THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



(Continued from page 48.) 



dissolves the humus, or organic matter and fits it for plant 

 food. So the same process goes on with the other sili- 

 cates as the various plants growing in the soil may de- 

 mand for their nourishment. They are converted into 

 active salts, which are capable of dissolving organic mat- 

 ter, whereas, as neutral, inactive salts or silicates, they are 

 powerless to act. 



Were it not for these silicates, the various active salts 

 and acids would lose their virtue, but as it happens, the 

 silicates hold them in a firm grip, intact, until the action 

 of plant life demanding food, sets them free to aid in pre- 

 paring plant food. 



The base, or fixed element of the earth called silex, or 

 silica keep in mind a sand heap and it will be easy to re- 

 member is "silicon." It is pure rock crystal, common 

 quartz, agate, calcedony and cornelian. All these are sili- 

 con acidified by oxygen, and hence called silicic acid. It 

 is this which forms, with potash, the hard coat of the 

 polishing rush, the outer covering of the stalks of grasses. 

 It is the stiff backbone of cornstalks which stand sturdily 

 against the blast. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, owe their sup- 



port to this silica, and where grain is said to "lodge" dur- 

 ing a heavy storm, the trouble may be traced to a de- 

 ficiency of silica in the soil. It cases the bamboo and the 

 rattan with an armor of flint so hard that from it sparks 

 may be struck. Entering into the composition of all soil, 

 and hard and unyielding as it appears, forming not only 

 the solid rock, but the delicate flower, combining with the 

 metals of soil whose gradual decomposition is the birth 

 of fertility, silica, or the sand heap, may well be likened to 

 the bony structure or framework of the animal. 



The next chapter on particular soils will give, more in 

 detail, the component elements which enter into their 

 composition, and present a series of tabulated analyses 

 showing proportions favorable to the growth of various 

 products. 



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