in.] "TO REPLENISH THE EARTH" 15 



nature of the food with which we should provide them. 

 The oldest record in the world in its opening page, after 

 describing the creation of the earth itself, suggests the 

 exact treatment which it requires. Adam was directed 

 to "replenish the earth, and subdue it." The soil was 

 not to be left to itself; it must be reclaimed and then 

 replenished. Here briefly is to be found the whole secret 

 of plant life and soil culture. All growing plants will 

 greedily and constantly draw upon the soil for the 

 nourishment stored in it, and it is the gardener's duty 

 to see that the store is never exhausted ; his part is " to 

 replenish the earth." But that this rule which Nature 

 suggests is not seldom broken we may often see. 



We may observe the signs of exhaustion whenever 

 we enter a garden or orchard where the bush fruits are 

 stunted and the vegetables are lean and thin. These 

 plants tell the same tale as the neglected children one 

 meets in the slums, and we know well enough the cause 

 is the same, starvation empty larders. 



The remedy of course is simple enough it is food; 

 but even then there is the danger of supplying unsuitable 

 food. 



The staple food of all trees and plants is nitrogen, 

 phosphorus, and potash in certain proportions. Most 

 of the other necessary ingredients which go to make up 

 manure are already in the soil in the requisite quantities. 

 Plants also take up and solidify a large quantity of carbon 

 from the air in the form of carbon dioxide ( = CO 2 ) which 

 is as much their food as the earth salts soluble in water. 



