356 . State Horticultural Society. 



the growth and decomposition of vegetation. The decomposition of veg- 

 etable matter in the soil, with the resulting organic acids, heat, etc., has a 

 very powerful action in decomposing the inert mineral matters of the soil. 

 The mechanical condition given the soil by the partially decomposed vege- 

 table matter also aids very materially the action of the other elements. 



In the eastern states where they expend annually some $35,000,000 

 for commercial fertilizers, they have discovered that if barnyard manure 

 is mixed with these partly insoluble fertilizers they will be rendered nuich 

 more soluble. But they seem slow in comprehending that this vegetable 

 matter if applied to the soil will have the same action upon the same 

 kind of insoluble compounds that are already there. 



In a recent experiment to determine the extent of this action, two 

 boxes were filled with soil identically the same except that to one was 

 added 20 per cent, of its weight in cow manure. These boxes were 

 treated exactly alike for 12 months, the soil receiving an occasional stir- 

 ring. At the end of this period an analysis showed an increase of 30 

 per cent, in the soluble plant food of the soil to which manure was added, 

 after making allowance for what was contained in the manure. While 

 that which received no manure showed a loss in soluble plant food of 

 4.36 per cent. 



Prof. Snyder of Minnesota has done quite extensive work in the wa^ 

 of collecting and analyzing soils that have been cropped in various ways, 

 and he finds that a native prairie soil contains about twice as much vege- 

 table matter and three to five times as much of the more important ele- 

 ments of plant food, in a soluble form, as adjacent soils that have been 

 continuously cropped with grain for 15 or 20 years. While many that had 

 been under cultivation for much longer periods, but which had been 

 allowed to produce an occasional crop of timothy and clover, and had an 

 occasional dressing of manure, were in a condition almost equal to the 

 native soils. 



HOW VEGETABLE MATTER AFFECTS MOISTURE. 



The efi'ect of vegetable mattei- upon the moisture content of soils is 

 equally as great and of no less importance. In this connection it has a 

 tsvo-fold effect, that of increasing the power of the soil to hold water by 

 capillary attraction, which is the water used by field crops, and at the same 

 time increases the readiness with which the excess of moisture will per- 

 colate away. On soils all finely pulverized, the reduction of the vegetable 

 matter results in the land becoming more solid, more inclined to adhere 

 in clods, and when wet more soggy and more inclined to puddle or bake. 



I call to mind a case in point. Some years ago my father purchased 

 a piece of land from a man who was regarded by his neighbors as being 



