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Copyright N"_ 
 
 COPVRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
SOILS 
 
 HOW TO HANDLE AND IMPROVE THEM 
 
THE FARM LIBRARY 
 
 FARM ANIMALS . . . By E.V. WUcox 
 COTTON . By C. W. Burkett and Clarence H. Poe 
 SOILS By S.W. Fletcher 
 
ITbe jTarm Xtbpar)? 
 
 SOILS 
 
 How to Handle and I nprove Them 
 By S. W. FLETCHER 
 
 Professor of Horticulture in the Michigan Agricultural College 
 
 Illustrated from phc. ographs 
 by the autJ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Doubleday, Page & Company 
 
 1907 
 
LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two CoDies Received 
 
 •JAN 81 1907 
 
 I, Copyright Entry 
 /OLASS J\ XXc, Nrf. 
 
 U/(. 73 U-^ 
 
 i-^ 
 
 0,\ 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by Doubleday, Page & Company 
 Published, January, 1907 
 
 All rights reserved, 
 
 including that of translation into foreign languages 
 
 including the Scandinavian 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 The illustrations are by the author except No. 
 24, from Rollins and Linn, Lookout Mountain, 
 Tenn.; No. 78, from "Irrigation," by Newell; and 
 Nos. 80, 81, 83, and 84, which are from the Office 
 of Irrigation and Drainage Investigations, United 
 States Department of Agriculture. 
 
 Perhaps the most valuable feature of the book is 
 the lists of crop rotations in the Appendix, which 
 were contributed by authorities on this subject in 
 the several states, as noted in connection with the 
 lists. These courtesies are gratefully acknowl- 
 edged. 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 Jo^n aoi. fepencec, Jfarmer 
 
 HAS GIVEN GREATER SIMPLICITY AND FORCE 
 TO AGRICULTURAL TEACHING 
 
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 be- 
 ginning 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' in- 
 stitute, 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 imjDor- 
 tant 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 presen- 
 tation of what is already known. 
 
 S. W. Fletcher. 
 Agricultural College, Michigan, 
 October 30, 1906. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 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 ..... 
 
 PAGB 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 Chapter II. THE NATURE OF SOILS 
 
 The fineness of the soil .... 
 
 All soils are becoming finer 
 
 The number of particles in difiFerent 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 
 
 23 
 23 
 23 
 25 
 26 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 29 
 30 
 31 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The temperature of the soil .... 
 How warm the soil must be for yarious 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 .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 31 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 34 
 36 
 37 
 37 
 37 
 39 
 40 
 40 
 42 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 
 Chapter III. THE KINDS OF SOILS AND HOW TO 
 MANAGE THEM 
 
 Sedentary sou 
 
 Transported soils 
 Alluvial soils 
 Drift soils 
 Wind-built soils 
 
 The composition of soils 
 The basis of separation 
 The characteristics of sand 
 The characteristics of clay 
 The characteristics of silt . 
 The characteristics of humus 
 
 The leading types of farm soils 
 
 Sandy soils 
 
 Sandy loams . 
 
 Clay soils 
 
 Clay loams 
 
 Loams 
 
 Gravelly and stony loams 
 
 Peat and muck 
 
 Loess soils 
 
 Adobe soils 
 
 Salt marsh soils 
 
 46 
 47 
 47 
 48 
 50 
 51 
 51 
 51 
 52 
 52 
 53 
 63 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 58 
 59 
 59 
 60 
 62 
 63 
 64 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Xlll 
 
 The problem of alkali soils 
 
 What causes alkali 
 
 The effect of alkali 
 
 Treatment for alkali 
 The subsoil 
 
 What it is 
 
 Its fertility 
 
 Different types 
 Analysing the soil at home 
 
 Weighing the humus 
 
 Separating the sand, silt, and clay 
 
 65 
 65 
 66 
 67 
 69 
 69 
 70 
 70 
 71 
 72 
 73 
 
 Chapter IV. SOIL WATER 
 
 The amount of water needed by plants 
 
 How plants drink ..... 
 
 Rainfall insufficient or unevenly distributed 
 
 The capacity of different soils to hold water 
 
 Influence of the subsoil on water-holding capacity 
 Height of the water table .... 
 
 How to increase the water-holding capacity of soils 
 The influence of forests upon the water supp'- . 
 
 The loss of soil water by seepage 
 
 The extent of the loss ..... 
 
 Plant food lost in seepage water . 
 How to prevent loss by seepage 
 
 The movement of film water 
 
 How film water creeps from grain to grain 
 Capillary action ..... 
 
 How to prevent the loss of film water by evaporation 
 The function of a mulch .... 
 The soil mulch ..... 
 
 The water-moving ability of different soils 
 
 How to test the water-holding capacity of soils 
 How to test the water-moving ability of soils 
 
 Chapter V. THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 
 
 76 
 77 
 78 
 80 
 82 
 82 
 83 
 84 
 84 
 85 
 85 
 87 
 87 
 87 
 89 
 90 
 91 
 91 
 92 
 93 
 95 
 
 The present emphasis on good tillage 
 
 Tillage to prepare the seed bed 
 
 The competition between plants in the wild 
 Culture an improvement on nature 
 The reward of thoroughness 
 
 97 
 98 
 98 
 99 
 100 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
 TUlage to kill weeds 101 
 
 What a weed is ... 
 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 The tirade against weeds 
 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 Friendly words for weeds . 
 
 
 
 
 102 
 
 A spur to the sluggard 
 
 
 
 
 103 
 
 Tillage to save water 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 The amount lost by evaporation 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 The efficiency of the soil mulch 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 Increasing the water-holding capacity of soils 
 
 
 
 105 
 
 Dry farming ..... 
 
 
 
 105 
 
 Its growing importance in the West 
 
 
 
 106 
 
 Conditions under which it is necessary 
 
 
 
 106 
 
 Methods of handling the soil 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 Crops under dry farming . 
 
 
 
 108 
 
 Caution necessary .... 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 Tillage to promote fertility 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 Nature's method of promoting fertility 
 
 
 
 . 110 
 
 How tillage increases fertility 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 Tillage the poor man's manure 
 
 
 
 111 
 
 The alchemy that follows the plow 
 
 
 
 
 112 
 
 Chapter VI. THE OBJECTS AND METHODS OF 
 PLOWING 
 
 The evolution of the plow 
 
 Primitive plows 
 
 Early American plows 
 
 The modern plow 
 The objects of plowing 
 
 To destroy wild plants and bury herbage 
 
 To pulverise the soil 
 
 To prepare the seed bed 
 
 To promote fertility 
 
 To deepen the soil reservoir 
 
 To drain the soil 
 
 To establish a mulch 
 The depth to plow is influenced by: 
 
 The nature of the soil 
 
 The time of year 
 
 The nature of the subsoil 
 
 The value of deep-plowing and sub-soiling 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XV 
 
 The draft and power in plowing .... 
 
 PAGB 
 
 127 
 
 Heavy teams do better work 
 
 
 128 
 
 Horse, mule, and ox power 
 
 
 129 
 
 The power for plowing 
 
 
 129 
 
 Steam and electric power 
 
 
 129 
 
 Greater power needed 
 
 
 130 
 
 Essentials of a good plow 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 The beam 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 The mouldboard 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 The coulter 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 The jointer 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 The beam-wheel 
 
 
 
 133 
 
 The share 
 
 
 
 133 
 
 The clevis 
 
 
 
 133 
 
 When to plow 
 
 
 
 134 
 
 The benefits of and the occasions for fail plowing 
 
 134 
 
 The critical time for spring plowing 
 
 135 
 
 When plowing is dispensed with 
 
 136 
 
 The usefulness of the different kinds of plows 
 
 137 
 
 The landside plow ...... 
 
 137 
 
 The swivel plow 
 
 
 137 
 
 The sulky plow 
 
 
 138 
 
 The gang plow 
 
 
 138 
 
 The disk plow 
 
 
 139 
 
 Adjusting the plow in the field 
 
 
 140 
 
 Chapter VII. HARROWING AND CULTIVATIN 
 
 G 
 
 The tillage of preparation ..... 
 
 142 
 
 The objects of harrowing ..... 
 
 142 
 
 Better harrowing needed ...... 
 
 143 
 
 The kinds of harrows and the influences of each 
 
 144 
 
 Each kind best for specific purpose 
 
 144 
 
 The spike-tooth harrow ..... 
 
 145 
 
 The spring-tooth harrow ..... 
 
 147 
 
 The Acme harrow ...... 
 
 148 
 
 Rolling harrows — disk, cutaway, and spading 
 
 149 
 
 When the soil is ready to harrow .... 
 
 151 
 
 The kinds of cultivators and the usefulness of each 
 
 152 
 
 The difference between a harrow and a cultivator 
 
 152 
 
 Shovel-tooth or coulter cultivator 
 
 153 
 
 Spike-tooth cultivator ..... 
 
 153 
 
 Spring-tooth cultivators ..... 
 
 154 
 
 Sulky cultivators ...... 
 
 155 
 
 Weeders 
 
 
 • • 
 
 156 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Cultivating to kill weeds 
 
 Weeds steal plant food 
 
 Weeds steal water .... 
 The best time to kill weeds 
 
 When weeds get a start 
 
 Weed collection .... 
 
 The prevalence of weeds in sown crops 
 Cultivation to save water 
 
 Sometimes needed when tliere are no weeds 
 
 Signs of the need of cultivation 
 
 How often to cultivate for making a mulch 
 How deep to cultivate .... 
 The advantages of level culture 
 Preventing the loss of soil water from sod land 
 
 PAG3 
 
 157 
 157 
 158 
 159 
 160 
 162 
 163 
 163 
 164 
 164 
 165 
 166 
 168 
 170 
 
 Chapter VIH. ROLLING, PLANKING AND HOEING 
 
 Rolling to assist germination by supplying more moisture 
 
 How accomplished 
 
 When practicable 
 
 Making a mulch after rolling 
 
 Other illustrations of the principle of rolling 
 Other benefits of rolling 
 
 To crush lumps 
 
 To warm the soil 
 
 Incidental benefits 
 The kinds of rollers 
 Planking 
 
 The construction of a planker 
 
 When to use it and what it does 
 Hoeing .... 
 
