HfO Kansas Academy of Science. 



cemented walls and situated on highest ground near house, or else 

 boiled water, is the only water safe to drink, if one would escape 

 these deadly diseases. 



All that has been given in this paper is in full accord with the 

 rules established empirically by our most successful farmers. The 

 use of fertilizers, the thorough cultivation of the soil and the rota- 

 tion of crops are the A-B-C's of profitable farming. The one sup- 

 plies the plants with necessary mineral food elements, the next 

 aerates the soil for the air-loving, nitrifying bacteria, and the last 

 gives time for the rise from the subsoil of the mineral food elements 

 peculiar to each crop. 



Any of these three things can be overdone, especially the sec- 

 ond and third. Plowing in deeply much coarse material so opens 

 up the soil that the water to a depth hurtful to the crop is wasted. 

 On the other hand, thin surface cultivation, producing a soil 

 mulch, is very beneficial in dry seasons, as the amount of soil thor- 

 oughly dried is small, and this thin layer of loose earth stops the 

 water that is rising from the greater depths through capillary 

 tubes. Taking as a standard soil not cultivated, the water saved 

 by a cultivation one inch deep, once a week, was nearly 25 per cent., 

 twice a week, was over 27 per cent.; three inches deep, was 27 per 

 cent, and 32 per cent, for once and twice a week respectively. 



Crop rotation is found to be much better for soil bacteria of the 

 helpful kinds than absolute rest. The latter, where there is no 

 cultivation, enables the air-hating, denitrifying bacteria to destroy 

 more fertilizers than the rest brings in from rock, gravel and sub- 

 soil disintegration. 



