20 



SOILS 



The addition of vegetable matter to the soil has assisted 

 in soil making from the time that plants came first to the 

 planet; it has increased the efficiency of all other agencies 

 ever since the early days ; and at the very present time 

 it is the soil builder's best friend, its decay is essential 

 to the feeding of plants. 



The roots of plants have done their work in soil making. 

 A great work it has been ! For they have gone down deep 

 into the soil making tiny channels for air and water ; 

 creeping into the crevices of rocks, they have continued 

 their growth and their enlargement, in the end, breaking 



many rocks asunder, dis- 

 lodging others from their 

 beds, exposing all to the 

 disintegrating influences 

 of air and moisture, of 

 heat and cold. 



And roots especially 

 the small, fibrous ones 

 have a solvent action as 

 well. The juice they 

 exude at the tips, and the 

 moisture with which they 

 surround themselves, 

 work a change in the soil 

 particles between which 

 they grow ; limestone or 

 granite or feldspar or mica 

 slowly but surely suc- 

 cumbs to the deteriorating 

 action of root life. 



Animals the modern 

 soil makers. Soil making 

 ALFAIJA ROOTS GO BEEF INTO w a 5 considerably 



THE SOH- 



