THE NEW EARTH 



Sifting down upon another slide some par- 

 ticles from a sterile soil, in which there was no 

 trace of fertility save in those infinitesimal 

 spaces between the particles in which might 

 still be found some vagrant phantoms of 

 humus and mineral salts, and blowing like- 

 wise upon the glass, a thin coating remained 

 from which another photograph was made. 

 Looking through the microscope as the light 

 came up from the reflector below, the particles 

 of the sterile soil, unlike those of the richer 

 soil, were far separated from each other, stand- 

 ing out like huge boulders of quartz or granite, 

 their many facets sparkling like brilliants. 



In the one case, the particles, standing incon- 

 ceivably close to one another, formed the rich 

 soil, the billionaire soil one might call it, fer- 

 tile, enduring, abounding in wealth for the indi- 

 vidual and the nation; in the other case, the 

 particles were of poor quality and far separated, 

 the soil was practically worthless, needing con- 

 stant supplies of artificial fertilizing material in 

 order to make it even fairly productive. In 

 one case, the enormous number of particles, 

 held close together, were enabled to hold mois- 

 ture an indefinite period, like the surface of a 



14 



