1 Dec., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 519 
Agriculture. 
FIRST STEPS IN AGRICULTURE. 
5TH Lesson. 
SECOND STAGE. 
By A. J. B. 
In the 9th Lesson of the 1st Book, I told you that cultivated land requires 
“Rest.” Giving the soil a rest simply means taking no crops off it for a time, 
or else growing such green crops, after cereal crops (wheat, oats, barley, maize, 
&c.), as will not interfere with the cleaning and thorough stirring of the land, 
This is one of the most ancient principles of farming, and is called ““Farnowrye.” 
If you refer to the Bible, you will find that the Jewish farmers were commanded, 
to let the land rest every seventh year. The old Roman farmers quite under- 
stood the necessity for fallowing in their day. allowing is of two kinds, Barge 
or Naxep Farrow and Cover Farrow. Bare-fallowing means ploughing up the 
soil and leaving it exposed to the frosts and snows of winter (in cold countries, 
of course) ; here in Queensland we would say exposed to the influence of the 
weather. In spring it is ploughed again, then harrowed, and then cross- 
ploughed twice. This cleans the land, helps the mineral matter of value to the 
crops to become soluble, and, when the clods are all broken down to a fine 
surface, the soil will absorb nitrogen from the air. So you see bare fallowing 
does good ; but it should only be done on stiff, clay lands, and then will only 
succeed in a dry climate. You remember I told you that in heavy rains great 
quantities of plant food, especially nitrogen, are washed out of the soil, and 
you can easily understand what loss there must be on a bare fallow in such a 
case. There are two other reasons why bare fallowing should not be practised. 
One is, that you have no crop while the land is resting, and weeds grow which 
must be ploughed under occasionally. The other is, the great cost of ploughing 
and harrowing for no crops. 
The old Romans and Jews were obliged to bare fallow, because they knew 
nothing of a great many plants which we are acquainted with; indeed, they 
seem to have known of only grass and grain as field crops, and, not having 
anything like our good methods of draining and breaking down the soil, they 
were obliged to resort to bare-fallowing to keep their land in good tilth and in 
a state of fertility. 
In_our hot and comparatively dry climate, bare-fallowing is not a good 
plan. Instead of leaving a field naked and bare, the modern plan of cover- 
FALLOWING is most suitable for us. You can quite understand that the poorer 
the soil the greater the necessity for a green crop which can be ploughed under 
as manure, and for these FALLOW crops, as they are called, beans, vetches, 
lupines, and other “leguminous” plants are sown. The reason for this has 
only been known of late years. In explanation, I will ask you to look upon 
every acre of soil as the home of countless myriads of tiny animals, called 
OrGANISMS, a living mass of microbes (from micros, small) so very minute that 
they can only be seen by the help of a powerful microscope, and hence are 
called “micro-organisms.” Their business is to prepare the land for the use of 
the crop. Agricultural chemists have discovered this, and also that the green 
crops collect nitrogen from the atmosphere, which is kept in the soil by the help 
of these MICROBES, or BACTERTA, as they are usually called, who thus assist the 
farmer in keeping up the fertility of the soil of his farm. 
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