 Of less importance than formerly 
 
 Hoeing to make a mulch 
 
 Hoeing to kill weeds 
 
 Good and poor hoeing 
 
 Different styles of blades 
 Miscellaneous hand tools . 
 
 Their decreasing importance 
 
 Hand cultivators 
 
 Scuffle hoes 
 Selecting farm tools 
 
 Too many tools means tied-up capital 
 
 A variety necessary . 
 
 171 
 
 172 
 172 
 173 
 174 
 175 
 175 
 176 
 176 
 177 
 178 
 178 
 178 
 179 
 179 
 180 
 180 
 181 
 182 
 183 
 183 
 184 
 184 
 185 
 186 
 186 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 xvii 
 
 Chapter IX. THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 
 
 Drainage mainly a problem east of the Mississippi 
 When drainage is needed 
 
 To dry out a wet soil 
 
 To deepen a shallow soil 
 
 To improve texture 
 Many soils are well drained naturally 
 When it will pay to drain land 
 How drainage affects the soil 
 
 It makes the soil warmer 
 
 It ventilates the soil 
 
 Draining a soil makes it more moist 
 
 Practical results from draining land 
 What kind of drains to use 
 
 Surface drains 
 
 Underdrains 
 
 When ditches are practicable 
 How to dig a drainage ditch 
 
 The grade 
 
 The distance apart 
 Surface drainage by plowing into lands 
 The action of underdrains 
 Planning a system of underdrains 
 
 The necessity for a plan 
 The outlet .... 
 The grade .... 
 Simple devices for establishing the grade 
 The number and direction of the drains 
 Distance between drains 
 The depth to lay the drains 
 The kinds of tiles 
 The size of tiles 
 Digging the ditch 
 Placing the tiles 
 Filling the ditch 
 Obstructions in tile drains 
 The cost of putting in tile drains 
 Other kinds of underdrains 
 Draining pot holes 
 Draining large swamps and marshes 
 
 The large area of reclaimable swamp and marsh land 
 
 PAGE 
 
 189 
 
 190 
 
 191 
 
 192 
 
 192 
 
 194 
 
 195 
 
 196 
 
 196 
 
 197 
 
 197 
 
 199 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 200 
 
 201 
 
 202 
 
 203 
 
 204 
 
 204 
 
 205 
 
 207 
 
 207 
 
 209 
 
 210 
 
 212 
 
 216 
 
 218 
 
 219 
 
 221 
 
 222 
 
 224 
 
 225 
 
 226 
 
 227 
 
 228 
 
 229 
 
 230 
 
 231 
 
 231 
 
XVlll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter X. FARM IRRIGATION 
 
 The present extent of irrigation 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 233 
 
 In foreign countries 
 
 . 233 
 
 In the United States 
 
 . 233 
 
 The area in the United States that can be irr 
 
 igated . . 234 
 
 The objects of irrigation 
 
 . 236 
 
 To remedy a deficiency in rainfall 
 
 . 236 
 
 To enrich the land . . . . 
 
 . 237 
 
 To correct alkali and improve texture 
 
 . 237 
 
 How far the natural water supply will go dep 
 
 ends upon . 237 
 
 The minimum amount of rainfall needec 
 
 i* . . . 238 
 
 The season when it falls 
 
 . 238 
 
 The retentiveness of the soil 
 
 . 238 
 
 Irrigation in humid regions 
 
 . 239 
 
 Used to supplement deficiency in summ 
 
 er rainfall . 239 
 
 Under what conditions it will pay 
 
 . 240 
 
 Better tillage may obviate the necessity 
 
 or irrigation . 241 
 
 The supply of water for irrigation 
 
 . 243 
 
 From streams . . . . 
 
 . 243 
 
 From ponds and lakes 
 
 . 243 
 
 From springs and wells 
 
 . 244 
 
 Hydrant water 
 
 . 244 
 
 The construction of small earth reservoirs 
 
 . 245 
 
 Pumping water for irrigation 
 
 . 246 
 
 With windmills 
 
 . 247 
 
 With steam and gasoline engines 
 
 . 248 
 
 With water wheels 
 
 . 249 
 
 With hydraulic rams 
 
 . 250 
 
 The sluice gate .... 
 
 . 250 
 
 Building distributing ditches 
 
 . 251 
 
 The use of flumes and pipes 
 
 . 252 
 
 Cement-lined ditches 
 
 . 252 
 
 Methods of applying water 
 
 . 253 
 
 A local and personal problem 
 
 . 253 
 
 Check flooding 
 
 . 254 
 
 Wild flooding 
 
 . 256 
 
 Irrigation by furrows 
 
 .257 
 
 Sub-irrigation .... 
 
 . 260 
 
 Methods of measuring water 
 
 . 262 
 
 The divisor .... 
 
 . . . 262 
 
 The module .... 
 
 263 
 
 By apportionment 
 
 . 263 
 
 Units in measuring water . 
 
 . 263 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XIX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The duty of water 264 
 
 The character of the soil . 
 
 
 . 265 
 
 The kind of crop 
 
 
 
 . 265 
 
 The amount of rainfall 
 
 
 
 . 266 
 
 The frequency and time of irrigation 
 
 
 
 . 267 
 
 Indications in the soil and crop 
 
 
 
 . 268 
 
 The folly of over-irrigation 
 
 
 
 . 268 
 
 The time of day to irrigate 
 
 
 
 . 269 
 
 Directing the flow 
 
 
 
 . 269 
 
 Tillage after irrigation 
 
 
 
 . 270 
 
 Methods of irrigating important crops 
 
 
 
 . 271 
 
 Meadows .... 
 
 
 
 . 271 
 
 Fruits ..... 
 
 
 
 . 271 
 
 Potatoes .... 
 
 
 
 . 273 
 
 Garden vegetables 
 
 
 
 . 274 
 
 The cost of irrigation 
 
 
 
 . 274 
 
 National aid in irrigation 
 
 
 
 . 275 
 
 The Reformation Act of 1902 . 
 
 
 
 . 276 
 
 Windbreaks 
 
 
 
 . 278 
 
 Chapter XI. MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF 
 THE SOIL 
 
 What fertility is . . . 
 
 
 
 
 280 
 
 Many views .... 
 
 
 
 
 281 
 
 The native richness of soils 
 
 
 
 
 281 
 
 The soil a storehouse of plant food . 
 
 
 
 
 282 
 
 Plant food locked up 
 
 
 
 
 282 
 
 Soils exhausted of plant food 
 
 
 
 
 283 
 
 The loss of fertility by erosion . 
 
 
 
 
 284 
 
 An insidious leak 
 
 
 
 
 286 
 
 Erosion in the South 
 
 
 
 
 287 
 
 Methods of checking erosion 
 
 
 
 
 287 
 
 Preserve forests and wooded strips 
 
 
 
 
 288 
 
 Re-forestation .... 
 
 
 
 
 288 
 
 Directing water. 
 
 
 
 
 289 
 
 Terracing .... 
 
 
 
 
 291 
 
 Side-hill ditches 
 
 
 
 
 291 
 
 Soil-binding crops 
 
 
 
 
 291 
 
 Breaks ..... 
 
 
 
 
 292 
 
 Deep-plowing and humus . 
 
 
 
 
 294 
 
 Tillage operations 
 
 
 
 
 295 
 
XX 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 The relation of fallowing to soil fertility 
 
 An ancient practice . 
 
 Fallowing to store water 
 
 Fallowing to set free plant food 
 
 Fallowing to destroy weeds 
 
 The methods of fallowing . 
 Rotation of crops 
 
 Nature's rotations 
 Why a rotation is beneficial 
 
 It affects the relative supply of plant, foods 
 
 The different rooting habits of crops . 
 
 Rotations and weediness 
 
 Injurious insects and diseases lessened 
 
 Keep the soil busy 
 
 Economy of labour 
 Choosing crops for a rotation 
 Typical systems of rotations 
 Single-crop farming 
 Selling fertility 
 
 A bank account with the soil of farming 
 
 Loss of plant food in different systems 
 Advantages of diversified farming 
 Keeping live-stock to maintain fertility 
 The excretory theory of soil fertility . 
 
 PAG2 
 
 296 
 296 
 297 
 297 
 298 
 298 
 299 
 300 
 300 
 301 
 301 
 302 
 303 
 304 
 304 
 305 
 307 
 310 
 311 
 312 
 312 
 315 
 316 
 318 
 
 Chapter XII. GREEN-MANURING AND 
 WORN-OUT SOILS 
 
 What is meant by "good texture" 
 How Nature secures good texture 
 How humus benefits the soil 
 
 By improving its texture 
 
 By increasing its power to hold water . 
 
 By enriching it . 
 The kinds of green-manures 
 
 Leguminous ..... 
 
 Non-leguminous .... 
 
 When a green-manuring crop may be grown 
 
 In a rotation ..... 
 
 Catch crops and cover crops 
 The fertilising value of roots and stubble . 
 Green-manures not complete fertilisers 
 
 323 
 327 
 327 
 328 
 828 
 329 
 329 
 330 
 330 
 331 
 331 
 332 
 332 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XXI 
 
 Inoculating the soil 
 With old soil 
 With artificial cultures 
 Each crop has different bacteria 
 Plowing under a green-manure . 
 Leguminous crops for green-manuring 
 Non-leguminous crops for green manuring 
 The renovation of worn-out soils 
 
 How soils have become worn out 
 How to build up worn-out soils . 
 
 Chapter XIII. FARM MANURES 
 
 Manuring the oldest means of maintaining fertility 
 How manure benefits the soil 
 
 Its value as plant food. 
 
 The chemist's valuations not the farmer's 
 
 Its influence on soil texture 
 
 Bacteria in manure .... 
 Comparative plant-food value of different manures 
 The quality of manure. .... 
 How manure is wasted .... 
 
 Throwing it away .... 
 
