ch cases the application of lime, increasing the
humus content, and deeper plowing will be found helpful. Occasionally, the
discharge of dynamite or blasting powder in the area, if it appears to be
in the form of a pocket, will break up the hard pan subsoil and permit the
water to escape. Less dependence is now being placed on this means of
correcting a wet condition of the soil than was the case some years ago.

A similar condition of overabundant water in soil may be due to the
presence of springs or to a high water table. Little can be done to
correct a condition where the water table itself is so close to the
surface as to inhibit plant growth and this is assuredly one of the
factors to be looked into before a tract is purchased. Where the surplus
water is evidently being supplied by a spring, an underdrain made of tile
pipe, 3 or 4 inches in diameter, can be laid as a means of conducting the
water into a ditch or adjoining drain. In laying such a drain, it should
be placed above the area where the wet soil surface is most evident. If
such a drain is laid 18 inches to 3 feet deep above the wet area, it will
cut off the water seeping down underground and carry it away. Good results
cannot be secured if the drain is laid directly in the area of extreme
wetness or if it does not cut off the flow of water before it reaches the
area that is consistently too wet for plant growth.

From what has been said in this brief description of soil treatment and
soil improvement, it is evident that one must live with his soil for some
time in order to understand it and to be able intelligently to correct its
deficiencies, overcome its weaknesses and make it capable of supporting
plants which are desirable from the owner's point of view. In the great
majority of cases, the improvement process, while a slow one, is far from
hopeless and almost any soil that is not extremely sandy or clayey can be
so intelligently treated as to make it productive.

_Cultivation._--Any discussion of soil treatment is not complete without
mention of cultivation. Intelligent cultivation is an essential factor in
securing adequate crops. It is interesting to recall that the word
"manure," which has come to mean fertilization or fertilizer, is derived
from the Latin word "_manus_" meaning "hand" and implying "manipulation"
of the soil, which we now call cultivation. Cultivation has been most
frequently practiced as a method of destroying weeds, thereby maki