Chapter VII 



THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION 



HAVING considered, as thoroughly as the 

 limited space available permitted, the mat- 

 ter of plant foods, we must proceed to the 

 equally important one of how properly to set the 

 table, on or rather in, which they must be placed, 

 before the plants can use them. 



As was noted in the first part of the preceding 

 chapter, most tillable soils contain the necessary 

 plant food elements to a considerable extent, but 

 only in a very limited degree in available forms. 

 They are locked up in the soil larder, and only after 

 undergoing physical and chemical changes may be 

 taken up by the feeding roots of plants. They are 

 unlocked only by the disintegration and decomposi- 

 tion of the soil particles, under the influence of cul- 

 tivation — or mechanical breaking up — and the access 

 of water, air and heat. 



The great importance of the part the soil must 

 play in every garden operation is therefore readily 

 seen. In the first place, it is required to furnish 



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