CHAPTER X 



SOIL MANAGEMENT 



Ye rigid Ploughmen! bear in mind, 



Your labor is for future hours. 

 Advance! spare not! nor look behind! 



Plough deep and straight with all your powers. 



I lOKN K. 



89. What is Soil Management ? We have said that the soil 

 is our most valuable natural resource. All the wheels of 

 industry would stop, and even our lives would soon end, 

 if the soil did not produce food for man and beast and 

 supply materials for man's industries. But, like other 

 useful things, the soil must be used intelligently. Careful 

 planning is necessary to get the best results from it. 

 Many farmers fail to secure large crops, not because the 

 soil is at fault, but because the farmers are. Too often 

 they abuse and injure the soil, just as some ignorant men 

 abuse and ruin a horse. 



Farmers should look upon the soil with great respect 

 and not think of it as mere dirt. Scientists who have 

 been studying the soil for the greater part of their lifetime 

 say that they have found out only a little about it. We 

 ought not to have a low opinion of anything that is the 

 abode of so much that is still unknown. 



Many useful facts, however, have been discovered with 

 regard to managing the soil; and if all farmers would 

 apply this knowledge, they would greatly profit both them- 

 selves and the rest of the world. One point in particular 



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