CHAPTER IX 



Improving the Condition of the Soil 



After the manures come the improvements. 

 Obviously here we shall not refer to such improve- 

 ments as draining, etc., but only of those which 

 represent direct additions to the soil. We will 

 confine ourselves, therefore, to improvements, first 

 calcareous, second humiferous. 



A soil without humus is infertile ; with too much 

 it is acid. A soil without lime in it cannot develop 

 nitrification and its crops will be poor and lacking 

 in quality. When there is an excess of lime it 

 bums the humus, wastes the nitrogenous organic 

 matter, and renders the soil sterile. It is in this that 

 the danger of using too much lime lies. Humus 

 and lime are two indispensable improvements which 

 must be constantly renewed because they are 

 constantly destroying each other in making them- 

 selves useful. They constitute the reactives of the 

 soil which may be regarded as a great laboratory. 

 But they must both be present in the right pro- 

 portions. There must not be an excess of the one 

 or the other, because then they would be injurious. 

 There must be plenty of both, but in good proportions, 

 and that is what we have to ensure. It is to these 

 two improvements that we are indebted for the 



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