CHAPTER THREE 



THE SOIL AND SOIL WATER 



The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on 

 possession and use of land. 



RALPH WALDO EMERSON 



The im- THE soil gives anchorage to plants, and from it they 



^h^soiT draw their entire supply of water and a large part of 

 their food. To the farmer a study of the soil is quite 

 as important as is a study of the plants themselves. He 

 should know something about the way in which soil 

 was formed, of what elements it is composed, its rela- 

 tion to water, and how its condition can be modified 

 the better to meet the needs of the plants that he wishes 

 to grow. 



What the Soil, from the agricultural point of view, is the surface 

 material of the earth that is suitable for plants to grow 

 in. The greater part of it is composed of finely divided 

 mineral matter which was formed by the crumbling and 

 wearing away of rocks. (Exp. i.) The depth of the 

 soil may be only a few inches or it may be many feet 

 (Fig. 15), but if we dig deep enough anywhere we come 



Bedrock to the solid rock of the earth's crust. (Exp. 2.) This 

 bedrock is what builders are after when they dig deep to 

 lay the foundations for a heavy building. It covers the 

 whole earth. 



Soil-forming agencies. When we consider that soil 



was made chiefly from the rocky crust of the earth, 



sometimes even from volcanic lava, we are impressed 



with the idea that the processes of soil formation must 



have been very slow. We have now to study some of 