 Loss from leaching .... 
 
 Loss from fermentation 
 
 Loss in liquid portions 
 How to care for manure .... 
 
 Covered barn-yards .... 
 
 Manure pits, sheds and cellars 
 
 Preventing fermentation 
 
 The use of bedding .... 
 
 Mineral absorbents .... 
 The amount of manure made on the farm 
 When to apply manure .... 
 How much to use ..... 
 How to apply ...... 
 
 Chapter XIV. COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 333 
 334 
 334 
 335 
 337 
 338 
 341 
 342 
 343 
 344 
 
 346 
 346 
 347 
 347 
 347 
 348 
 349 
 350 
 351 
 351 
 352 
 353 
 354 
 354 
 355 
 355 
 356 
 357 
 357 
 358 
 360 
 361 
 363 
 
 Rapid growth of fertiliser trade . 
 What commercial fertilisers are made of 
 State supervision of the fertiliser trade 
 
 364 
 366 
 367 
 
XXll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Studying fertiliser tags 
 
 Some guarantees misleading 
 
 Repetitions in guarantees . 
 The forms of phosphoric acid . 
 Calculating the value of a fertiliser 
 Low-grade fertiliser expensive . 
 The advantages of home mixing 
 Sources of nitrogen 
 Sources of phosphoric acid 
 
 Bone fertiliser . 
 
 Rock phosphates 
 
 Phosphate slag . 
 
 Superphosphates 
 Sources of potash 
 Mixing the raw materials 
 What kinds of fertiliser to use 
 
 Soil analyses as a guide to fertilising 
 
 Questioning the soil . 
 
 The needs of different crops 
 The relative importance of the three plant 
 When to apply fertilisers . 
 
 The solubility of the fertiliser 
 
 The needs of the crop 
 How to apply fertilisers . 
 When it will pay to use fertilisers 
 
 Indirect fertilisers 
 The benefits of liming 
 
 Lime a plant food 
 
 Improves texture 
 
 Unlocks potash 
 
 Sweetens sour soils 
 The soils that need liming 
 Tests for sour soils . 
 Land plaster, marl and other amendments 
 
 foods 
 
 PAGE 
 
 368 
 368 
 369 
 370 
 373 
 375 
 376 
 377 
 379 
 379 
 381 
 381 
 382 
 384 
 386 
 388 
 389 
 390 
 392 
 394 
 395 
 395 
 396 
 396 
 398 
 399 
 399 
 399 
 399 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 401 
 402 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 I. Crop rotations in the diflFerent states. 
 II. Analyses of soils . . . . 
 
 III. Native plant food in farm soils. 
 
 405 
 417 
 
 419 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XXlll 
 
 IV. Plant food drawn from the soil by average yields of 
 
 crops ........ 420 
 
 V. Analyses of commercial fertilising materials 
 
 VI. Analyses of farm manures 
 
 VII. Fertilising materials in farm products 
 
 VIII. Schedule for the valuation of fertilisers 
 
 421 
 
 422 
 423 
 426 
 
 INDEX 
 
 427 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 / 
 
 "The Farmer" L. H. Bailey Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 1. Taughannock Falls, Ithaca, N. Y 4 ' 
 
 2. Soil and Stones Brought Down by a Stream .... 4 
 
 3. Rock Split by the Growth of a Tree which Happened 
 
 to Find Lodgment in a Crevice 5 
 
 4. Ledge Being Torn Apart by the Growth of Tree Roots 
 
 in the Crevices 5 
 
 5. Erosion of a Mountain in Montana 6 - 
 
 6. Niagara Falls, Canadian Side 6 
 
 7. The Beginning of a Soil 6,000 Feet High, on Grand- 
 
 father Mountain, North Carolina 7 
 
 8. Mosses and Other Humble Plants on Ledges ... 7 
 
 9. A Pond Filling Up, Plants Encroach Upon It More Every 
 
 Year Until Finally It is Completely Filled .... 10 
 
 10. A Pond Completely" Filled by Plants 10 
 
 11. The Humble Beginnings of a Soil 11 
 
 12. The Great Usefulness of Plants as Soil Builders ... 11 
 
 13. Mangrove Swamp in Florida 12 
 
 14. Cocoanut Trees on the Coast of Florida 12 
 
 15. Castings of Earthworms on Surface 13 
 
 16. Ant-hill 13 
 
 17. Pieces of Rock Split Off by Frost 13 
 
 18. Lichens on Rock 13 
 
 19. How Water Moves Through the Soil 18 
 
 20. The Difference Between Surface Soil and Subsoil 19 
 
 21. How Plants Eat 19 
 
 22. A Sedentary Soil of North Georgia 20 
 
 23. A Transported Soil — The "Palouse Country" of Oregon 
 
 and Washington 20 
 
 24. An Alluvial or Water-made Soil — The Moccasin Bend of 
 
 the Tennessee River, From Lookout Mountain, Near 
 
 Chattanooga, Tenn 21 
 
 25. A Small Brook Doing Exactly the Same Work as the 
 
 River Above 21 
 
 XXV 
 
xxvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 26. Sand Dunes Near Lake Michigan — A Wind-formed Soil 
 
 that is Valueless 28 
 
 27. The Everglades of Florida — A Soil Built Largely by the 
 
 Decay of Plants 28 
 
 28. A Unique "Soil" 29 
 
 29. The "Particles" of the Above Soil 29 
 
 30. The Three Chief Ingredients of Soils: Humus or De- 
 
 caying Vegetation, Clay, and Sand 30 
 
 31. A Clay Soil Cracking . . ■ 30 
 
 32. How Film Water is Prevented from Evaporating by a 
 
 Soil Mulch 31 
 
 33. Corn Leaves Curling in a Drought 31 
 
 34. Tilling the Soil— The Most Common, and the Most Im- 
 
 portant Operation on the Farm 102 
 
 35. Potatoes in Dire Need of Tillage 103 
 
 36. Potatoes Luxuriating Under a Mulch of Loose, Dry 
 
 Soil 103 
 
 37. Water Held by a Coarse and by a Fine Soil .... 106 
 
 38. A Lumpy Soil 106 
 
 39. A Perfect Soil Mulch 107 
 
 40. Where Troublesome Weeds are Wont to Congregate and 
 
 to Multiply 107 
 
 41. Plowing the Corn Field .116 
 
 42. Flat-furrow Plowing — The Slice Completely Inverted . 117 
 
 43. Clay Soil Plowed When Too Wet 117 
 
 44. Ideal Plowing 124 
 
 45. An Ideal Plow for Ordinary Work 125 
 
 46. A Cheap and Rather Ineffective Wooden-beam Plow 125 
 
 47. Shiftless Plowing in North Florida 128 
 
 48. Turning Under Thick Herbage with the Aid of a Chain 128 
 
 49. The Appearance of Land After Fall Plowing 129 
 
 50. The Appearance of the Same Land the Following Spring 129 
 
 51. The Work of the Acme Harrow 144 
 
 52. A Home-made Spike-tooth Harrow, in Two Sections . 145 
 
 53. A Sulky Harrow 145 
 
 54. A Spring-tooth Harrow 146 
 
 55. The Work of a Spring-tooth Harrow 146 
 
 56. "Sweeps" Attached to a Plow-stock, for "Laying By" 
 
 Corn 147 
 
 57. The Effect of Using the Above Tool for Cultivating a 
 
 Cotton Field 147 
 
 58. The Most Common Type of Deep-working Coulter-tooth 
 
 Cultivator 158 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxvii 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 59. Young Corn in Need of a Cultivation 158 
 
 60. A Cultivator that is Really a Plow 159 
 
 61. Cultivating at a Disadvantage 159 
 
 62. Rolling Wheat Seeding in a Dry September .... 182 
 
 63. A Cloddy Soil that would be Benefited by Rolling . . 183 
 
 64. A Four-section Iron Roller Weighted 183 
 
 65. A Three-section Iron Roller 186 • 
 
 66. A Home-made, Three-section Wooden Roller . . 186 
 
 67. A Serviceable Home-made Flanker or "Float" . 187 
 
 68. Corn "Drowned Out" 198- 
 
 69. Meadow on which Less Water Has Been Standing . 198 
 
 70. A Soil Well-drained Naturally by a Gravelly Subsoil 199 
 
 71. Surface Drainage by " Plowing into Lands " .... 199 
 
 72. Draining Wet Lands with an Open Ditch 202 
 
 73. An Open Ditch with Grassed Sides on an Easy Slope, so 
 
 They do not Wash 202 
 
 74. Laying a Tile Drain 203 
 
 75. A Tile that Has Been Clogged by Tree Roots ... 203 
 
 76. The Plow may be Used to Facilitate the Removal of 
 
 Surface Soil for Drains 228 
 
 77. Outlet of a Tile Drain Clogged by Soil so that the Drain 
 
 Does not Work. 228 
 
 78. A Typical Eastern Swamp that can Easily be made 
 
 into Farming Land 229 
 
 79. Map of the Mean Annual Rainfall in Different Parts of 
 
 the United States (After Newell) 236 
 
 80. Irrigating Olives, Fresno, California, by Check System . 237 
 
 81. The Intake of the Sunnyside Canal, Yakima Valley, 
 
 Washington 237 
 
 82. Irrigating a Garden from a Hydrant in a Semi-arid 
 
 Region (Pullman, Wash.) 274 
 
 83. Irrigating Strawberries by Pumping from Cache Creek, 
 
 California. 274 
 
 84. Irrigating Alfalfa by Furrow System, Yakima Valley, 
 
 Washington 275 
 
 85. A Barnyard in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia . 286 
 88. The Ohio River Flooding its Meadows 287 
 
