No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 157 



what leaven is to dough . It changes a disheartened, dying soil into 

 a hearty, hustling, live soil. It is that which makes the ditference 

 to-day between unprofitable and profitable land, nine cases out of 

 ten. 



He unlocks the stores of inert fertility by remixing the particles 

 and airing them. The air is life. It is by means of plow, harrow 

 and other pulverizers that he secures the change in the relative posi- 

 tion of all particles and the admission of air so that chemical changes 

 may occur. It is tillage that fits the soil to be a winner. Tillage 

 to the soil is what exercise is to the prisoner of the cell. It is the 

 difference between a living death and physical vigor. 



4. He supplies some readily available plant food when the soil 

 has failed to have on hand a full amount in available form. This is 

 very often the case, because the soil has been handicapped in its 

 work along this line by a lack of suitable plants, or of air, or of 

 water, or of time by reason of man's greed of immediate returns, or 

 possibly of original stock of some element or elements. Again is 

 intelligence at a premium. If profit were not a consideration, the 

 farmer could dump into the soil all the elements of plant food. But 

 profit is a consideration — the one big consideration with most people. 

 The man must learn what element or elements in available form are 

 lacking. He must either bring this from a distance and give it to 

 the soil for its use, or he must be wise enough to apply some material 

 that will by chemical action unlock the stock the soil has on hand. 

 Usually he does both in a single act — supplying an element of plant 

 food which in itself, or its carrier, unlocks as well as feeds. In this 

 work of fertilization are problems too big for lawyers and doctors, 

 and almost too big for studious farmers. 



5. He furnishes the seeds of plants. In this he presumes a good 

 deal unless he has studied the tastes of his partner well. The soil 

 has not only its preferences, but there are some plants it can hardly 

 produce at all. Few of us ever learn the possibilities of our soil 

 in the way of income because we do not provide the seeds for the 

 crop best adapted to the soil for income-bringing. Our trick is to 

 plant the crop we have the habit of planting, and then kick if returns 

 do not satisfy. It is a kickety-trickety way of farming that makes 

 the soil tired. Into what plants can the soil of this field and that 

 one put the most money? A problem full of delight to a man suf- 

 ficiently intelligent to possess a moral right to boss an industrious 

 soil. 



6. He furnishes protection to the plants from insect and fungous 

 foes. The soil would hardly need such protection for its products 

 if it were running a rotation of crops. There would be such variety 

 and so much less invitation to attack by concentration of plants that 

 insect and fungous foes would get a less sure establishment. As it 



