no 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
gen available for plant food. These bac¬ 
teria can thrive only where there are the 
right degrees of moisture and heat, and 
freedom from acid conditions:—hence 
another great value in perfect tilth and 
proper drainage. On the other hand 
where excessive moisture and acidity ex¬ 
ist, the denitrifying bacteria thrive. These 
tiny plants take oxygen from seemingly 
every combination found but their work 
is especially noticeable where by the 
breaking up of these combinations it sets 
the element nitrogen free and thus allows 
it to escape from the soil. Thus poor 
tilth and drainage not only prevent an 
increase of fertility but cause actual loss 
of the most valuable plant food the soil 
contains. 
We have dwelt in particular upon the 
desirability of having fine soil particles, 
but it is possible to have soil too fine to 
give best results. This is sometimes the 
case in clay lands and is particularly true 
in “puddled” soil, for “puddling” the 
soil is done by disturbing it when there 
is so much water present as to allow the 
soil grains to move freely about and be¬ 
come placed in the most compact posi¬ 
tion. This prevents proper circulation of 
air and often causes so much trouble from 
the effects on bacterial conditions and the 
general texture of the soil that it will 
take two or three years to overcome the 
results of a few hours ill-advised cultiva¬ 
tion. 
There has been so much agitation about 
the necessity of supplying humus to the 
land, that every grower recognizes the 
value of humus though often he is rather 
bewildered as to the reasons therefor. 
Humus is plant food to be sure, but that 
is its least value. It retains moisture and 
with it the plant food this moisture con¬ 
tains. It is said that a soil well-filled with 
humus will hold eight times as much wa¬ 
ter as one entirely lacking this valuable 
constituent. Humus is a most congenial 
dwelling place and also a food for nitri¬ 
fying bacteria, therefore, causes great 
multiplication of these useful organisms. 
Humus also does much good by improv¬ 
ing the texture of the soil. When the 
land is sandy and too open, the finer par¬ 
ticles of humus help to correct that con¬ 
dition, and the humus is coarser than the 
soil particles of clay, so it opens up such 
land to freer circulation of air and all 
the accompanying benefits. One can 
hardly overestimate the value of humus, 
but still he must realize that its greatest 
value comes through its retention of 
plant-food-laden soil water which oth¬ 
erwise would carry its precious burden 
onward to the drains. 
When the vegetation which produces 
this humus is grown on the ground over 
summer the fresh green blanket protects 
the soil from the excessive heat of the sun 
and thereby removes a great factor in the 
creating of acid conditions. However, 
the grower should never turn under this 
green vegetation or its fermentation will 
cause it to be a source of great harm in¬ 
stead of benefit. It should be dead and 
dry before being incorporated with the 
soil. 
Land should be thoroughly prepared 
before planting any kind of crop, whether 
it be grove or garden, and thereafter 
worked with due care for the roots. It 
is not consistent to strive to create a root 
system to feed trees or plants and then de- 
