The Mena weekly star., 1913-05-22
yntelltgenGe tn .s
 .* agrtrulture


 Mister Editor:
 Narthie had a great time maxim. fun of my first article for your paper. and for long time I hesi- tated abou; writing any more for fear might make another break like I did about the caterpillar attraction. I know now that the lecturer said capillary. and I also know what the word means. I also thought he said something about breaking up the popularity" of the soil and l am mighty glad l didn't make another big pebble by writ ing 1t down ID my first letter. You see. I am getting a little deaf, and 1t comes mighty handy sometimes, especially for married man, 10 be little hard of hearing.
 Yes, l know right smart more about what that splndlm' lecturer man said about growing good corn than when I wrote my first article. l have been reading and studying everything pertaining to agrlcul- ture that I could lay hands on, and bv putting what I've read and what the man said on the agFicul- turaI train a.. together. I've got the whole proposition down fine ID my mind. and I am going to cultivate my corn this year n a more ln- telligent manner than l ever did before. Instead u1 stumbling along behind my p.0w 1T cu.tlvator with out hardly huoW.u. or caring what Wa. do.n-. l am now going to take req. pleasure in my work. because 1 know what I am doing and why I am doing It. I know now that the greatest benefit a farmer gets out lt cu.tivaun- his corn. or any thing else for .ha. matter, = n keeping the moisture .u the ground that has already been stored there, and -la. le way -1 do that ls -o stir the top soil frequently and break ID the capillary pores S3 that the moisture cannot rise t9 the >ur- face. The corn expert said n his talk that when soil gets dry and hard the pores in t become S1 fine that the moisture rises m them very rapidly. just Ike oil rises in a lamp wick. and that by breaking the ground into coarser particles the moisture could not rise any more than oil will flow up through a piece Cf gunny sack. I am writ ing thiS article by .amphght, and I know that the oil is flowing up to the flame through capillary pores of the wick. although 1 confess l am not prepared to explain fully just what capillary attraction means. and I have been reading up right sharply on cohesion, adhe- sion. gTaVitatiOn. magnetic attrac- tion and other strange forces in nature, but I have found no definite definition of any of them. So, in the language of the immortal Vol taire, T admire everything but ex- plain nothing"
 Now, when I see a piece of hard baked ground I notice that the vegetation on it is suffering for moisture. Why? Because that hard soil is letting the moisture come 10 the surface through it's little pores for the sun 10 evap- crate, just as the oil flows through the wick for the flame to burn, and if I break that crust" l will stop the flow and let the moisture go to the roots of the corn instead of floating of into the air in invisible vapor. I have read somewhere lately just how many tons of water will come 10 the surface of an acre of baked" ground. but I cannot give the figures just now. T. is something enormous. Add to your baked land a lot of rank weeds or crab grass that absorb what lit- tie moisture that remains in the ground. and your corn OF cotton soon gives up the struggle for ex- iStence.
 So I have discovered. brother farmers. that the question of con serving moisture is the principal factor in growing corn or any other plant that requires cultivation. and I have also discovered that the more I--e. genre a farmer mixes in with his work .he bigger and better crops he makes. I am now taking three -r four 177j farm journals