THE NEW EARTH 



of the Old Earth a-field in the soft spring sun- 

 shine, and from different parts of his field takes 

 up samples of the soil he is plowing, mixes 

 them well together, and finally takes out of the 

 mixture a tiny amount, not more than would 

 fill a child's small thimble. He does not need 

 to look for this or that ancient and superstitious 

 sign of the soil. He does not need to ask what 

 were the implements used to cultivate the 

 crops of former years. He needs only to take 

 this tiny composite sample and put it through 

 the processes of physical and chemical analysis : 

 — when he has finished he can tell the farmer 

 whether or not he is planting what he ought to 

 plant in order to bring the best results. He 

 can tell him what to do, or what not to do, — 

 if he is planting unwisely, — in order to bring 

 his broad acres up to their highest productivity. 

 Oftentimes his soil is unbalanced in its make- 

 up. It may contain too much, or too little 

 alkaline matter instead of valuable humus. 



Is he a truck-farmer, planting for the early 

 and profitable city market? Then the soil for 

 his lettuce and peas and beans and onions and 

 radishes must be of a certain, well-defined 

 structure, — it must have at least one billion, 



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