1768 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



rotation, so that the large store of plant-food in the subsoil, and its capacity 

 when in good physical condition to hold available moisture, are utilized. 

 A root zone of three to four feet should be the aim; and when this is 

 realized and well managed, there will be much less need of fertilizers and 

 of irrigation in New York. 



The recuperative power of the soil is very great, and if deeply utilized 

 and well managed it will continue to produce good crops for imnumbered 

 centuries. The accomplishment of this possible production is one of the 

 most fundamental general benefits that can be conferred, for through 

 the products of the soil all persons are ultimately touched. An imder- 

 standing of these fundamental facts and principles in soil management 

 should be possessed by all persons as a basis for wise public policies. 

 To secure, by means of local experiments, the information that will per- 

 mit the correct application of these basal principles to each important 

 type of soil in the State, should be the common purpose of the farmer 

 and of the public institutions charged with such studies. 



advanced reading 



The Reading-Course lessons are designed merely to introduce the sub- 

 ject; they are elementary and brief, and are intended to arouse a desire 

 for more complete knowledge along particular lines. The study of Reading- 

 Course lessons should be introductory to the study of standard agricultural 

 books, and of bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 the state experiment stations. The Supervisor of the Reading-Course 

 will suggest, as far as possible, agricultural literature to meet the needs 

 of any reader. Particular books or bulletins are recommended because 

 they are thought to be of special interest to the reader in his individual 

 study, not because they are considered superior to others on the same 

 subject. The following is a list of books in which the data presented 

 in this lesson are much amplified and to which the student will naturally 

 turn for more complete information: 



Principles of soil fertility. By Alfred Vivian. Orange Judd Company, 



New York. $1. 

 Principles of soil management. By T. L. Lyon and E. 0. Pippin. The 



Macmillan Company, New York. $1.75. 

 Soil fertility and permanent agriculture. By C. G. Hopkins. Ginn & Co., 



Boston. $2.25. 

 Fertilizers and crops. By L. L. Van Slyke. Orange Judd Company, 



New York. $1. 

 Engineering for farm drainage. By C. G. Elliott. John Wiley & Sons, 



New York. $1.25. 