 87. Pasturing with Cattle 287 
 
 88. Sheep at Pasture 287 
 
 89. Harrowing the Summer Fallow 320 
 
 90. Hay that Will Soon be Baled and Shipped to the City . 321 
 
 91. Clover Following Wheat — One of the Commonest Ro- 
 
 tations in this Country 321 
 
xxviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGB 
 
 92. Loss of Fertility by Erosion 324 
 
 93. A Georgia Field that Once Produced a Bale of Cotton 
 
 per Acre, now Ruined Beyond Redemption by Gully- 
 ing 324 
 
 94. Richness Running off in the Bottom of the Deep Furrow 
 
 Made by Ridging this Cotton 325 
 
 95. A "Break" of Corn Stalks Used to Check Gullying . 325 
 
 96. A Fifteen Years' Growth of Long-leaf and Jersey Scrub 
 
 Pines on a Southern Hillside Farm 332 
 
 97. A Hillside that GulUed Badly Until Covered with Ber- 
 
 muda Grass and Lespedeza 333 
 
 98. The Dense Turf of Bermuda Grass 333 
 
 99. Soil in Poor Texture 336 
 
 100. Clod of Clay Soil; Decaying Stems and Leaves, which 
 
 Become Humus 336 
 
 101. Nodules, or Tubercles, on the Roots of Soy Bean . . 337 
 
 102. Cowpeas on "Worn Out" Cotton Field 337 
 
 103. A Field of Cowpeas Grown to Improve the Soil . . 340 
 
 104. A Single Cowpea Vine, Twelve Feet Long, on a North 
 
 Georgia Farm 340 
 
 105. Velvet Beans Grown for a Green Manure in Florida . 341 
 
 106. The Right Place for a Cover Crop — To Protect the Bare 
 
 Ground of the Corn Field Over Winter . . .341 
 
 107. A Common, and an Extremely Wasteful Method of 
 
 Storing Farm Manures 348 
 
 108. The Essence of the Manure 348 
 
 109. Pond Covered with "Duck Meat" through Manure 
 
 Draining into it 349 
 
 110. Manure Wagon 349 
 
 111. Manure Pile in the Field, to be Spread Later . . . 362 
 
 112. Spreading Manure from the Wagon on Corn Stubble . 362 
 
 113. Buying in Sacks 363 
 
 114. A Fertiliser Tag Taken from a Sack, Showing the 
 
 Guaranteed Analysis of the Fertiliser 363 
 
SOILS 
 
 HOW TO HANDLE AND IMPROVE THEM 
 
Chapter i 
 
 SOIL BUILDERS 
 
 MANY people who till the soil, either as a 
 business or as a recreation, look upon it 
 merely as dirt — cold, inert, lifeless, change- 
 less. I have met farmers in New England who took 
 it for granted that the land they till to-day is about 
 the same as it was two hundred years ago, when 
 their forefathers cleared it, except for being less fer- 
 tile. They had not noticed, or at least had not 
 interpreted, the soil-building and soil-changing 
 agencies at work all about them — wearing away the 
 uplands, enriching the meadows, reducing the rocks, 
 filling the swamps ; changing from year to year the 
 contour of their farms and their agricultural value. 
 
 THE WEATHERING OF ROCKS 
 
 Every farm soil is a complex material and has 
 an interesting history. Most soils are a mixture 
 of ground rock, decayed plants and the remains of 
 insects and animals. Some soils, as the sands, are 
 almost entirely particles of rocks; others, as peat 
 and muck land, are made almost entirely of de- 
 cayed plants. Neither of these extremes makes a 
 a good farm soil, as a rule. The majority of the 
 soils in which plants are cultivated are made mostly 
 of ground rock, with the addition of a greater or 
 less amount of decayed plants. 
 
 Rock has been, and is still being, ground by 
 weathering — the action of air, rain, snow, frost, 
 
 3 
 
4 SOILS 
 
 heat and ice. Ever since the surface of the earth 
 cooled, making a crust of rock, these agencies have 
 been constantly at work, breaking up this crust, 
 wearing away fragments of rock and carrying 
 them to lower levels. They are Nature's plows. 
 All mountains and hills are slowly wearing away. 
 We can no longer regard them as "firm and ever- 
 lasting." "Whole mountain chains of geologic 
 yesterday have disappeared from view," says 
 Merrill, "and we read their history only in their 
 ruins." The Appalachian Mountains have al- 
 ready lost by weathering and erosion as much 
 material as now remains. Even within the mem- 
 ory of one man, a hill may become noticeably 
 lower. 
 
 The whole earth is being levelled — very slowly, 
 yet quite perceptibly. The face of every rock is 
 roughened and chipped by the elements. Drops 
 of rain wear away particles of it; water freezes m 
 the crevices, expands, and chips off fragments. 
 The air searches these crevices and corrodes them, 
 as it does iron. Everywhere cliffs are lower, rocks 
 are smaller and soils are finer than they used to be. 
 The big rock that the farmer has plowed around 
 for thirty years is smaller now than it was when he 
 first "rode horse" for his father. The stones on 
 the gravelly knoll pass between the cultivator teeth 
 easier than they used to. All about us, in the wild 
 and on the farm, are indisputable evidences that 
 soil is being made by the weathering of rocks. 
 Most farm soils are still incomplete — they contain 
 rocks and stones that are slowly being made into 
 soil. A few, as the clays and alluvial soils, are 
 changing less; but even the finest clay soil is af- 
 fected by weathering to some extent. The reducing 
 and fining process is universal and ceaseless. 
 
1. TAUGHANXOCK FALLS, ITHACA. X. V. 
 How nianv centuries has it taken this stream to wear the deep gap in the cliff ? 
 
 2. SOIL AXD STONES BROUGHT DOWN BY STREAM 
 
 Much of it was worn away from rocks and clifTs like the above. Some day it v/ill 
 be used for farming 
 
3. Ru'CK ci'LIT BY THE uKi U 111 li A TREE, WHICH HAPPENED TO 
 
 FIND LODGMENT IN A CREVICE 
 
 " Half-way stone," Lansing. Michigan 
 
 4. LEDGE BEING TORN APART BY THE GROWTH OF TREE 
 
 ROOTS IN THE CREMCES 
 
 Plants aid in soil building by the pressure of growth of stem or root 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 5 
 
 An interesting example of soil formation by 
 weathering is the heaving of stones to the surface, 
 especially in the clay soils of northern states. A 
 vivid recollection of my boyhood is the thankless 
 task of picking up stones from rocky New England 
 fields. This had to be done every fall and every 
 spring. Though we might pick up and cart off 
 in the fall every stone to be seen, there would always 
 .be many on top of the ground by the time 
 for spring plowing. 
 
 These stones were heaved up. The clay soil 
 in which they were embedded became wet, froze 
 and expanded, throwing the stones upon the sur- 
 face, there being the least resistance in that di- 
 rection. So many of our small fields of a few acres 
 had immense piles of stones in each of the four 
 corners, the accumulation of many years. When 
 these stones are not picked up they lie upon the 
 surface and are slowly reduced to soil. 
 
 Soil Becoming Rock. — The reverse process, of 
 changing soil into rocks, is also takmg place. 
 Many of the common rocks and stones that we 
 may pick up in our fields were once soil. Sand- 
 stone, which is now sought for trimming buildings, 
 is sand that has been hardened into stone. "Pud- 
 ding" stones, or conglomerates, are made of 
 gravel. Sometimes these rocks may be broken up, 
 by weathering or erosion, and the soil in them 
 again become available for plant growth. Thus 
 the materials of the earth's surface may be worked 
 over and over during countless cycles of time. The 
 soil that nourishes plants to-day may be the build- 
 ing stones of a future generation. The soil of every 
 farm has an antiquity of no ordinary character. 
 
 Extreme Changes in Temperature Crack Rocks. — 
 Weathering from changes in temperature is as 
 
6 SOILS 
 
 effective, though often not as noticeable, as weather- 
 ing from other causes. The changes of temperature 
 from summer to winter, and even from the heat of 
 mid-day to evening, are sufficient to tear rocks to 
 pieces. Rocks are made of several or many dif- 
 ferent minerals, each of which expands and con- 
 tracts differently when subjected to heat or cold. 
 The result is that the rocks are cracked and split 
 from being pulled many ways. There are few 
 parts of the world where surface temperatures are 
 uniform for any length of time; hence nearly all 
 surface rocks, even the smallest stones, and espe- 
 cially those in the North, are being slowly pushed 
 and pulled to pieces by alternate expansion and 
 contraction. According to Shaler, a change of 
 temperature of 150° F., which is common in the 
 North between the extremes of summer and winter, 
 makes a granite rock 100 feet in diameter expand 
 one inch. 
 
 In regions having great extremes of temperature 
 daily, particularly in Texas, Montana, Arizona, 
 and other parts of the West where rocks are sparsely 
 protected by vegetation, the splitting of rocks is 
 quite noticeable and is sometimes attended with 
 gun-like reports and cracking sounds loud enough 
 to be heard many rods. Livingstone states that 
 in South Africa blocks of stone weighing 200 pounds 
 are frequently split off during the night by the con- 
 traction due to the rapid fall of temperature. 
 Many people have noticed how pieces are 
 chipped off from the foundation stones of a 
 building that has burned. In most parts of eastern 
 United States, where the rocks are more or less 
 protected by vegetation, the cracking of rocks from 
 this cause is less noticeable; but it is certain that 
 all rocks everywhere are being affected more or 
 
5. EROSION OF A MOUNTAIN IX MONTANA 
 
 The soil made on the mountain by weathering has been mostly washed away to make 
 the fertile valley below 
 
 6. NIAGARA FALLS, CANADIAN SIDE 
 
 The Falls are mo\-inR backward towards Lake Erie at the rate of 4 feet a year. The rork par- 
 ticles worn away by the cataract are deposited as soil many miles down stream 
 
THE BEGINNING OF A SOIL 6.000 FEET HIGH, ON GRANDFATHER 
 MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA 
 The mountains are being worn away and deposited in the valleys as soil 
 
 MOSSES AND OTHER HUMBLE PLANTS ON LEDGE 
 
 They will help prepare the way for the growth of higher plants 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 7 
 
 less. The simile — "immovable as a rock," is 
 not perfect. Even the rock, our common symbol 
 of stability, is subject to the universal law of change; 
 it is broken down, re-created and broken down 
 again, over and over, while it fills its place in the 
 working out of the Great Design. 
 
