AGRICULTURE 



CHAPTER I 



THE FORMATION OF SOIL 



IN approaching the study of agriculture 

 one finds that the subject naturally arranges 

 itself in a certain order, which can perhaps 

 best be traced by working backwards. Live 

 stock presuppose crops, and these imply 

 considerations of tillage, tending, and harvest- 

 ing. Before, however, a crop is sowed or 

 planted, a farmer has given consideration to 

 seed, manures, and the sequence of crops. 

 Then, again, in many cases land cannot be 

 cropped till it has undergone an ameliorative 

 process, such as liming or draining ; and 

 finally we get back to the soil itself, with its 

 varied properties and complex origin. 



Beginning, therefore, with the soil, and 

 working up to the crop, we may first of all look 

 at what soil is and how it has been formed. 



