CHAPTER XI 



MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OP THE SOIL 



THE greatest problem in farming is that of 

 maintaining the fertility of the soil. The 

 fertility of the soil is its power to produce 

 crops. It is not mere plant food; it is water, 

 air, sunlight, plant food, temperature, soil bacteria, 

 and all the other factors and conditions that 

 make a soil habitable for plants. It is concerned 

 with the texture of the soil as much as with its 

 richness; and its water-moving power as much as 

 its composition. Plant food is but one of many 

 conditions necessary to the growth of crops, and 

 often it is the least essential condition. The 

 fgrjtility of the soil is the sum of all the conditions 

 that make it possible for the seed to sprout, the 

 blade to spread and the ear to ripen. It is the in- 

 herent power of the soil to produce crops. 



The problem ' of maintaining or restoring the 

 fertility of farm soils, then, is much broader than 

 that of merely adding plant food to them: When 

 we speak of fertility we naturally think first of 

 manures, fertilisers and other means of 'enriching 

 the soil. These are very important sources of in- 

 creased fertility, but fertility is not as dependent 

 upon them as many believe. KThe way in which a 

 soil is handled has fully as much to do with its 

 fertility as its composition, or the amount of plant 

 food added to it. It depends upon plpwing, har- 

 rowing, cultivating, rolling, draining, irrigating and 

 all other tillage and cultural- operations fully as 



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