SECTION IV 

 The Science of the Soil 



i. INTRODUCTORY 



When a man intends to grow fruits, flowers, or vegetables for profit his 

 first consideration is the "soil". This constitutes his chief raw material, 

 and he knows that if he makes a mistake in its selection it may lead 

 him to ruin, or become such a drain upon his resources and labour that 

 his life becomes one of drudgery, anxiety, and worry. 



In these days there is a danger of a good cultivator ignoring the 

 teachings of his own practical experience, and trusting blindly and im- 

 plicitly to the dicta of the botanist and chemist, and others whose acquain- 

 tance with the actual cultivation of plants may be of the slightest. A man 

 may be told that a certain soil contains enough plant food to last a thousand 

 years, and an elaborate analysis of the phosphates, potash, iron, magnesia, 

 soda, lime, and other essential plant foods will be produced in support of 

 the statement. From a purely theoretical point of view such a statement 

 may be chemically correct, but the said foods may be locked up or com- 

 bined in such a way in the soil that it would take generations of hard 

 work and a mint of money to bring them into anything like an available 

 condition. 



While it would not be wise to ignore the chemical analysis of a soil 

 altogether, the intelligent cultivator will not rely entirely upon it. He 

 will use his own judgment, the value of which will of course depend 

 largely upon his practical experience and observation. He will find a 

 safer guide than mere chemical analysis in examining carefully the vege- 

 tation of any piece of land he contemplates cultivating. Here his know- 

 ledge of plants, their relationship to each other, and the natural conditions 

 chat suit them will be of great value to him. 



" Nor every plant on every soil will grow : 

 The Sallow loves the watery ground, and low ; 

 The marshes, Alders : Nature seems to ordain 

 The rocky cliff for the Wild Ash's reign ; 

 The baleful Yew to northern blasts assigns, 

 To shores the Myrtles, and to mounts the Vines." 



On poor, sandy, or gravelly soils, for instance, he will notice such plants 



89 