 PLANTS AS SOIL BUILDERS 
 
 Broken rock alone, however, does not make a 
 fertile soil, as the farmer defines fertility. There 
 are plants that thrive on bare rock, but the plants 
 that are grown as farm crops are of a higher order 
 and cannot rough it like this. A fertile soil — one 
 that will grow large crops of the higher plants, 
 either wild or cultivated — must contain a con- 
 siderable amount of humus, which is chiefly de- 
 cayed vegetation. A soil made of rock alone may 
 contain all the mineral plant food that farm crops 
 need, but it is apt to lack nitrogen and has not the 
 right texture. 
 
 The Evolution of a Soil. — Nothing in nature is 
 more interesting than the gradual evolution of a 
 fertile soil from a barren rock, and nothing is more 
 significant of the illimitable wisdom of the Creator. 
 The history of soil building reads something like 
 this: In the beginning is a lofty cliff, mute witness 
 of the eruptions and disturbances through which 
 the earth passed in cooling. It is bare and deso- 
 late. No living thing finds nourishment upon it. 
 For centuries the storms beat against it; ice, rain 
 and sudden changes in temperature pry off great 
 boulders, which crash into the valleys. In the 
 course of time there come to be upon these boulders, 
 and upon the rocks and stones split off from them, 
 lichens and other humble plants that are able to 
 
8 SOILS 
 
 send their minute root structures into the crevices 
 and Hve upon the sHght substances that are formed 
 on the surface by weathering, together with what 
 they can get from the air. These hchens are very 
 acid and are able to etch the rocks. They die and 
 decay, leaving the beginning of a fertile soil in the 
 crevices and upon the ledges. The growth of 
 higher plants is thus made- possible; perhaps the 
 mosses gain a foothold. These in turn elaborate 
 more of the rock for their own use and in turn die, 
 enriching the soil with themselves. Now there is 
 a pocket of soil upon the ledge which may be able 
 to support such humble plants as ferns or saxifrage. 
 Thus the process goes on from decade to decade 
 and from century to century, the lower plants being 
 succeeded by larger and more highly organised 
 plants, as the rocks are made finer by weathering 
 and are enriched by the decay of the plants that they 
 nourish. Finally the soil can support mulleins, 
 honeysuckles, or fir trees. Many years later it 
 may be able to support a crop of corn, timothy, 
 or apples. A fertile farm soil is the product 
 of many agencies working through thousands of 
 years. 
 
 How Plants are Making Soil To-day. — Plants are 
 helping to make fertile soil to-day as they have for 
 centuries. Each year the forest floor receives a 
 fresh carpet of leaves, and the older generations of 
 trees fall to the ground and slowly pass into mold. 
 Each year the grass in the meadows and the weeds 
 by the roadside add their substance to the soil from 
 which they have sprung, thereby enabling it to 
 nurture other and lustier plants in succeeding 
 years. Lichens spread their thin substance over 
 rocks, and mosses take up the battle where the 
 lichens leave off, just as of old. 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 9 
 
 Swamp lands and meadows are the most con- 
 spicuous examples of soils built mostly of plants. 
 Lakes, ponds, streams and swamps are being 
 filled in, not only with soil washed from surround- 
 ing higher land, but also with plants. The little 
 pond that I skated upon as a boy is reduced to a 
 mere mudhole now; the lilies, sedges, reeds, cat- 
 tails and other aquatic and semi-aquatic plants 
 have encroached upon it from the edges year by 
 year, until now hay is cut where I used to catch 
 bullheads. Most of the rich valleys and meadows 
 of northern United States were once water-courses 
 or glacial lakes. The weedy water's edge of to- 
 day may be a sphagnum bog a century hence and a 
 cabbage field in another hundred years. The 
 mangrove swamp of this century, reaching trunk- 
 like roots into the sea, may be the tilled land of a 
 future generation. 
 
 Stems and Roots Split Rocks. — Plants also aid 
 in soil building, to a considerable extent, by the 
 pressure they exert upon rocks. The roots of 
 trees often follow the crevices of rocks to a consider- 
 able depth, and by the force of growth help to 
 widen them. Even on top of the ground one may 
 see many examples of rocks that have been rent by 
 the growth of trees. Among greenhouse plants it 
 is quite common to find pots that have been split 
 apart by the growth of roots. But in many 
 of the cases where rocks are split apart, and 
 a tree is growing in the crevice, the rock was 
 was first split open by weathering and the tree then 
 widened the crevice. The acids secreted by the 
 roots of plants dissolve a small portion of plant 
 food from the rocks that the roots embrace. Rocks 
 that have been etched by root acids may be found 
 in almost any tree-covered ledge. In these various 
 
10 SOILS 
 
 ways plants are contributing to the upbuilding of 
 our agricultural soils. 
 
 The peculiar . value of certain plants as soil 
 binders must not be forgotten. One of the most 
 efficient and certainly the most notorious of soil 
 binders is "quack-grass," and its counterparts 
 variously known as "Johnson-grass," "witch- 
 grass," "couch-grass," and other aliases. The 
 evil reputation of this grass is due to the fact that 
 it is extremely difficult to kill, because the long 
 underground stems may root at any point. The 
 smaller the pieces into which the roots are chopped 
 by the irate husbandman, the more widely and 
 thoroughly is the pest scattered. This is just the 
 reason why "quack" is such an excellent soil 
 binder; the tough, white root -stalks thread the 
 soil in every direction, soon making a network of 
 fibres, which prevent light soils from washing 
 badly. Steep banks or slopes are sometimes held 
 by establishing quack grass upon them ; the under- 
 ground stems are chopped into small pieces and 
 these are sown thickly. Several other grasses, 
 notably Bermuda grass, are particularly service- 
 able in such cases. 
 
 In some sections, notably in Oregon, Eastern 
 Massachusetts and Western Michigan, drifting 
 sands are held by planting them with sedges or 
 "beachgrass." In Holland the dikes are planted 
 with rushes to bind the soil. Willows and osiers 
 planted on the banks of turbulent streams are 
 effectual in preventing them from eating away their 
 banks. Morning-glories and related plants are 
 called bind-weeds, because the vines root at the 
 joints and hold the soil tenaciously. A few horse- 
 tails planted in a wet place soon make a dense mat 
 of roots which grasp the soil so firmly that it cannot 
 
9. A POND FILLING UP 
 
 Plants encroach upon it more every year until finally it is completely filled. 
 Sometime this land may be used for farming 
 
 10. A POND COMPLETELY FILLED BY PLANTS 
 
 Ten years ago this was a sphagnum bog. The water-lo\-ing alders and viburnums around 
 the edges will enlarge their area every year 
 
11. THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS OF A SOIL 
 
 Upon the pieces of rock chipped from the ledge several plants have gained a foothold. When 
 they die their substance is added to the rocks and other plants thrive thereon 
 
 12. THE GREAT I'SEEULNESS OF PLANTS AS SOIL BUILDERS 
 
 Leaves, stems, roots — all parts of all plants — eventually return to the soil, adding to it 
 and enriching it 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 11 
 
 wash away. These are only a few examples of 
 plants that are particularly valuable for this pur- 
 pose. All plants are soil binders to some extent, 
 as well as soil makers ; they not only enrich it with 
 their herbage, but also hold it with their roots and, 
 if they lie close to the ground, with their herbage 
 also. In hilly sections some plants may be used 
 to great advantage in checking erosion. This 
 problem is discussed in Chapter XL 
 
 HOW ICE HA.S MADE SOIL 
 
 Once the northern part of North America was 
 covered with a great sheet of ice, reaching as far 
 south as Cape Cod, northern Pennsylvania, Ohio 
 and westward to the Rockies. Geologists tell us 
 that this immense glacier must have been several 
 hundreds, and in some places several thousands of 
 feet thick. It slowly bore down from the north, 
 moving only a few inches to a few feet an hour, 
 scraping the surface of the earth and carrying great 
 quantities of rocks, stones and soil to the southward. 
 According to some authorities certain parts of the 
 glacier must have exerted a pressure of at least two 
 hundred thousand pounds per square inch upon 
 parts of the surface over which it passed. The 
 bottom of the ice sheet became studded with huge 
 boulders, which acted like teeth, tearing and grind- 
 ing the rocks over which the ponderous mass 
 passed. Some of these boulders, scratched and 
 worn, may be still seen in the hillside pastures of 
 New England and other parts of the glaciated 
 region. Some exposed ledges of rock still show the 
 deep grooves that were cut in them by these boulder 
 teeth. 
 
 When the ice melted a mass of soil material was 
 
12 SOILS 
 
 dropped, perhaps many hundreds of miles away 
 from the place where it was picked up. Rocks 
 that could have come only from the mouth of Lake 
 Huron are found in the drift or glacial soils in Ohio. 
 Rocks from Ontario are found as far south as 
 Kentucky. Great masses of ice were stranded 
 here and there over the land. The streams of 
 water resulting from the melting of the ice still 
 further mixed the rocks, and the soils that the 
 glacier had ground from the rocks. 
 
 The result of this ice sheet is the endless variety 
 of soils that are found in the North. Most of the 
 soils of that part of the northern United States that 
 was covered by the great glacier were made by this 
 agency. They are technically known as "drift" 
 soils. Where parts of the ice sheet settled and 
 melted away there were formed "morains" or 
 "drumlins," the long, rounded knolls so common 
 in northeastern United States. Since the time 
 when this ice sheet covered our land, moving water 
 has still further shifted and mixed soils, rounded 
 the knolls and deepened the gullies. But most of 
 the great variety of soil and diversity of contour in 
 this region is due to the scouring, crushing, mold- 
 ing, transporting and distributing power of the 
 great glacier. Small glaciers, performing exactly 
 the same work, may be seen to-day in the Alps, 
 Alaska, and other frigid regions. 
 
