Soils, how to handle and improve them

Front matter

STORAGE ITE i i-pl-i>i2c U.B.C. LIBRARY

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Foreword

Many of the early books on farming were written in a technical style. They smacked of the lecture room and the library rather than of the soil. They were scholarly rather than practical. A spirit of directness and simplicity . is beginning to dominate agricultural literature. The modern type of farm books is born of actual contact with the soil and a desire to be of service to the men who are getting a living from the soil. They are democratic; they discuss common things in a plain way. The long and tedious tables of figures in the old books are giving place to crisp summaries. The technical lecture-room phrases are replaced by words in common use on farms. The idea is not to present less science — for nothing is so practical as sound science — but to present science in a simple and practical way. This new spirit is contemporaneous with the farmers' institute, the farmer's reading-course, Nature-study, elementary agriculture in the public schools and other efforts to serve the man who tills the soil. It is an expression of a general movement which aims to democracise agricultural teaching.

This book is an attempt to set forth the important facts about the soil in a plain and untechnical manner. It is not a contribution to agricultural science, but an interpretation of it — a new presentation of what is already known.

S. W. Fletcher.

Agricultural College, Michigan, October 30, 1906.

- Chapter I. SOIL BUILDERS

The weathering of rocks ....

Mountains and stones becoming smaller

Soils being changed into rock

Changes in temperature crack rocks Plants as soil builders

The work of lichens and mosses

Soils built mostly by plants

Stems and roots split rocks

Plants as soil binders How ice has made soil Animals as soil builders

The remains of all animals are returned to the soil

The service of ants, moles, gophers, beavers, etc.

How angleworms improve soil The action of moving water ....

In wearing away a soil and carrying it elsewhere

The origin of alluvial soils

In dissolving rocks .....

Soils built wholly or partly by the wind The soil teems with life .

Chapter II. THE NATURE OF SOILS The fineness of the soil

All soils are becoming finer

The number of particles in different soils

Fineness is richness The weight of soils ....

The mineral contents of the soil

The rocks from which soil is made

Elements, compounds and plant food The water in the soil

Free or ground water

Film water ....

Water absorbed from the air

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The temperature of the soil ....

How warm the soil must be for various crops The comparative temperature of different soils Drainage promotes warmth Influence of the exposure on the warmth of soils Dark colored soils absorb more heat The influence of tillage on soil temperature

The ventilation of the soil ....

The necessity for air in the soil Methods of improving the ventilation of soil

Electricity in the soil ....

Germ life in the soil .....

The beneficial work of nitrogen-fixing germs Conditions essential to the life of these germs Germs that waste nitrogen A multitude of other soil bacteria

Chemical changes in the soil ....

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