82 The Bulletin. 



The absence of such soil conditions gives us a dead soil. It runs together 

 and bakes hard after rains, thus smothering out the minute organisms whose 

 life-\A-ork consists in transforming organic matter into forms adapted to the 

 use of plants. 



There are two ways of improving the mechanical condition of soil — the 

 natural and the artificial. The natural method is used by Mother Nature. 

 When land is run dow'u and unproductive, it is frequently left idle, and na- 

 ture immediately begins a process of renovation by starting a growth of 

 plants upon it. These plants grow and decay as the seasons go by. leaving 

 layer upon layer of vegetable mould which decays and furnishes additional 

 food for a more abundant plant growth. Trees finally appear upon the once 

 unproductive field. Their roots penetrate the soil and open the w-ay for 

 water and air. Their limbs spread wider each year and the leaves fall to the 

 ground, adding more and more vegetable matter to the soil. 



The second, or artificial method, is that followed by man in his dominion 

 over matter and liis knowledge of the use of those agencies employed by 

 nature. Instead of waiting for frost and the roots of plants to open up the 

 soil, the farmer breaks it up with tools and machinery, thus encouraging a 

 more rapid breaking down of the soil particles and the growth and decay of 

 plant life. As this organic decay unites with the soil, it becomes darker, 

 bacterial life multiplies, and nitrification is encouraged. No farmer, no mat- 

 ter how clever he may be, can produce ideal conditions in his soil without the 

 assistance of nature's forces, but with his knowledge of these forces he is 

 enabled to assist nature in her work. He breaks up his land so that the sun, 

 air. and frost may pulverize it. and his knowledge of the soil-improving plants 

 enables liim to plant such seeds as will more rapidly furnish the required 

 vegetable matter. He may accomplish in a short time what it took nature 

 many long years to bring about. 



In proportion as the farmer promotes these conditions in his soil its texture 

 will be improved, and as necessary steps in promoting these conditions we 

 will mention deep plowing, a systematic rotation of crops, green manuring, 

 liarnyard manures, and sometimes the application of lime. As plowing is a 

 means of improving the mechanical condition of soil, it might be well to add 

 a word as to the time when it should be done. Land should never be plowed 

 when too wet or when it is so dry as to break up cloddy. Land is in ideal 

 plow condition when it I'eadily falls apart and crumbles after the plow. A 

 lumpy or cloddy soil is very undesirable, as it permits rapid evaporation and 

 a too free circulation of air. 



Another important consideration in improving the mechanical condition of 

 soils is drainage. No soil can be made productive or brought into ideal me- 

 chanical condition if it is constantly soaked with soil water. A water-filled 

 soil shuts out the air and prevents nitrilication by the drowning of the bac- 

 teria. One of tlie first efforts, in a wet soil, is to secure good drainage. 



Humus? Some one has said give humus a rest. Then what shall we do? 

 We may call a rose by any other name and it smells as sweet. We call it 

 organic decay, vegetable matter, or humus. It does not matter. It is the cry- 

 ing need of the soil. Without it we have a dead soil. With it we have a 

 living, active soil. Hunnis Jiuft had a rest. The rest has been so long and so 

 persistent that our soils are burned out and lifeless. I know of no way to 

 give life to a dead soil except by adding humus, and that abundantly. 



Clay soils should be plowed in the fall or early winter; the earlier the bet- 

 ter. It should be done with two to four horses and the furrows left on edge, 

 or at an angle of 4.1 degrees, so that the frost action may pulverize and break 

 down the .soil particles. Plowing is valuable chiefly because it enables the 

 forces of nature to do their work more effectively. Year by year this good 

 plowing should be done, and a crop of vegetable matter should be tiu-ned 

 under each time. I'referably this should be of the legumiudus plants, such 

 as cowi)e;is, soy beans, the vetches, and the clovers. These plants have the 

 peculiar characteristic of encouraging the growth of the nitrogen-gathering 

 bacteria in the soil, and thus adding valuable plant food, while at the same 

 time they are filling the soil with the organic decay so ne«>ssary to improve 

 its condition. There are other plants, the tame grasses, which are also desira- 