 ANIMALS AS SOIL BUILDERS 
 
 Animal life contributes much more to the build- 
 ing of soils than seems possible at first thought. 
 Eventually every animal and insect returns to the 
 soil, from which it came. The addition of animal 
 matter to the soil is not nearly so evident as the 
 
13. MANGROVE SWAMP IN FLORIDA 
 
 The branches take root, causing the plant to spread so rapidly that large areas of salt 
 marsh land are reclaimed from the sea. Some day this land will be cropped 
 
 14. COCOANUT TREES ON THE COAST OF FLORIDA 
 They hold the soil and carry it farther out into the sea 
 

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SOIL BUILDERS 13 
 
 addition of vegetable matter from decaying plants ; 
 yet, when we reflect upon it, the excrements and 
 the remains of all creatures upon the earth must 
 aggregate a considerable amount. 
 
 Of no small importance also, are the burrows, 
 channels, holes, etc., in which animals live or by 
 which they feed. Ants, moles, gophers, wood- 
 chucks, and the like are insignificant soil builders 
 as individuals, but in the aggregate they have 
 great influence. Ants are abundant on many of 
 the lighter soils and often exercise a profound in- 
 fluence on their structure and agricultural value. 
 Shaler has calculated that ants bring to the surface 
 of a four-acre field, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 enough sand and fine soil to cover the entire area 
 one-fifth inch deep each year. This is probably a 
 larger amount of material than ants move in most 
 places, although those of us who have had to fight 
 ants in lawns are quite willing to accept these 
 figures; but they call our attention to the msidious 
 and far-reaching influence that these tiny creatures 
 may exert. Since the material brought to the 
 surface by the smaller ants is mostly fine sand and 
 smaller particles of soil, they being unable to move 
 the larger particles, it is evident that the texture of 
 the surface soil must be greatly modified by their 
 industry. 
 
 The mounds built by the large black and brown 
 hill-building ants are often two feet in height and 
 four feet in diameter. They are composed mostly 
 of soil brought from below, mixed with bits of 
 leaves and bark. They are being washed down 
 constantly by rains and added to the surface soil. 
 These ants usually build a new mound each year. 
 Furthermore, the subterranean burrows and chan- 
 nels of ants, penetrating as they do from several 
 
14 SOILS 
 
 inches to many feet, have a pronounced effect upon 
 the texture of the soil, and upon its aeration. 
 
 The burying beetle, crayfish, woodchuck, chip- 
 munk, mole, gopher, prairie dog, ground squirrel, 
 badger, and other burrowing animals and insects, 
 all contribute largely, in the aggregate, to the move- 
 ment and aeration of soils, the latter four being 
 especially abundant west of the Mississippi. Go- 
 phers have honeycombed millions of acres, and 
 prairie dogs and ground squirrels have been no 
 less industrious. However injurious these animals 
 may be otherwise, and however difficult may be 
 the task of exterminating them so that crops can 
 be grown, they certainly serve a useful purpose in 
 mixing the subsoil with the surface soil and pro- 
 moting better drainage and aeration. Thousands 
 of acres of land in the United States have been 
 submerged by the erection of beaver dams and 
 their value for agricultural purposes has been pro- 
 foundly influenced thereby. The beaver is no 
 longer an important factor in soil building with us, 
 but he has contributed very largely in the past. 
 
 The Important Service of Angleworms. — The 
 most important soil builder among animals is the 
 angleworm or earthworm. Of these there are 
 many kinds, from the big, snaky "night walker," 
 that the fisherman with a torch finds crawling along 
 the ground at night, to the tiny red ones beneath 
 the pile of old manure. In South Africa some 
 earthworms are two feet long. All of them are 
 most industrious soil workers. After a rainy night, 
 especially in early spring, the ground may be 
 thickly strewn with their castings. On digging 
 down in most moist soils a labyrinth of angleworm 
 channels will be found. These burrows go more 
 than five or six feet below the surface. 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 15 
 
 Angleworms benefit farm soils in several ways. 
 The channels that they make loosen, aerate and 
 drain the soil to a considerable depth, far deeper 
 than the subsoil plow works. The small roots and 
 rootlets that reach deep into the subsoil usually 
 follow the worm burrows, This is particularly 
 true of tenacious soils, in which angleworms most 
 frequently work. They are rarely numerous in 
 very light, sandy soils because these do not contain 
 a sufficient quantity of vegetable matter upon which 
 they may feed. Again, the soil is fined by being 
 passed through the worms. In making these 
 channels the worm swallows the soil for the pur- 
 pose of using as food the decaying vegetable matter 
 it contains. As it passes out through the worm 
 this soil is ground, as grain is ground in a chicken's 
 gizzard. Charles Darwin estimated that the angle- 
 worms in English soils passed through their bodies 
 and ground over ten tons of soil per acre each year ; 
 that is, they deposited about one-fifth of an inch 
 of castings over the entire surface each year. This 
 is the richest kind of top-dressing. He estimated 
 that there are about 50,000 earth worms in each 
 acre of English garden land, and about 25,000 in 
 each acre of meadow land. Our American soils 
 are as full of " bait worms" as the English soils, and 
 their influence on our agriculture must be fully 
 as pronounced as that assigned to them by the 
 great scientist. 
 
 THE ACTION OF MOVING WATER ON SOIL 
 
 No soil is ever at rest. It is constantly receiving 
 and constantly losing. The additions come mostly 
 from the weathering of rocks and the decay of 
 plants and animals. The losses are mostly due 
 
16 SOILS 
 
 to the action of moving water. Moving water has 
 been given the gigantic task of world leveUing, and 
 is working at it industriously and successfully. 
 The mountains, hills and knolls are worn away; 
 water carries the particles down the valleys and 
 deposits them as soil. Lakes and ponds are being 
 filled with soil washed from higher land. The 
 flat lands about the lakes and streams are made 
 mostly of soil worn away from the surrounding 
 highlands. The streams carry great quantities 
 of soil and deposit it in the shallows and bends. 
 The coarser and heavier materials, as gravel and 
 sand, are deposited first and the finer material, as 
 clay, is deposited only when the current becomes 
 sluggish. At the mouths of streams, where the 
 current is sluggish, a "delta" is often formed by 
 the accumulation of soil carried down by the 
 streams. It has been estimated that the amount of 
 soil carried to the Gulf of Mexico every year by the 
 Mississippi River would cover a square mile of 
 territory 268 feet deep. At this rate, the American 
 continent might be reduced to sea-level in four and 
 one-half million years. This is but a small pro- 
 portion, however, of the total amount of soil that 
 these rivers carry, for most of it is left along 
 their banks. According to reliable measurements, 
 England is 550 square miles smaller now than at 
 the time of the Norman Conquest, owing to the 
 soft chalk and clay shores being crumbled away 
 by waves. 
 
 Every stream is constantly changing its course; 
 many a valley farmer has had the river take away 
 a large slice of his farm and give it to his neighbour 
 down stream. Brooks states that within a genera- 
 tion the Connecticut River has gradually taken 
 several hundred acres of rich meadow land from 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 17 
 
 the town of Hadley and bestowed it upon the town 
 of Hatfield. Smaller streams, even the tiniest 
 rills, are transporting and building soil in a similar 
 manner. Sometimes this action of water is bene- 
 ficial, but usually it is injurious. The loss of farm 
 soil by erosion is discussed in Chapter XL 
 
 Alluvial Soils. — The flat lands near streams are 
 often flooded each year and receive a top-dressing 
 of rich mud that keeps them extremely fertile. 
 The Nile is a noted example, but many of our own 
 rivers, including the Ohio and Mississippi, fertilise 
 their meadows in the same way, much to the profit 
 of man. The fertile plains of Egypt, once the 
 "granary of the world," are not made of native 
 soils, but of soil washed down from the mountains 
 of Abyssinia, many hundreds of miles away. All the 
 rich rice and cotton fields of southern Louisiana 
 were built by the Mississippi River, of soil brought 
 from the mountains three thousand miles away. In 
 some places this soil is three hundred feet deep. 
 These various kinds of alluvial or water-built soils 
 are among the most valuable for agricultural 
 purposes. In any hilly country one can ob- 
 serve this kind of soil building going on at a 
 rapid rate. 
 
 Besides transporting soil from place to place, 
 water also assists in soil building by wearing away 
 the rock over which it passes. It would seem 
 hardly possible that water should be capable of 
 wearing away so rapidly the hardest of rocks, were it 
 not that we can see the action going on all around us. 
 Even a single drop, falling continuously year after 
 year, will eat a deep hole in the hardest rock. 
 When a volume of water is in motion, and especially 
 when it is carrying along with it particles of soil, 
 its grinding and filing effect is much more 
 
18 SOILS 
 
 pronounced. The stones on the bottom of the brook 
 at home are rounder and smaller now than when 
 we first watched the tadpoles there. The spring 
 that slaked our thirst twenty years ago has worn a 
 deeper channel in the rock over which it flows. 
 Each year the apex of the Horseshoe Falls of Niag- 
 ara is four feet nearer Lake Erie. The Colo- 
 rado River, which has already worn a channel half 
 a mile deep in the solid rock of the Grand Canon, 
 is cutting deeper every year. All water, even the 
 purest spring water, has some minerals and gases 
 dissolved in it, and these help it to dissolve the rock. 
 Rain water contains small quantities of carbonic 
 acid gas and other gases, which increase its power 
 to dissolve rocks. 
 
