CHAPTER XIV 



SOIL, AND FEETILIZEES 



Science, with all its discoveries, has not yet 

 solved the mystery of soil. It has learned 

 much from practical experiment and labora- 

 tory investigation, but it has not yet unriddled 

 the riddle of the soil's support of plant life. 

 We are still in the dark as to the nature 

 of many of the substances which contribute to 

 the formation of soil and we know no more of 

 the part they play in plant nutrition. We 

 know, in fact, little more than that the soil, far 

 from being a dead, inert mass, is teeming with 

 living organisms that are constantly at work. 

 It is, as it has been described, a laboratory in 

 which wonderful chemical actions are taking 

 place whereby food for vegetable life is sup- 

 plied and means provided for its assimilation 

 by plant roots. 



But with the theory of all this, the gardener 

 has little to do. Like the electrician who 

 harnesses a power whose very nature is a mys- 

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