T 



THE RURAL SCIENCE SERIES 



HE FERTILITY OF THE LAND: A 



Summary Sketch of the Relationship of 

 Farm-Practice to the Maintaining and In- 

 creasing of the Productivity of the Soil. 



By I. P ROBERTS, Director of the College of Agri- 

 culture, Cornell University. 



SECOND EDITION 432 PACES-45 ILLUSTRATIONS $1 .25 



This work, written by one who has been termed 

 "the wisest farmer in America, " takes up the treat- 

 ment of the soil from the standpoint of the farmer 

 rather than that of the scientist. It embodies the 

 results of years of careful experimentation and obser- 

 vation along practical lines, and will be found help- 

 ful and inspiring to a marked degree. No other one 

 book could be so heartily recommended to the pro- 

 gressive farmer, on subjects of vital interest to him, 

 as this fresh and interesting series of talks for Pro- 

 fessor Roberts seems to be personally addressing the 

 reader. 



THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND includes A Chat with the Young 

 Farmer ; Inventory of the Land ; Evolution of the Plow (fully illus- 

 trated) ; The Means and Philosophy of Tilling the Land (telling how 

 and why we should plow, harrow, etc.) ; Conserving Moisture ; Irri- 

 gation and Drainage ; Manures (in four unique, illustrated chap- 

 ters); Nitrogen; Potash and Phosphoric Acid; Lime and other 

 dressings ; Commercial Fertilizers ; The Use of Clovers, Fallows 

 and Rotations ; Appendix. 



"In short, the book will be found helpful to the farmer, in that it will 

 enable him to go through the routine of his everyday work with intelli- 

 gence, and, therefore, with skill and the assurance of wider success." 

 Garden and Forest. 



