124 SOILS 



the other hand, has been discovered. It is this : Denitrify- 

 ing bacteria are slow workers when oxygen finds its way 

 freely into the soil or wherever decomposition takes 

 place. 



If this be true, is it not good farming to till so carefully 

 the land that air may find easy access to all parts of 

 it? If water excludes air from the soil, is it not in line of 

 good practice to get rid of it by drainage? 



Certainly, this is the best method of battle. And a 

 method that allows nitrates to accumulate and that weak- 

 ens the ravages of all forms of reducing bacteria. The con- 

 clusion, then, is this : if nitrates and ammonium salts 

 the forms that just suit plant roots are to be protected 

 in the soil, it is necessary to loosen and fine and open the 

 land to air and oxygen. If these plant foods are to be 

 increased, organic matter must be added in abundance 

 but with this caution : you must send air into the soil ; 

 you must till it; you must drain it well; you must make 

 its texture of the highest quality. And then plants will 

 like this soil as a home. In it, organic matter quickly 

 will be decomposed, and at the same time, the nitrogen- 

 supply content increased and protected, because that soil 

 is mellow and open and of good tilth ; because the things 

 that do good and discountenance the evil of the nitrogen- 

 liberating bacteria, have been secured and supplied with 

 great abundance. 



Who shall withhold this method of nitrogen increase 

 and nitrogen protection ? This great power is in your 

 hands. Who shall hinder you from using it. 



The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 

 But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 



