HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 
In delving into the mysteries of the soil, it 
is not without appreciation of the fact that 
proper handling of the soil is still very little 
understood by those who come in closest con¬ 
tact with it. Despite the long period of time 
that has elapsed since man first inhabited this 
earth, and has constantly lived off the fruits 
of the earth since that time, comparatively 
slow progress has been made in wresting from 
Mother Nature the secrets that she has locked 
up in the earth’s crust. Nearly everybody 
knows that if a seed is planted in the soil, the 
seed will sprout, and eventually grow into a 
mature plant, if the environment is favorable. 
But just how does that seed take its food from 
the soil and grow into a fine plant? It is cer¬ 
tain that the small seed does not have enough 
plant food in itself to produce food enough for 
the seed to grow into a large plant. No, the 
seed must soon turn to the soil for its exist¬ 
ence, and the manner by which this seed takes 
this food from the soil, and numerous other 
processes peculiar to the characteristics of the 
soil, will be explained in this booklet. It might 
well be added at this time, that many results 
of the workings of the soil are known to those 
who till the soil, but very few know just why 
these results obtain, or what to expect when 
a different method is employed from that or¬ 
dinarily used. We will treat of the various 
