ii4 THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



of water kept the ground cold, and thus interrupted the activ- 

 ity of the soil ferments.. The furrow plow and the subsoiler 

 not only loosen the ground so that the rootlets may the more 

 readily penetrate it, but they make it possible for the rains 

 which descend upon its surface to more evenly permeate it 

 for the purposes of gradual use without rendering it too wet 

 for the healthful habitation of its bacteria. The harrow and 

 the cultivator render various services, not the least of which 

 is the aeration of the soil the supplying of an abundant meas- 

 ure of air to the nitrogen-gathering organisms. 



Various substances will doubtless continue to be deposited 

 by scattering over the surface of the arable acreage of the 

 farm, and these will serve a manifold purpose. They will 

 affect the physical properties of the soil, securing its floculation 

 and facilitating its tilth. They will induce chemical changes, 

 rendering needful elements available, but also, being accom- 

 panied by the evolution of warmth, they will stimulate the 

 growth and activity of the living constituents of the soil. It 

 has often been observed and remarked how rapidly the growth 

 of a plant is diminished by a fall of temperature. Though 

 light is necessary to the wellbeing of plants, they grow most 

 rapidly at night, and sometimes on warm nights with notice- 

 able rapidity. These phenomena are due to the degrees of 

 activity manifested by the nitro-organisms of the soil. Here- 

 after one of the first considerations of the farmer will be the 

 breeding and feeding and general care of these myriad and 

 microscopic servants of his growing crops. 



And thus, with the new knowledge and the new methods of 

 fertilization, wornout soils and those which by nature are but 

 indifferently fertile may be made to bring forth bumper crops 

 and yield abounding harvests. 



