LEAF AND TENDRIL 



is black, but when turned into rust by the oxygen 

 of the air, it is red. 



The vital processes that have contributed to the 

 soil we see going on about us in the decay of animal 

 and vegetable matter. It is this process that gives 

 the humus to the soil, in fact, almost humanizes 

 it, making it tender and full of sentiment and mem- 

 ories, as it were, so that it responds more quickly 

 to our needs and to our culture. The elements of 

 the soil remember all those forms of animal and 

 vegetable life of which they once made a part, and 

 they take them on again the more readily. Hence 

 the quick action of wood ashes upon vegetable life. 

 Iron and lime and phosphorus that have once been 

 taken up by growing plants and trees seem to have 

 acquired new properties, and are the more readily 

 taken up again. 



The soil, like mankind, profits by experience, and 

 grows deep and mellow with age. Turn up the 

 cruder subsoil to the sun and air and to vegetable 

 life, and after a time its character is changed; it 

 becomes more gentle and kindly and more fertile. 



All things are alike or under the same laws — 

 the rocks, the soil, the soul of man, the trees in the 

 forest, the stars in the sky. We have fertility, depth, 

 geniality, in the ground underfoot, on the same 

 terms upon which we have these things in human 

 life and character. 



We hardly realize how life itself has stored up 

 206 



