CHAPTER V 



THE SOIL AND ITS MANAGEMENT 



We may be wasteful and careless of everything else ; but the land belongs 

 to the Ages it is ours but for the brief period which marks the passing gen- 

 eration. We are trustees holding this land a sacred trust for generations yet 

 unborn; and the happiness, the comfort yes, the very existence of our 

 children's children and the millions who will follow, is dependent upon the 

 conscientious, far-seeing wisdom with which we discharge this solemn trust. 

 WILLIAM C. BROWN, formerly president New York Central Railway, before 

 the Page County (Iowa) Boys' Agricultural Club, May, 1910 



49. The soil, man's chief asset. The nation's greatest asset 

 is the soil. Until recent years, however, farmers gave little 

 serious thought to the use of this great wealth. Men have 

 recently studied the soil and learned ways of handling it which 

 have yielded greater profits. The farmer who grows crops 

 scientifically nowadays considers the value of manures, humus, 

 soil bacteria, crop rotation, and the conservation of moisture 

 and plant food. 



50. What soil is. Soil .is the more or less finely broken rock 

 material which covers the land areas of the globe, plus organic 

 matter resulting from decay of plants and animals (Fig. 27). 

 Agriculturally speaking, the soil is the surface layer of this 

 mass. The subsoil is that part of the soil lying between the sur- 

 face soil and the underlying rocks. It is underlain by rocks at 

 depths varying from a few inches to many feet. The organic 

 material in various stages of decay gives to the surface soil its 

 dark color in contrast with the light color of the undersoil, or 



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