NATURE-STUDY LEAFLET NO. 15. 



A HANDFUL OF SOIL. 



PART I: WHAT IT IS. 



BY R. S. TARK. 



IND drifts a seed from the parent plant nntil 

 '?Y^ it settles to the ground, perhaps in a iield 

 or by the roadside, or even in the school 

 yard. There it remains through the long 

 winter ; but with the return of spring, encouraged by the warm 

 sunlight, the seed awakens from its dormant condition, breaks open 

 the seed-cover and sends leaves into the air and roots into the 

 ground. No one planted the weed ; but it has made its way in the 

 world and it thrives until it has given to other seeds the same 

 opportunity to start in life. 



Had the seed fallen upon a board or a stone, it might have sent 

 out leaves and roots ; but all in vain, for something was lacking and 

 that seed was a failure in life. What is there in the soil that is so 

 necessary to the success of plant life ? And how has it come to be 

 there ? Indeed, what is this soil that plants need so much ? These 

 are some of the questions which we will try to answer. 



One readily sees that the soil furnishes a place for the plants to 

 fix themselves ; an anchorage, as it were. It is also easy to see that 

 from the soil the plants obtain a supply of water; and, moreover, 

 that this water is very necessary, for the vegetation in a moist 

 country suffers greatly in time of drought, and few plants are able 

 to grow in a desert region because there is so little water. You can 

 make a desert in the school room and contrast it with moist soil by 

 planting seeds in two dishes of soil, watering one dish, but furnish- 

 ing none to the other. 



That water is necessar}' to plants is also proved by the plant itself. 

 The sap and the moisture which may be pressed out of a grass stem 



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