CHAPTER I 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SOIL 



To those who have never thought about the matter 

 the study of the soil may st^em very 'trivial ;'it has 

 neither the glory of the celestial nor the glamour of 

 the unfamiliar ; it is associated with such unintel- 

 lectual and mundane concerns as food production, 

 and has no place in our ordinary conception of a 

 refined and liberal education. 



But the soil has not always been looked upon as 

 commonplace. In the mythology of Greece it held 

 a very dignified position, the Goddess Gaea being the 

 mother of mankind and the bounteous provider of 

 food. Right through into much later times this idea 

 of the kindly Mother Earth can be traced, and even 

 to-day the reflective gardener takes more than a 

 utilitarian interest in his soil. And the light of 

 Science more than justifies this interest, for it has 

 shown that the soil is far more wonderful than any 

 human mind had ever pictured it. 



In trying to trace out the history of a lump of 

 soil we must go back to those remote times when the 



R. 1 



