CHAPTER IV 



THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON THE SOIL 

 AND ON FERTILITY 



The horticulturist working under glass can have any 

 soil and almost any climate he likes to pay for, but the 

 farmer must accept the climate as he finds it and put up 

 ^^ith any effect it may have on the soil and on the crop ; 

 the best he can do is to ascertain what these effects are 

 and then prepare against them. It has been shown that 

 they fall into three groups : 



1. Climate helps to make the soil and decide the 

 type. 



2. It influences the productiveness of the soil. 



3. It determines the crops that can be grown, and 

 hence is the final agent to decide what shall be done 

 with the soil. 



The effect of climate in determining the general 

 character of the soil 



Climate affects both the mineral framework of the 

 soil and the nature and amount of the organic matter 

 present. 



Effect on the mineral frameicork. The origin of the 

 mineral framework has already been discussed and it 

 has been shown that two great factors determine its 

 composition: the composition of the original rock, and 

 the nature of the agencies concerned in the disintegra- 

 tion and decomposition. These agencies are mainly 

 climatic. The breaking down of the original rocks pro- 



