156 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



work of releasing fertility, tlie soil is the gainer by the partnership. 

 It is an awful thing to be unequally yoked with a fool, and if soils 

 could talk, some men would have to leave the neighborhood. 



2. It furnishes moisture. This is a big undertaking. The plant 

 food of the soil enters the tiny mouths of the feeders in solntion. 

 It is water that runs the machine. The plant food goes to its place, 

 and the water passes into the air. The soil furnishes to the plant 

 and air, through transpiration and evaporation, 300 to 400 tons of 

 water to secure one ton of dry matter in our crops. In a short 

 paper that befits such an occasion as this, there is no time to cata- 

 logue all the many offices performed by the silent partner in the pro- 

 duction of crops. ^Ve emphasize the supplies of mineral plant food 

 and of moisture, and the soil's ability to improve its own condition 

 in most cases, gaining in capability when man does not meddle, and 

 gaining faster when a wise man assists. 



Let us turn to the other side of the partnership. What does the 

 studious, intelligent farmer furnish? 



1. Control of soil moisture. I name this first because it is ab- 

 solutely first in importance. The rains of the year are used by 

 the soil as a source of supply. Deep down in the earth is stored 

 the water of winter and spring rains for use in the time of stress, 

 when the plants are employing moisture freely and the hot air is a 

 robber. Then it comes to the surface to replace the portion used 

 by the air, and the soil thus provides for its plants. But the con- 

 trol is inadequate. There is excess or deficiency. The man that 

 assumes to control in the partnership, and would have net income, 

 prevents excess by underdrainage. iSuch investment, when needed, 

 is usually very profitable. I pity the man and the soil that work 

 together in the mud. All chance of profit is drowned before the 

 harvest. Solomon says that the "borrower is servant to the lender," 

 and debt is sickening, but I borrowed money for my first two miles 

 of tile underdrainage, and found it the means of accumulating a 

 little capital. If the supply of moisture promises to be inadequate, 

 then it is conserved by a mulch. Material is placed between the 

 water that rises and the hot air above. In the flower garden leas-es 

 may be used. In the truck patch I have used rotten straw. In the 

 field the practicable material is earth so loose that moisture can not 

 be lifted through it to the air. All these materials are good, but 

 only the last is practicable in field culture. This calls for the use 

 of the weeder, the harrow, and the cultivator with fine teeth set to 

 run shallow. 



2. He sees that humus is provided. The soil can do this of itself 

 only slowly. It has no choice of seeds, but must take what winds, 

 water, etc., bring to it. The farmer provides the seeds of plants 

 capable of furnishing rich organic material. This is to the soil 



