Handbook of Nature-Study 



A tiller of the soil. 



THE SOIL 



Teacher's Story 



The soil is the sepulcher and the resurrection of all life in the past. The greater the 

 sepulcher the greater the resurrection. The greater the resurrection the greater the growth. 

 The life of yesterday seeks the earth to-day that new life may come from it tomorrow. 

 The soil is composed of stone flour and organic matter (humus] mixed; the greater the 

 store of organic matter the greater the fertility. JOHN WALTON SPENCER. 



Because the child, after making mud pies, is told that his face is dirty, 

 he naturally concludes that all soil is dirt. But it is only when out of place 

 that it is dirt; for, in place, it is the home of miracles the matrix from 

 which comes that wonderful force which we call life. After the study of 

 the brook, the crystals, the minerals and the rocks, the pupils are ready for 

 a more careful study of the soil. However, most of the study in soils 

 belongs to agriculture rather than to nature-study. 



The Soil Makers 



If we could go back to the very beginning, w r e should find that the soil 

 consisted solely of broken off particles of rock particles so finely ground 

 by nature's forces that we might properly call them "rock flour." In our 

 study of the brook, we noted that those stones with sharp corners were just 

 beginning their experience in the brook mill, and those that were 

 rounded out, forming pebbles, had their corners ground off in the making 

 of the soil grist. And in the work of the brook we saw how this grind- 

 ing was done, and how the soil grist is sifted, sorted, carried and 

 dropped. 



