rticularly beneficial during long, dry periods.
During such times it is not necessary to wait for a rain to compact
the soil; keep the cultivators going, rain or no rain.

TOOLS FOR AFTER-CULTIVATION

The main objects of after-cultivation are to destroy weeds and to form
a soil mulch for the purpose of controlling soil moisture. These ends
are secured by shallow surface work. It is not necessary to go more
than two or three inches deep. Deeper work will injure the roots of
the crop. Therefore the proper tools for after-cultivation in the
garden are the hoe and rake and for field work narrow-toothed harrows
and cultivators or horse-hoes which stir the whole surface thoroughly
to a moderate depth. These field tools are supplemented in some cases
by the hand hoe, but over wide areas of country the hoe never enters
the field.

A light spike-toothed harrow can be used on corn, potatoes, and
similar crops, and accomplish the work of cultivation rapidly until
they get to be from four to six inches high; after that cultivators
which work between the rows should be used.

A very useful class of tools for destroying weeds in the earlier
stages are the so-called "weeders." They somewhat resemble a horse hay
rake and have a number of flexible wire teeth which destroy shallow
rooted weeds but slip around the more firmly rooted plants of the
crop. These weeders must be used frequently to be of much value, for
after a weed is well rooted the weeder cannot destroy it.

There is a larger class of hand wheel hoes which are very useful in
working close planted garden and truck crops. They either straddle the
row, working the soil on both sides at the same time, or, running
between the rows, work the soil to a width of from six to eighteen
inches.

For best results with the weeder and hand wheel hoes the soil should
be thoroughly prepared before planting by burying all trash with the
plow and breaking all clods with harrow and roller.

The objection made to the deep-working implements, like the plow, is
that they injure the crop by cutting its feeding roots, and this has
been found by careful experiment and observation to diminish the crop.

Some farmers object to using a light harrow for cultivation in the
early stages of the crop because they say the harrow will destroy the
crop as well as the weeds. This danger is not so great as it seems.
The seeds of the crop are deeper in the soil than the seeds of the
weeds which germina