(I II i\ \IK)N OF 80IUS 117 



CHAPTER XXII.— Cultivation of Soils 



112. Why Soils arc Cultivated.— All fertile 

 product naturally an abundant growth of plants. This 

 growth (<>!iic> from the teed or roots of the many 

 plants which grow naturally in the soil. The 

 of such plants are scattered over the rarface of the 

 soil by various means. Many rot, many are eaten by 

 birds and animals, ami only a few of the total number 

 ever grow; but the supply of seed is so great that 

 after allowing for all that an- destroyed there are 

 enough left to produce many plants. Man L r rou 

 his use crops of many kinds of plants most of which 

 come from seed. If the seed of these crops osefu] to 

 man arc merely scattered over the surface of unculti- 

 vated soil, many of them grow, hut most of them are 

 destroyed, and such methods of crop growing are 

 seldom profitable. It has been found much betfc 

 bury the seed below the rarface of the ground, where 

 they are better protected from the agenti which de- 

 stroy them. In order to plant teed successfully the 

 surface of the ground mu>t he prep ar ed to r« 

 them, and the more thorough the preparation the 

 greater the number of seed that trrow and the b 

 the plants they produce. The various methodi of pre- 

 paring soils for seed planting are known as cultiv\- 

 tion. Not only are soils cultivated to prepare them 

 for seed planting, but they are often cultivated to aid 

 growing crops in obtaining tlu-ir food. 



