12 SOILS 



the soil, contain not a small amount of water, cold be- 

 comes a most potent as well as a most active agent in 

 breaking and pulverizing them and in preparing them for 

 the soil itself. 



Water wears away the rock. But water is a soil 

 maker in another way than as a solvent. By simple fric- 

 tion it wears the hardest rock and makes for itself a track 

 in which it may flow with greater ease. This action of 

 the water has been so constant, and so regular, through 

 so many summers and winters, and at work for so many, 

 many centuries, that it has widened and deepened its 



COVER CROP FOR THE ORCHARD 

 Oats are used here, and do good service for protection against water and wind 



channels in all parts of the earth so that millions and 

 millions of tons of solid rock have been washed from 

 higher to lower levels, the dissolved part being left in 

 lower regions or carried out into the sea, where the ac- 

 cumulations for centuries have made new lands, some of 

 which are now and for long times have been used for the 

 growing of many of the necessities of man. 



Every time you see moving water in a stream, you see 

 a soil maker at work. With even a light shower the water 

 deepens its color, since the stream, the road and the field 



