VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 31 



It was said in the 1905 issue^ that "it often happens that the 

 commercial fertilizer is thought to be a panacea. It rarely suc- 

 ceeds on a poorly tilled soil. Failures may be due to a multi- 

 tude of causes quite apart from the lack of plant food. Bad 

 weather, drought, rains, poor seed, inferior preparation of the 

 seed bed, inadequate cultivation, weeds, lack of drainage, soil 

 acidity and the like may be at fault. Lack of plant food is not 

 the only ill that crops are heir to. Such of these as are eco- 

 nomically controllable by man should first be looked to before 

 adequate returns are expected from added plant food. Weather 

 conditions are beyond control, but an inexpensive irrigation sys- 

 tem may be made practicable on many a Vermont farm. Simple 

 germination tests (see page 43, bulletin iii, for methods and 

 illustrations) will protect against poor seed; thorough plowing, 

 harrowing, cultivating, etc., will go a long ways towards insuring 

 success; drain tile will take care of surplus water, and lime (see 

 pages 96-103 bulletin 99, and pages 128-130 bulletin 114) of soil 

 acidity. Let the user of purchased plant food look to those things 

 which have to do with soil condition first, and to the 'phosphate 

 sack' next, and the likelihood of a successful outcome will be 

 enhanced." 



Some of these subsidiary matters have been reviewed in the 

 publications indicated ; but one important one, the proper prepara- 

 tion of the seed bed, particularly in reference to its moisture re- 

 lations, has not been thus far discussed in this series. Indeed, 

 it seems likely that during the next few years reviews of sundry 

 phases of soil management will be made the "features" of the 

 larger annual fertilizer bulletins. 



All soils are not like all coons. Far from being alike, they 

 are highly dissimilar, and their unlikenesses are as yet but in part 

 appreciated. These divergencies are of several sorts, as to origin, 

 composition, physical characteristics and life content — and these 

 differences are often reflected in varying crop yields. 



Crop production is affected by several soil conditions, includ- 



mg: 



1. Chemical composition. 



2. Physical characteristics. 



3. Biological content. 



4. Weather conditions. 



5. Moisture control. 



It is not simply a matter of plant food, as was the early con- 

 ception, and as indeed is today the popular notion. The moisture 

 and heat relations, the fineness and arrangement of the particles, 



^Vt. Sta. Bui. 116, pp. 161-182 (1905). 



