A FURTHER STUDY OF THE FARM. 85 



without any returns in the way of manures, fertihzers, or 

 organic matter, and the leaving of the h^nd naked during the 

 rainy season, and thus exposed to tlie action of rains and 

 floods. 



So generous lias been the supply of plant food that the 

 abuse first mentioned may have been going on for several 

 generations. On the newer lands of the west, this system of 

 soil robbing is still going on. On the older-cultivated lands of 

 the east, the ruinous effects of the system have become appar- 

 ent, and the practice has, of necessity, been checked. If it is 

 found, upon a study of the various fields of the farm, that 

 this form of abuse has been going on, then, first of all, the 

 practice should be discontinued, and means taken at once to 

 restore the land to a fertile condition. 



The loss of fertility is not because the plant food has all 

 been used, for that has been impossible. Only that plant food 

 has been used which could be most easily extracted. There 

 still remains an abundance of plant food in the soil for the 

 production of many crops. It is some otlier feature besides 

 plant food, then, which needs first to be studied and remedied. 

 The organic matter or humus of the soil has been so depleted 

 that it is no longer loose and mellow, slightly springy or 

 elastic when trodden upon, but is heavy, compact, and runs 

 together in an almost impervious layer under the action of 

 beating rains. This condition must be remedied. Returns 

 of organic matter must be made either by the plowing unde: 

 of green crops or by the use of barn manures. Humus is 

 capable of holding over one hundred per cent of its weight of 

 water. A soil that is deficient in this important constituent, 

 humus, is thereby deficient in its moisture-holding powei-. 

 As the humus of the soil is increased, within certain limits, 

 the power of the soil to hold moisture is increased. If a 

 careful examination of the condition of the soil shows that it 

 is lacking in humus, one of the cheapest and best ways by 

 which it can be supplied is by the plowing under of legumi- 

 nous crops, as clover, peas, beans, vetches, etc. If the land is 

 so poor that these plants can not be grown, then any plant 

 which is hardy in the locality and is what we call a "coarse 



