Krilium is the original chemically- 
made ‘resin,’ developed by Monsanto, 
which acts on soil like the natural gums 
produced by composts and manures. 
MERLOAM is a special formulation 
of Krilium developed for home gardeners. 
It contains additional ingredients which 
keep the Krilium dry and free-flowing and 
make it easier to mix in the right amount 
of conditioner on a given area of soil. 
Soil contains varying amounts of 
three kinds of materials: clay particles, 
fine silt,and grains of sand. Krilium “bonds’”’ 
the clay particles into tiny balls or “aggre- 
gates.” That’s why hard-packed clay turns 
into loose, easy-to-work soil when mixed 
with MERLOAM. Hard, lumpy soil becomes a 
mass of loose aggregates that range in size 
from a pinhead to a pea. 
MERLOAM will improve almost 
every “problem” soil. These include soils 
that are too hard to spade for gardening or 
too crusted for grass seed to sprout; soils 
that run off under rain and crack in the 
sun; soils that are so dry that sprinkling 
won’t wet them beneath the surface. 
Tiny chemical “bonds,” too small 
to be seen even through a microscope, must 
first contact all the minute clay particles. 
These “bonds” must be set up inside and 
throughout the hard lumps of soil. That’s 
why the mixing in must be as thorough as 
possible. 
The conditioner must get into the 
soil. This is why just spraying a conditioner, 
dissolved in water, can’t work. If soil is 
crusted and hard —so that rain water or 
sprinkling won’t penetrate—a solution 
acting on the surface only, could “freeze”’ 
the soil surface in its crusted condition. 
And even if the soil permits liquid to 
soak down through the crust — the active 
soil conditioning material is absorbed out 
of the solution by the soil surface as the 
solution passes through! Hard soil MUST 
be broken up and stirred thoroughly so that 
the soil conditioner can get inside all the 
hard lumps. This mechanical breaking up 
gets the soil conditioner into hard clays 
which a liquid could not penetrate. A treat- 
ed plot of soil will remain a fine, loose, 
porous seedbed — despite hard rain and 
hot sun. 
Monsanto’s Krilium could be chem- 
ically prepared in liquid form. But even 
though pound-for-pound Krilium is the 
most efficient soil conditioner yet discov- 
ered — spraying a liquid over hard soil 
would only give a thin layer of conditioned 
soil surface. Mixing in is essential to im- 
prove the soil deep down around the plant 
roots — where loose soil, good water per- 
colation and breathing space for roots is 
most important. 
Although a liquid soil conditioner 
might seem to “go farther” and ‘“‘appear”’ to 
treat the soil, it would not do a thorough job 
of conditioning. Mixing breaks up the hard 
soil; MERLOAM keeps that loose, “loamy” 
consistency. 
OOD ait” 
_ __ The MERLOAM formulation has been 
specially developed for home use. There 
