4 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
BY THE W AYSI D E 
Published on the tenth of each month except July and 
August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois Audu¬ 
bon Societies. 
Twenty=five cents per year. Single Copies 3 cents. 
All communications should be sent to Miss Ruth Mar¬ 
shall, Appleton, Wis. _ 
NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS 
The Soil. 
Soil study may be made interesting 
work for the children. They delight to 
play in the dirt, and the adult is to be 
pitied who does not like to get his hands 
into the rich mellow earth. 
Perhaps the best way to introduce the 
subject is in relation to plants. Germin¬ 
ating seeds cannot be studied without 
some reference to the soil. Our familiar 
plants must have it. They get from it, 
first of all, a foothold. Then it is their 
source of water. But plants will not 
grow for any length of time in pure sand 
or sawdust which is kept damp, although 
both supply a support and moisture. 
Certain other substances, mineral mat¬ 
ters and important nitrogen compounds 
are dissolved in the soil water. Plants 
grown in distilled water will not thrive, 
although if we add to this small quanti¬ 
ties of the substances found in the soil 
they will grow almost as well as in the 
earth. Most soils have the material 
which plants want, but they differ in 
readiness with which they give them up. 
Soils are divided roughly into clay, 
sand and loam. Clay consists of fine 
particles, sand of coarse. Both come 
from the decay of rocks, while loam 
comes largely from the decay of vegetable 
matter. Clay holds water best, prevent¬ 
ing its escape below and its evaporation 
into the air. So will loam. Sand, on 
the contrarv, will not hold water. But 
plants need air as well as water, and if 
the soil particles are too close together 
and their interstices filled with water, 
they will suffocate. Sand is a good sub¬ 
stance to start seedlings in because they 
can get the air and water they need, and 
they have food stored up in their seed 
leaves. But sand particles are too large 
to hold water, and plant roots 'cannot 
readily get their mineral supplies. They 
do not expose, in the aggregate, as much 
surface as do clay particles. Each grain 
of soil, when in the best condition for 
plant growth, is surrounded by a film of 
water. These soil films, assisted by 
minute quantities of acids excreted by 
the roots, and the carbon dioxide of the 
air, are slowly but surely dissolving the 
soil particles. 
H umus, or loam, is particularly rich 
in those very important nitrogen com¬ 
pounds, and these are in a condition in 
which soil water can dissolve them. 
Most fertilizers are of the nature of 
humus, that is, decayed organic matter. 
These considerations will suggest that 
sand mixed with clay and having a little 
loam with it, makes the ideal soil. 
The next consideration is the condition 
Which the soil should be kept after 
planting. There must be enough water 
and air. Out of doors, there is generally 
enough water, if it is not allowed to run 
off" too quickly, or evaporate from the 
surface. In the former case it carries 
awav the fine particles of the soil. The 
earth will soon become packed and hard 
and the air cannot enter. Some one has 
advised young farmers to water the ground 
with a rake instead of a watering-pot. 
That is, loosen the soil and thus form a 
dry porous mass on top which will allow 
the entrance of air but will check the 
evaporation. This cultivation of the soil 
Continued on last page. 
