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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



[18:3— Mch., 1921 



Success in bringing a dead soil to life then lies mainly in breaking 

 it up and working organic matter or pianure into it. Chemicals, 

 called fertilizers, may be necessary to supply the minerals but these 

 can rarely be depended upon entirely and there must be decaying 

 vegetable matter in the soil. Once that old sleeping soil is fully 

 awakened there is no guessing what wonderful things it may do. 



Experiment to show proper treatment of clay soil. 



Fill four pie tins with clay which has been smoothly puddled. In one mix with the clay a 

 small portion of lime; in another add a larger portion of muck; leave two with pure clay, and 

 place one cf these out-of-doors where it will freeze hard. Then place the four tins on a shelf 

 and allow to dry. In which of these is the clay most friable? In which is it the hardest? 



This experiment shows that freezing the clay rendered it finer, so that it may be broken 

 easily into particles small enough to set closely about the plant's roots. .The clay mixed 

 with lime is miUch more friable than the one mixed with muck, showing that clay needs lime 

 more than organic matter to make it of greatest use. The pure clay which is dried without 

 freezing hardens into arge, flat pieces, each being almost as hard as stone. 



