SOIL AND TILLAGE. 5I 



closest investigation. If I can but get you into a questioning 

 spirit which will bear fruit in original investigation, research, 

 thought, and study, I shall have accomplished my purpose and 

 have succeeded. At the same time I promise you I shall not 

 assert any facts, principles, or truths incapable of demonstration 

 in your own daih' work nor that I have not, myself, proven upon 

 my own land. 



First, then, what is soil? Is it simply pulverized stone? 

 Granite, quartz, hornblend and gneiss grind into sand. Others 

 finer, produce loam, and the very finest, clay; but these are not 

 soil. Mix your sand and loam and clay and you still have only 

 dirt. Just as the word "atmosphere" comprises not only air, but 

 the moisture, dust, pollen, smoke and other vapors which float 

 therein, so the word "soil" means dirt plus bacteria, decaying 

 roots and plants, and decomposed organic matter called humus, 

 in as great a variety as it does decomposed rock, — the peaty mat- 

 ter which decayed vegetation of all kinds leaves, exposed to 

 warmth, moisture, and air so that the chemical processes, which 

 begin the very day the first tap root of a seed enters it, can at 

 once begin to act. 



Thus we have the four foundations of soil — dirt, humus, mois- 

 ture and nitrification, and are ready to till the soil. But here 

 economy steps in with a bit of advice. Never attempt to raise 

 a crop until you have your land properly prepared ; not merely 

 broken into clods and dressed with coarse manure, but as you 

 would wish it for a garden. This means that there are three 

 points yet to be considered before you can plant it to a crop, 

 economically. First, you must rid it of all obstructions, — fast 

 stones, loose stones, stumps and rubbish. Second, you must 

 dj'ain the land. Some thirty to forty inches of rain falls on the 

 surface every year. We want every drop to go into and down 

 through the soil. If it stays on the top more than a few hours 

 or if it pushes off instead of going through it, we cannot have 

 proper results. Neither can we, though we have succeeded in 

 getting all the water to soak in (instead of flowing away or 

 standing on the ground) unless the water that goes down con- 

 tinues to go down several feet. As we must not have standing 

 water on the surface, we also must avoid having standing water 

 under the surface for the first four or five feet down. It is 

 impossible to get certain results by any system of agriculture on 