 SOILS BUILT WHOLLY OR PARTLY BY THE WIND 
 
 Soils built wholly or in part by wind are not un- 
 common. In arid regions, along the sea coast and 
 near the shores of the Great Lakes, the drifting 
 sands often cover and ruin valuable soils. Some 
 of the most productive farm soils in this country 
 were made, and are still being made, by wind. A 
 noted example is the Palouse region of eastern 
 Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Idaho. 
 Here the land is a succession of rounded knolls and 
 hills, which are sometimes several hundred feet 
 high and are a rich, black, basaltic ash to the bot- 
 tom. The native Indians account for the hills in 
 a legend. They say that at one time all this region 
 was a level prairie of marvellous fertility. Wonder- 
 ful crops of maize were raised upon it by the red 
 men. One evil day they heard that the white men 
 were coming. Knowing by repute the white man's 
 greed, the Indians went to work to gather the 
 
19. HOW WATER M()\KS I }{ki ir(,H I 111; SOIL 
 
 It creeps from grain to grain by suction. The finer grained a soil is the higher it can pull up 
 
 water by " capillary action." Compare the height to which the water in the pan has 
 
 climbed in the clay soil on the left, with the coarse-grained sand on the right 
 
'-'-XiJ V 
 
 '''^'' ■■^^w 
 
 
 ,5,^-: 
 
 
 2(1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SURFACE SOIL AND THE SUBSOIL 
 
 The former is usually darker, having more humus, and usually ric^er. The subsoil, 
 however, is potential plant food; it gradually becoii.cs su'"face soil 
 
 21. HOW PLANTS EAT 
 
 The fringe of delicate root hairs may be seen on many of these rootlets. The root hairs 
 
 feed on the outside of particles of soil. Hence the finer 
 
 a soil is the more feeding area it has 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 19 
 
 precious soil into huge heaps, preparatory to carry- 
 ing it away into the mountains, beyond the grasp of 
 the avaricious whites. But the white men came 
 before the soil could be carried away, took it for 
 their grain fields, and it has been in heaps ever 
 since. The more prosaic geologist, however, says 
 that these fertile hills were made almost entirely 
 by wind, assisted by erosion. In parts of Cali- 
 fornia, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, the 
 clay less '*dust soil" becomes cracked and loosened 
 in dry weather and is carried away by the wind in 
 dense clouds, banking up like snow behind rocks 
 and bushes. Recall, also, the stories of caravans 
 in the desert being overwhelmed by sandstorms. 
 There are numerous records of large quantities 
 of soil being carried over a thousand miles by 
 wind. 
 
 Even where the soil has been made mostly by 
 other agencies, wind contributes something to it. 
 Fine soil, leaves, chaff and dust are swept over the 
 hill crest and deposited on the leeward slope. The 
 amount of soil that is made and transported by 
 wind, in the form of dust, must amount to an 
 appreciable quantity in the course of a year. The 
 slope opposite to that of the prevailing wind is 
 usually less abrupt than the other, because so 
 much soil material has been deposited there by the 
 wind. 
 
 Still another way in which wind assists in making 
 soil is by blowing fine particles of sharp sand and 
 dust against the rocks and so wearing them away. 
 At first thought it would seem that the result of 
 this would be very insignificant, but in reality it is 
 often quite important. In arid parts of the United 
 States and elsewhere, the millions and millions of 
 soil grains blown against cliffs and rocks leave a 
 
20 SOILS 
 
 striking testimony to their abrasive power. In a 
 surprisingly short time rough corners are worn 
 smooth, great boulders are undermined, hollows 
 are scoured out, and sometimes large, erect rocks 
 are completely filed off near the base, where the 
 wind-blown sand is thickest, and fall over. The 
 ** Mushroom Rocks" of Wyoming are a notable ex- 
 ample. In humid sections, the filing of rocks by 
 blown sand is less conspicuous, except near the 
 sea-coast. The windows of houses near the coast 
 are roughened and sometimes eaten through by the 
 natural sandblast. 
 
 THE SOIL TEEMS WITH LIFE 
 
 There are other soil builders, more minute but not 
 less active or influential than those that have been 
 mentioned. The old idea was that the soil is dead; 
 the fact is, it teems with life. It contains germs of 
 decay, bacteria that influence in some mysterious 
 way the palatability of plant foods, ferments of 
 many kinds, moulds of diverse sorts — a fertile soil 
 fairly hums with activity. Countless tiny organ- 
 isms, visible only to the eye behind a micro- 
 scope, are constantly at work, changing, break- 
 ing down, building up. Some are beneficial, 
 some are harmful, some are harmless. How 
 many kinds there are, and what part each plays 
 in the complex operation of soil building, no- 
 body knows, for the science of bacteriology is yet 
 at its beginning. 
 
 Every farm presents many phases of soil building 
 and soil wasting. The farmer should observe the 
 various agencies at work upon his land, and turn 
 them to his own profit. He should remember that 
 the soil is not dead, but alive; that it is constantly 
 
22. A SEDENTARY SOIL OF NORTH GEORGIA 
 
 It is made by the surface weathering of the underlying rock — the red shale here shown 
 coming to the surface 
 
 A TRANSPORTED SOIL— THE "PALOUSE COUNTRY' 
 AND WASHINGTON 
 
 OF OREGON 
 
 It was laid down in these low hills mostly by wind. This soil often is several hundred 
 feet deep and is very rich 
 
24. AN ALLUVIAL OR WATER-MADE SOIL— THE MOCCASIN BENT* OF 
 THE TENNESSEE RIVER, FROM LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, 
 NEAR CHATTANOOGA, TENN. 
 
 There are several thousand acres below the "ankle." Sometime the river will cut 
 through at that point. Alluvial soils are usually deep and rich 
 
 25. A SMALL BROOK DOING EXACTLY THE SAME WORK AS THE 
 RI\ER ABOVE 
 
 Note how it is cutting into the bank on one side, and building up soil on the 
 other. Mo\-ing water is levelling the world 
 
SOIL BUILDERS 21 
 
 swept by winds, worn and transported by 
 waters, broken and refined by frost and air, 
 loosened and enriched by plants and animals, 
 and all the while creeping nearer and nearer to 
 a level. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NATURE OF SOIL 
 
 IF WE take up a handful of mellow soil and look 
 at it closely, we can see only a crumbling mass 
 of particles, intermixed with black bits of de- 
 cayed and decaying vegetation. There seems to 
 be no life in it. Put a bit of this soil on a 
 glass slide and look at it under a powerful mi- 
 croscope; a scene of constant activity is now 
 revealed. Moulds, ferments, decays, bacteria, 
 and other organisms are constantly at work, 
 destroying, creating, changing the structure and 
 the agricultural value of this soil. Currents of 
 water pass through it; waves of heat quicken it. 
 The tiny particles of rock are ground and worn 
 smaller each year, and the plant foods are 
 changed from one form to another. The soil has 
 a flora and a fauna scarcely less complex than 
 that which clings to its surface. Little is now 
 known about the soil as compared with other 
 agricultural subjects; it is remarkable that the 
 soil, the foundation of agriculture and the be- 
 ginning of all wealth, should have received so 
 little minute study. We may expect the present 
 deep interest in soil physics and soil bacteri- 
 ology to greatly increase our knowledge of 
 this most important factor in successful farm- 
 ing. Some of the significant facts about the 
 nature of the soil, according to present knowl- 
 edge, are considered in the following para- 
 graphs. 
 
 22 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 23 
 
 THE FINENESS OF SOIL 
 
 It was stated in Chapter I that the basis of most 
 farm soils is rock, ground into "rock-meal" by 
 Nature's millstones, the air, water, frost, ice and 
 other elemental forces. At first the soil particles 
 are very large, mere fragments of rock at the base 
 of a cliff, but upon these wild morning-glories or 
 mulleins may be able to grow. Some hundreds of 
 years later these small rocks will be finer; perhaps 
 they will average less than one-quarter^inch in dia- 
 meter, and they will be mixed with humus. The fin- 
 ing process goes on a few generations or centuries 
 more, until the pieces of rock have been broken into 
 such small particles that farm crops thrive upon 
 them. Nearly every soil is constantly becoming 
 finer. All soils that contain small rocks or pebbles 
 receive from them each year many particles of soil 
 by weathering, and the size of the rocks and 
 pebbles is reduced that much. Even the rich 
 prairie loam or alluvial clay, which is apparently 
 all soil and contains no rocks or pebbles at all, is 
 becoming finer. Weathering is much less active 
 on such soil, however, than on gravelly and stony 
 soils. 
 
 The number of individual particles in a fertile 
 soil is astonishing to those who have not tried to 
 count them under a microscope. A good corn 
 soil has about 280,000,000,000 particles in an 
 ounce, while the clay loams that are preferred for 
 grass often have 400,000,000,000 particles in an 
 ounce. These particles are of varying sizes and 
 shapes, even in the same soil. Sometimes they 
 are uniform and rounded, and pack together 
 poorly, leaving large spaces between them, like 
 marbles piled together. Sometimes they are 
 
U SOILS 
 
 uneven and jagged, packing together tightly, like 
 the crushed rock of a macadamized road. 
 
 The spaces between the soil particles differ in 
 size and shape, according to the size and shape of 
 the grains. I have met a farmer who could not 
 quite see how a soil .could contain air at a depth 
 of four feet, yet he admitted that there must be 
 air at the bottom of his wheat bin. The trouble 
 was he looked upon the soil as a solid mass, since 
 he could not see the spaces between the grains 
 with his naked eye as he could in wheat. 
 If he would think of his soil as a bin of wheat, 
 with the kernels about one-millionth as large, 
 he could see how it is that air and water pass freely 
 through all ordinary soils, and to a great depth. 
 
 It is of practical as well as of scientific interest 
 to know about the size of the grains of a soil, and 
 the size of the spaces between them. The value 
 of a soil for certain crops depends quite largely 
 upon just such factors. With the refinement of 
 soil surveys and methods, soil experts assure us 
 that they will be able to tell us with a fair degree of 
 certainty that soils containing, for example, from 
 250,000,000,000 to 350,000,000,000 particles per 
 ounce are adapted for potatoes; soils containmg 
 350,000,000,000 to 450,000,000,000, for onions, 
 and so on. At present we classify soils and judge 
 their adaptability for certain crops in grosser terms ; 
 we say potatoes do best on a sandy loam, and that 
 an alluvial clay loam is excellent for onions. There 
 are limits to the practical value of this informa- 
 tion, for the fineness of the soil is but one of many 
 factors that determine the adaptibility of a cer- 
 tain soil for a certain crop; yet this one point is 
 extremely valuable to know when selecting land 
 for special crop farming. 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 25 
 
 Fineness is Richness. — The fineness of the soil 
 has a very important bearing upon its fertility. 
 Other things being equal, the finer a soil is, the 
 richer it is, because it contains more surface 
 for the roots to feed upon. The rootlets of 
 plants do not suck up particles of soil, as 
 Jethro Tull supposed, in his now famous 
 "Horse-hoeing Husbandry." They feed upon 
 the film water upon the outside of the soil 
 grains. This contains much plant food dis- 
 solved from the grains. The natural agencies 
 that dissolve plant food from the soil — water, air, 
 etc., act only on the outside of the particles. Hence 
 the more surface there is to the grains, the greater 
 is the "pasturage," or feeding area for the rootlets, 
 and the more rapid is the weathering. If a small 
 stone is broken into six pieces, the pieces have 
 several times more surface, in the aggregate, than 
 the unbroken stone. It has been calculated that 
 if every particle in one cubic foot of mellow soil 
 could have all its surface spread out flat, the ag- 
 gregate surfaces of all these grains would cover 
 about one acre. 
 
