108 



[AUGUST,il012. 



FERTILITYgOF THE SOIL. 



Three Stages in Farming. 

 At the Royal Institution last night 

 Mr. A. D. Hall, F.R.S., read a paper 

 on " Recent Advances in Agricultural 

 Science," with particular reference to 

 the fertility of the soil. 



The fertility of the soil, he said, was 

 the outcome of a very complex series of 

 factors, including the actual supply of 

 plant food in the soil, its mechanical 

 texture as conditioning the movements 

 of water, and the particular micro-fauna 

 and flora inhabiting the soil, for upon 

 these lower organisms depended the 

 facility with which the material con- 

 tained in the soil became available for 

 the 



NUTRITION OF THE PLANT. 



Dealing with the question of the duration 

 of the fertility of the land under con- 

 tinual cropping, the lecturer said that 

 the United States had begun to take 

 alarm about the reduced production of 

 some of its most fertile lands, as, for ins- 

 tance, the old prairie lands of the Middle 

 West— a reduced production which, 

 among other causes, had helped to set in 

 motion a stream of migrants from the 

 United States to the newer lands of the 

 Canadian North-West- In the develop- 

 ment of agriculture three distinct stages 

 might be observed. There was the pure 



EXPLOITATION OP THE INITIAL 

 RESOURCES 



of the soil, when the farmer was to all 

 intents and purposes mining in its 

 fertility, This was the process which 

 had been going on in America and in all 

 the newer countries. Farming of that 

 kind was destructive ? but in the older 

 lands of the West of Europe, which had 

 been long under cultivation, a con- 

 servative system had been devised which 

 was capable of keeping up the productive 

 power of the soil, though not, perhaps, 

 to a very high pitch. The best example 

 of this could be seen in the Norfolk four- 

 course rotation before the introduction 

 of artificial fertilizers. This cous ervative 



farming about 1840 began to give place 

 to the 



THIRD STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT — 

 INTENSIVE FARMING — 



rendered possible by the discovery of 

 artificial fertilizers and the cheap 

 freights which brought cheap feeding- 

 stuffs to the soil of this country. By 

 these means the average production 

 of the land of the British Isles had been 

 raised from the 20-bushel level to some- 

 thing over 30 bushels, and the most in- 

 tensive farmers reach an average level 

 at least 25 per cent, higher. In their 

 case the soil had become practically a 

 manufacturing medium transforming the 

 nitrogen and other fertilizing materials 

 added to it into crops, giving nothing to 

 those crops from its original stock, and, 

 indeed, up to a certain point gaining 

 rather than losing fertility with each 

 year's cultivation. The research work 

 of Drs. Russell and Hutchinson at 

 Rothamsted justified them in believing 

 that they could so rearrange the micro- 

 fauna and flora of the soil as to obtain 

 a much higher duty from the reserves of 

 nitiogen contained in them. — London 

 Times May 25th, 1912. 



THE PROGRESS OF HORTICUL- 

 TURAL SCIENCE. 



The Gardener's Chronicle of June 1st, 

 commenting on the last International 

 Horticultural Exhibition held in London, 

 makes certain reflections on the progress 

 of Horticultural Science since the pre- 

 vious exhibition held 46 years ago. 



The complaint of the practical 

 gardener would seem to be that the 

 scientist has little to teach him in the 

 management of his plants beyond, 

 perhaps, giving him such information as 

 relates to the proper use of artificial 

 manures and the eradication of pests : 

 but it is pointed out that the scientist 

 is laying the foundation of an edifice 

 which is going to prove a great store 

 house of knowledge to the horticulturist, 



