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Flanders, of crops that had not previously l)een grown on British 

 farms, {b) the removal of obstacles which prevented crops from making 

 as full growth as they might, (c) the introduction of new methods 

 for increasing the growth of the plant. 



On light soil the two great obstacles to be oxercome are the lack of 

 water and the poverty in plant nutrients. The problem can be dealt 

 with by increasing the depth of soil through which the roots can range, 

 or by adding the necessary colloidal substances — clay, marl, or organic 

 matter. As regards depth of soil, where a thin layer of rock separates 

 the top soil of sand from a great depth of sand below, impro\emcnt 

 <.an be effected by removing the rock — a cheap method being possil)ly 

 the use of the high explosives available at the end of the war ; to 

 prevent reforming of the rock occasional deep ploughing must be 

 carried out. The process of adding marl to sand has disappeared in 

 P^ngland on account of transit difficulties ; the usual methods are to 

 add organic matter, either by dressings of farmyard manure, by 

 feeding crops to sheep on the land, or by ploughing crops and crop 

 residues straight into the soil ; the addition of organic matter must 

 generally be accompanied by the addition of lime or limestone (other- 

 wise the soil may l)ecome sour), and all the plant nutrients, nitrogen, 

 potash, and phosphates, as well as l)y constant cultivation to keep 

 down weeds and retain soil moisture. When all this is done, light soils 

 become very productive ; they will grow almost any crops, and they 

 can be cultivated easily and almost (but not quite) at any time. On 

 account of the cost of the above processes crops must be grown which 

 bring in a high money return, potatoes, greens, peas, sugar-beet, or two 

 crops in a season, although the money-finding crop need not be taken 

 very often. The best hope for improvement of light soils lies in 

 increasing the number of money-finding crops, improving the methods 

 of growing them and their relation to the other crops or the livestock, 

 so that farmers will feel justified in spending the rather considerable 

 sums of money without which these light soils cannot be successfully 

 managed. 



Heavy land can be improved by liming or chalking, followed by 

 drainage. Mole drainage promises to be an efficient and much cheaper 

 substitute for the old system of tile drainage, but co-ordination and a 

 certain amount of control over the whole drainage area is needed, it 

 being undesiral)le that a great fundamental improvement should be at 

 the mercy of individuals. The cultivation of clay lands is always 

 risky, however, as it is suited only to a limited number of crops, and is 

 difficult to cultivate, and hence most men lay down this land to 

 permanent grass. The risk can be reduced : 



{a) By quicker ploughing in autumn, so as to bring the work well 

 forward ; this seems only possible by the use of the motor plough. 



{h) By keeping up the supplies of organic matter in the soil ; the 

 simplest plan seems to be the adoption of the North Country system, 

 in which the land is alternately in grass and in tillage. 



There will always be some grass on the clays and this must be 

 improved, in most cases by basic slag, with possibly further treatment 

 of the improved herbage. 



Loams present no special difficulties. The crop may be hampered 

 by lack of root room, in which case periodical deep ploughing or sub- 



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