276 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



which any farmer may conduct by himself. 

 They were suggested to the scientists of the 

 Bureau of Soils, by the possibility that there 

 does actually exist a parallel between the 

 fatigue of a man's muscles and the fatigue of 

 the soil. 



Wheat seedlings were grown in a rich, sandy 

 soil, under glass, in a greenhouse. The soil 

 contained much richness; temperature and 

 moisture could be controlled within narrow 

 limits; and, to keep the body of soil used in 

 the experiment separate, it was inclosed in a 

 wire basket dipped in parafine. This form 

 of pot is better than the usual one, as it con- 

 tains no air space between the soil and pot, 

 and the roots do not, therefore, cluster about 

 the edges, but penetrate the mass, as they do 

 under actual field conditions. In this experi- 

 ment every effort was made to reproduce 

 actual field conditions. 



The wheat was allowed to grow for several 

 weeks in the wire pot and then was pulled up 

 and thrown away. Immediately thereafter, 

 another crop of wheat seedlings was planted 

 in the same soil and urged to growth under 

 the same conditions. 



The peculiar thing about it was that this 



