THE STRAWBERRY APRIL 1907 



refjuires seventeen pounds of phosphorus 

 for the grain and six pounds for the stalks. 

 Oats, wheat and clover also draw heavily 

 upon phosphorus. When crops are fed 

 the animals store in their bones about 

 one-fourth of the phosphorus contained in 

 the food consumed." 



Two lessons may be gleaned from 

 these suggestions that are of great encour- 

 agement to all soil-tillers. One is that 

 nature cooperates with man to keep the 

 soil well filled with nitrogen if man will 

 but do his part by following a system of 

 crop-rotation in which some leguminous 

 crop, such as clover, field-peas, cowpeas 

 or vetch, is grown at proper intervals. 

 The other is that we need never exhaust 

 the soil If we give back to it the plant 

 food consumed in the development of 

 crops. 



As to phosphorus, nature has stored up 

 millions of tons of it in Tennessee and 

 other Southern states, and it may be 

 bought for a comparatively low figure. 

 In states where little grain is grown the 

 drain upon phosphorus is not so great, 

 and if all the bones of the animals fat- 

 tened and killed in each neighborhood 

 were ground up and put back on the 

 soil, in connection with stable manure, 

 fertility would be kept up continuously. 

 Over in France lands that have been 

 continuously cropped since dates preceding 

 the christian era are today in better fertility 

 than they were when Julius Caesar ruled 

 ancient Rome. But the French farmers 

 have done their part, and the soil-robbers 

 of America who have despoiled the her- 

 itage of coming generations by their ex- 

 travagance and shiftlessness must turn 

 over a new leaf and get into line with 

 modern thought and methods or go out 

 of business. 



The Meaning and Importance of 

 Capillary Action 



FROM a subscriber at Prospect, Ohio, 

 Leonard Harmon, comes a request 

 the like of which we should be 

 pleased to receive from all readers who 

 are seeking information. He says: 



In an early issue of The Strawberry please go 

 into details regarding "capillary action" or "at- 

 traction". A great many of us do not fully 

 understand what is meant by the expression. 



When the snows and ice of winter have 

 melted, and the early spring rains have 

 come, the soil usually is left so moist as 

 to be fully saturated with water to a depth 

 of from two to three feet. Just as soon 

 as the earth's surface begins to dry, waste 

 of this stored up moisture begins. If the 

 sun shines and a brisk wind is blowing, it 

 will be lost with great rapidity. Some- 

 times the evaporation will be as great as 

 forty, sixty or even eighty tons of water 

 from one acre in a single day. The waste 

 will be according to soil and weather con- 

 ditions, of course, and this waste continues 

 until the ground is broken up. The plow- 



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ing cuts off completely a layer of soil and 

 lays it down bottom side up in a loose, 

 crumbled condition, reducing capillarity 

 to a minimum. After the broken soil has 

 been harrowed and firmed, if a loose soil 

 mulch is made and kept over the top, the 

 waste of moisture will be slight. This is 

 why plants of any kind that are properly 

 cultivated do not suffer during a drouth. 

 Capillary action as applied to the soil 

 is the action of water working its way up 

 to the surface from the lower subsoil 

 through the small or hair-like tubes in the 

 earth. This action is essential to plant 

 life. As the lower moisture works its 

 way up to the top it carries with it min- 

 eral matter, which has been dissolved 

 from the soil grains, and if there is no dust 

 mulch to check this moisture, it will work 

 its way to the surface and will be evapor- 

 ated, while mineral matter (plant-food) 

 will be left on the soil's surface to be 

 washed away by heavy rains. But if a 

 dust mulch is kept continually upon the 

 surface, capillarity is checked, this mois- 

 ture which is charged full of mineral mat- 

 ter will be held just below the dust 

 mulch in the warm soil, and the roots will 

 quickly absorb it. To destroy or check 



Page 97 



capillary action, therefore, by surface cul- 

 tivation is one of the most important 

 things to be done in the production of 

 crops. 



Cost of Producing a Dozen Eggs 



POULTRY people everywhere will 

 be interested in a report from the 

 Cornell (N. Y.) Station as to the 

 cost of producing eggs, and which shows 

 a great difference in breeds. It is very in- 

 teresting as showing the practical results 

 which are being obtained. 



The experiments were carried on wi;h 

 the co-operating assistance of several poul- 

 trymen. Each flock of fowls was careJ 

 for by the owner in the manner which he 

 thought best. In the bulletin there are 

 given minute accounts of the methods 

 employed in feeding and caring for the 

 birds, but as the space is limited they must 

 here be omitted. Suffice to say the re- 

 ports show that they were given the best 

 care and provided with the best grains. 



The test was fairly representative of the 

 breeds, among the fowls being White 

 Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks, Black Mi- 

 norcas, Brown Leghorns and White Wy- 



