EVERY farmer, gardener and nurseryman should be fa- 

 miliar with the results of experiments carried on for a 

 period of three years, which have demonstrated that 

 charcoal can be made of great use in improving the structure 

 and properties of the soil. 



It improves the water and air content of the soil, loosens, 

 and intensifies the sub-soil, apart from the chemical materials 

 it may carry, and from its uses with manure. These are not 

 theoretical, but practical conclusions drawn from the use of 

 charcoal in one of the largest nurseries in the state of Penn- 

 sylvania, under the management of the writer. 



Two general clases of material are available for purposes 

 of fertilization. In the first class are commercial fertilizers. 

 In the second class are those indirect fertilizers which do not 

 furnish plant food directly, but by their action upon the soil 

 may so affect it as to make plant food available by setting it 

 free, through the altering of the physical condition of the 

 soil. The principal fertilizer in this class is lime. Lime is 

 really a stimulant instead of a plant food and its continued 

 use may be harmful or exhausting to the soil. Air, water and 

 heat are more necessary for plant growth than mineral food. 

 Production depends upon the proper aeration of the soil, the 

 maintenance of a proper water content and through these 

 two, the raising of the temperature of the soil. These con- 

 ditions add plant food in that they render available the ma- 

 terial that is stored away in soil compounds. The control 'of 

 moisture in the soil lies in the physical state of the soil. If 

 it is loose, porous, small grained, it will raise moisture freely 

 from the sub-soil and hold it where it will be available for the 

 plants and retard evaporation. The soil may be kept in such 

 condition by proper tillage and by the addition of such ma- 

 terials as will effect a loosening and breaking up of the soil 

 particles. 



Green manure is valuable and barnyard manure and char- 



