78 The Bulletin". 



as much water as 4 inches and thus aid in tiding over drought, as well as 

 taking up and staring away a surplus of rain which would otherwise flow off 

 and wash the soil. Vegetable matter distributed through 8 inches of soil 

 would not be lost so rapidly by decomposition. The bringing nearer to the 

 surface the undissolved deeper layer will enable nature's elements to prepare 

 the plant food it contains for the use of the crop. If this lower layer is 

 brought up in late fall or in midwinter the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other 

 constituents of the air will act upon it and dissolve it. The contraction and 

 expansion incident to freezing and thawing will "crush asunder" the par- 

 ticles and expose fresh surfaces to be acted upon. The moisture will dissolve, 

 with the aid of the juices of decomposing plants, and prepare for the use of 

 crops these newly elevated sources of plant food, and with no more labor and 

 no more expense the proverbial two blades of grass will grow where one grew 

 before. 



An abundant supply of water for a growing crop is necessary for good 

 yields. The treatment accorded a soil not only determines how much rain 

 water the soil will take up. but how little will be allowed to flow off and 

 carry the soil with it. Further, the treatment of the soil controlling its con- 

 dition, also determines how much of this moisture will be retained in the soil 

 and how freely it may travel back to within reach of the root plants. 



An illustration will give some idea of the increased capacity for water a soil 

 may secure by having its particles reduced in size: The soil holds its water on 

 the"^ surface of the soil particles. The water covers the surface of the indi- 

 vidual soil particles and travels by passing from the surface of one to another 

 particle. The gross surface area of the particles, therefore, controls the quan- 

 tity of water a given soil may hold, other things being equal. If a cubic inch 

 of stone be immersed in water and then withdrawn, its 6 square inches of sur- 

 face will be covered with water. Now. if this cube of stone be cut into 100 

 slices there will be 200 more square inch surfaces exposed. If cut again. 100 

 times again at right. angles to the first cut an additional 200 square inches of 

 surface will be exposed. If cut still again and at right angles to the first two 

 cuts, there will be another 200 square inches of surface exposed; and these, 

 with the original six, make GOG square inches of surface where there were 

 only 6 to begin with. Thus there has been added a like increase in the ex- 

 posure of soil surface for the action of the elements of nature in dissolving 

 the plant food and a like increase in surface for the holding of water. In 

 other words, there would be 606 square inches of surface where there were 

 but 6; and. as the activities of man and all animate nature is largely confined 

 to the surface of the earth, so also are the activities of the roots of plants 

 confined to the surface of the soil particles. Any increase of the soil's surface 

 area increases its capacity for both plant food and water. The proper treat- 

 ment of the soil at the right time will rapidly multiply the surface area of 

 the soil particles ; or, its improper treatment may have the opposite effect. 



It is evident that too small a portion of the soil under cultivation is made 

 usable for plant activities or for holding water. The plowing of the fields 

 when preparation for planting is being done is too shallow and too little 

 effort is directed towards the making of a good seedbed. The practice of 

 waiting until early spring is disastrous alike to the good physical condition 

 of the soil and to good crop yields. 



Fall and winter plowing has the great advantage of elevating the lower 

 strata of the soil and the upper strata of the subsoil and exposing them to 

 the repeated freezing and thawing of winter, to the air and to the many other 

 changes which take place more rapidly near the surface. Until the desired 

 depth is reached the soil should be plowed from 20 to 40 per cent deeper each 

 fall or winter. The plow used for this purpose should be one that does not 

 invert the plow-slice, but should turn it so that it rests on its edge or at an 

 angle of about 44 degrees. This aids in securing a more uniform texture to 

 the soil, gives a better incorporation of vegetable matter in the soil, and 

 enables more rain water to enter and be well distributed in the soil. The 

 good effects of fall or winter plowing are greatly increased by the addition 

 of quantities of vegetable matter either in the form of crops or of stable 

 manure. Such vpg(>table matter not only contains plant food, but its cellular 



