160 INSECT PESTS 



sweet and full of humus, or whether it be only an empty, 

 hungry sand which needs constant manuring to enable 

 it to carry on even for one season ; the result if we 

 neglect to work it will be the same. Notice how the 

 second plant at fig. 2 has been stunted by neglecting to 

 hoe the surface and how, also, the all-essential moisture 

 is escaping, as it does in summer time from the cracks 

 in the surface. Where the soil is well hoed these cracks 

 will be sealed up and the moisture from beneath will 

 be absorbed by the top soil and not by the atmosphere. 

 Then the plants will put out their hundreds of tiny rootlets 

 and drink it up. Whence it will be at once reahzed how 

 much better hoeing is than watering, which is a lazy 

 man's game, and merely cakes the surface worse than 

 ever. (See Plate 39.) 



Now look again at fig. 1 and see what these tiny rootlets 

 are doing. I have drawn one enlarged at (b) to show 

 how they creep into the interstices between the mineral 

 particles, crevices and holes in stones to find out and 

 feed on the little pockets of organic matter, which arel 

 shown in black. This is how the plant gets most of its i 

 nourishment, the remainder coming from the air and 

 sunlight, and also explains why plants " flag " when 

 Hfted and moved. Unless it can be done by raising a 

 large ball of earth these rootlets, which are extremely ' 

 brittle and dehcate, will become detached, and the plant ■ 

 will remain limp and helpless until they have had time I 

 to get hold of the ground again. 



Clearly then this humus in soil must be constantly 

 renewed if we are to continue to produce plants year by 

 year. How is this managed ? The natural method, 

 which we must endeavour to copy or employ as much 

 as possible, is very well expressed by the words " kindly 

 return when done with." Nature never wastes anything, 

 neither does she exhaust or destroy, but merely changes 

 things. We therefore, if we produce a whole lot of 

 cabbages or corn on a field and remove such crop, must 



