THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



gather the innumerable ingredients necessary 

 for their growth and sustenance from the soil 

 and atmosphere, reach maturity, gradually die, 

 and, as no change ever fails to create new con- 

 ditions, the amalgamated forces, in disinte- 

 grating, produce chemical properties never yet 

 fully classified, though experts acknowledge 

 their unapproximated value in awakening dor- 

 mant elements of the soil. In addition to re- 

 turning nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and 

 lime, dying vegetation bestows the benediction 

 of its ashes on the earth, which become the 

 much-prized humus of agricultural vocabulary. 

 When man demolishes nature's herbage, to 

 plant commercial crops which are reaped at 

 maturity, he subverts nature's restoration, and 

 the leavening influence of humus, except in 

 cases where crops are principally kept for 

 home consumption, and honestly return to the 

 earth in the form of barn-yard residue. Fre- 

 quently run-down soil is more in need of humus 

 than of the ingredients of plant food. Clayey 

 soil cements together from the want of its 



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