INTRODUCTION 3 



in slowly perishable materials, and so clearly told that 

 man reads and reflects and profits in the lessons that are 

 learned. And of some of these we want to learn in the 

 pages that follow. 



The soil: the clothing of the earth. The real cloth- 

 ing of the earth is the soil and we are to study it : the 

 good, kind soil that brings us so many useful and beau- 

 tiful and wholesome things. For with the soil is the real 

 beginning of all material things, of all useful things; 

 of all things that secure contentment ; of all things that 

 lead to comfort and happiness ; of all things that have to 

 do with food and raiment and shelter; of all things that 

 advance mankind and promote civilization. All of these 

 things spring from the soil from the simple, inanimate, 

 material thing we call dirt. 



The earth's clothing includes the soil in all its varia- 

 tions; includes the dirt in which plants root and feed 

 and grow ; includes the rock and stony structures of sea 

 and mountain ; includes the waters of the soil and of the 

 deep; includes the minerals in the mines that man seeks, 

 often losing his life in the search; includes the insect, 

 the worm, the bacterium, and every form of life that 

 labors for its usefulness and grandeur ; includes the 

 fruits of field and soil the life that grows therein and 

 makes food for man and beast ; includes the tree that 

 grows and fructifies in forest or orchard ; includes the 

 cultivated crop of every variety and species, of every 

 form and description ; includes every vegetable type that 

 provides raiment, or covering in the open, or when re- 

 moved from its place of growth, becomes house and 

 shelter that protects and guards and comforts; includes 

 everything that has use and that supplies a want in every 

 part of the world and for every purpose. All these 

 things come from the soil, from the magnificent garment 



