Soils in a moderately fine state of division have- the power, by means of capillary attraction, to draw up water from below to the surface, as is proved by what takes place when a flower pot filled with soil is placed in a saucer containing two or three inches of water.

The water rises to the surface of the soil, and when this becomes hardened from any cause i* is acted upon by the full power of the sun, and evaporation proceeds at a very rapid rate. In the process of drying under the influence of the sun, strong loams and clays shrink materially, and presently the surface commences to crack, and if the drought continues the crevices extend two or three feet below the surface.

When this is the case the evaporative surface is enormously increased ; as the moisture escapes in the form of vapour from tl'e sides of the crevices as well as from the surface, the plants are deprived of much of the moisture with which, under more favourable conditions, they would be supplied The roots are injured. _ some by direct exposure to atmospheric influences, and others by being deprived of the necessary volume of air, the compressed state of the soil, consequent on its being dried, preventing the air passing- readily through it. A layer of loose soil will effectual" \ prevent cracking arid materially as»i-,t -n tliGolcing: evaporation, and iJneve is no moons by which the surfaco can be so veadilv loosened as by the hoe. Much of the time that is taken up in watering crops in som© gardens might be more profitabk employed in loosening the surface soil, and in seasons of drought the constant use of the hoc should be regarded a3 not less essential than in seasons when weeds are abundant. — Bibbv's Annual.