MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 323 



cloddy, lumpy, leachy. It is not concerned with 

 the mere richness of the soil in plant food, but it is 

 concerned with the way in which that plant food 

 is served to the growing crops. It does not mean 

 the amount of water that a soil contains, but it 

 does mean the facility with which that water is 

 presented to the crop. In other words, good tex- 

 ture means that the machinery of the soil is well 

 oiled and in running order; not that there is plenty 

 of raw material plant food in it, out of which 

 a profitable crop can be manufactured. In the 

 language of the farm, the texture of the soil is the 

 way it "works up." Everybody who has handled 

 soil knows exactly what is meant by that. 



HOW NATURE SECURES GOOD TEXTURE 



There are several ways of putting in good texture 

 a soil that has become cloddy, stiff, and in "bad 

 heart." The most practicable way, usually, is 

 Nature's way to keep it filled with numus. 



"Humus" is another word that is fast becoming 

 established in the vocabulary and in the practice 

 of the successful farmer of to-day. "Humus," 

 "green manure," and "good texture" express a 

 trinity of agricultural ioieas that are improving 

 our farming more than anything else except, pos- 

 sibly, plant breeding. 



Although the term humus is now in common 

 use, there is much haziness about the conception 

 that underlies it. The best illustration of the use 

 of humus is found in Nature's farming. Here is 

 a piece of virgin soil. For centuries it has nur- 

 tured herbs, grasses, vines, shrubs, trees. In 

 numberless cycles plants have been born upon, it, 

 have grown to maturity, reproduced their kind, 