 The presence of small stones and pebbles in a 
 soil is beneficial, making it lighter, more porous, and 
 warmer. It would be a great calamity if all soils 
 contained no pebbles and larger pieces of rocks. 
 These are a store of plant food which is added to 
 the soil from year to year. Yet the farmer should 
 remember that, in general, fineness means richness. 
 If a soil is lumpy, because of lack of humus or 
 excessive moisture, its available feeding area is 
 greatly reduced. This matter is considered more 
 fully in succeeding chapters, where practical 
 methods of making a soil fine and mellow are de- 
 scribed. 
 
26 SOILS 
 
 THE WEIGHT OF SOILS 
 
 This depends upon their composition and com- 
 pactness. It is of interest to the farmer chiefly as 
 an indication of the amount of vegetable matter 
 that a soil contains, because this influences its value 
 for cropping. The coarser the grains, the heavier 
 the soil; humus makes a soil lighter. A heavy 
 soil — one weighing over 80 lbs. per cubic foot — is 
 likely to be benefited by the addition of humus. 
 As the term is commonly used, however, a heavy 
 soil is one that is tenacious, and refers to texture, 
 not to weight. 
 
 Schubler gives the average weight of a cubic 
 foot of dry soil as follows : 
 
 Sand 100 lbs. 
 
 Garden Soil rich in humus . 70 lbs. 
 
 Peat Soil 30—50 lbs. 
 
 The weight of the soil on an acre of land is so 
 great that if a very small percentage of it is plant 
 food this may amount to a very large quantity per 
 acre. An acre of clay loam, nine inches deep, 
 weighs about 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 lbs. Suppose 
 this soil contains only one-tenth of one per cent, of 
 nitrogen, which is an average amount of that plant 
 food; the acre would contain, in the first nine 
 inches only, 3,000 to 3,500 lbs. of nitrogen. Com- 
 pared with this amount, the 30 to 75 lbs. of 
 nitrogen that we apply as a fertiliser to an acre of 
 impoverished land is a mere bagatelle. 
 
 THE MINERAL CONTENTS OF THE SOIL 
 
 The basis of most farm soils is rock that has been 
 ground into very fine particles by frost, air, water. 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 27 
 
 etc., and mixed with the remains of plants and 
 animals. The value of decayed vegetation, or 
 humus, in a soil is so great, and the farm practices 
 resting upon this fact are so important, that this 
 matter is treated in a separate chapter (XII) . 
 
 The mineral contents of a soil depend upon the 
 kind of rock from which it has been made. These 
 rocks are of many kinds; the nature of a soil may 
 often be determined by seeing specimens of the 
 rocks it contains, provided the soil is south of the 
 region that was covered by the great soil mixers, the 
 glaciers. There is no mineral in any soil that 
 cannot be found in the rock from which it came; 
 there is no mineral in any plant that is not in 
 the soil from which it sprang. 
 
 Soil is being made from many kinds of rocks, 
 principally quartz, feldspar, mica, apatite, zeo- 
 lites, hornblende; and various combinations of 
 these, as granite, which is made of quartz, feldspar, 
 and mica. Quartz and feldspar form the largest 
 proportion of most soils. The chief constituent of 
 all soils that have been made from rocks is silica 
 (pure sand), which is the principal ingredient of 
 quartz. This is because silica is the hardest kind 
 of rock material and hence it is not dissolved and 
 lost as rapidly. 
 
 The rocks of the earth, and the soils made from 
 them, contain from 65 to 70 so-called *' elements," 
 the simple ingredients; as iron, carbon, oxygen. 
 These elements, however, unite with one another to 
 make innumerable "compounds," or combinations 
 of several elements. This might be illustrated by 
 saying that eggs, salt and milk are the elements 
 or ingredients of a compound — omelet. It is the 
 great number and the intricacy of these compounds 
 that make geology and chemistry so complex. 
 
28 SOILS 
 
 No one kind of rock contains all the elements, 
 but all of the rocks from which fertile soil is made 
 contain at least seven of them — nitrogen, potassium, 
 phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, sulphur. 
 No plant can grow unless these seven are present 
 in the soil; they are the ''plant foods," and con- 
 stitute from 80 to 90 per cent of most fertile soils. 
 The first four of these seven are much needed by 
 plants and so the soil is most likely to be exhausted 
 of them by continuous cropping; while the latter 
 three are usually so abundant that the farmer is 
 never concerned about how he may add them to 
 his soil. The nature and sources of these four 
 essential plant foods, nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, 
 and calcium, which are the necessary constituents 
 of fertilisers, are discussed in Chapters XI to 
 XIV. 
 
 Besides these seven elements in the soil which 
 are absolutely necessary for the growth of plants, 
 a number of others are frequently absorbed by the 
 roots of plants and used by them. Of these the 
 most common are chlorine, silicon, aluminum, and 
 manganese. Numerous experiments have shown 
 that plants thrive as well without these as with 
 them, so they must be considered as accidental 
 or unnecessary elements. 
 
 In considering the mineral contents of the soil 
 as a supply of food for the growth of plants, we 
 must not forget that the soil furnishes but a small 
 part of the material out of which plants are made. 
 We are so actively engaged in trying to keep up 
 the fertility of our soils by checking their wastes, 
 and by adding to them fresh supplies of the min- 
 erals that our crops have taken from them, that we 
 are apt to think that the plant comes from the soil 
 alone. Yet over 90 per cent, of the crops that we 
 
ao. SAND DUNES NEAR LAKE MICHIGAN— A WIND-FORMED SOIL 
 
 THAT IS VALUELESS 
 
 Sometimes drifting sand covers valuable farm soils 
 
 7. THE EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA— A SOIL BUILT LARGELY BY 
 
 THE DECAY OF PLANTS 
 
 Some day these glades will be drained and will become rich farming land 
 
^8. A UNIQUE "SOIL" 
 
 These pineapples are growing thriftily upon coral rocks on Klliott's Key, Florida. 
 
 There are no tine particles, as in ordinary soils, but some humus 
 
 and guano are mixed with the rocks 
 
 29. THE "PARTICLES" OF THE ABOVE SOIL 
 The roots follow the cre\-ices. Compare with Fig. 22 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 29 
 
 remove from a soil comes from the air. The air, 
 not the soil, is the greatest storehouse of fertihty. 
 From the air plants get, through their leaves, three 
 other foods — oxygen, hydrogen and carbon. These 
 are all gases, the latter being combined with oxy- 
 gen in the form of carbonic acid gas. The supply 
 of these plant foods is, so far as we know, in- 
 exhaustible. A friend once remarked, "That is 
 mighty lucky. I have a hard enough time now, 
 trying to supply my worn-out soil with enough 
 potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen to grow 
 profitable crops; yet you say these are only side 
 dishes of a plant's dinner. If I had to supply it 
 with the main dishes, or fillers, as you might call 
 these foods that it now gets from the air, I don't 
 believe I could have raised my family of six on 
 these forty rocky acres of New England soil." 
 
 HOW WATER IS HELD IN THE SOIL 
 
 All fertile soils contain many tons of water, which 
 is present in the soil in several forms. First, and 
 most conspicuous, is what is variously called free 
 water, ground water, standing water or bottom water. 
 This fills all the spaces between the particles up to a 
 certain height, which varies with different soils, and 
 even different parts of the same field. Free water 
 is supplied by rainfall; it frequently comes to the 
 surface as springs and is often the source of supply 
 of wells. If a hole is dug in any soil water will 
 stand in it up to a certain point, which may be 
 several inches or many feet below the surface. 
 This point is called the "water table." The 
 height of the water table may be judged in a general 
 way by the depth of surface wells, but this evidence 
 is not always reliable. It may vary at different 
 
30 SOILS 
 
 times during the year, according to the dryness of 
 the season. 
 
 We must consider, then, that beneath all farm 
 soils, at some depth, is standing water; that we 
 plow and harrow above subterranean lakes, which 
 are no less lakes because the water is not entirely 
 free but merely fills the spaces between the particles 
 of soil. The importance of this fact lies in its in- 
 fluences upon the production of a crop. If it is 
 only two or three feet from the top of the soil to the 
 surface of the lake, there is not enough dry soil 
 on top for roots to grow in and the plants drown. 
 Such soils are said to be shallow; they are of little 
 value for ordinary farm crops until ditched or 
 under-drained and the level of the underground 
 lake lowered thereby. The draining of land 
 is considered in detail in Chapter IX. 
 
 Film Water. — Water is also present in all farm 
 soils as film moisture. Above the water table is 
 the soil in which the roots of farm crops forage. 
 This soil must be moist, else plants would not grow 
 in it ; but water does not fill all the spaces between 
 the soil grains, as it does below the water table. 
 If we look at a handful of this soil we cannot see 
 water standing in it, but it feels moist. The water 
 is sticking to the soil grains, covering them with a 
 very thin film, as when small stones are dipped in 
 water. It is held close to the grains by surface 
 tension, or adhesion. If this soil were put in an 
 oven and heated, the film water would be driven 
 off as water vapour, and the soil would be left per- 
 fectly dry. 
 
 There is always a large amount of film water 
 clinging to the grains of every soil, even in the dryest 
 season. The dryest road dust has some film water 
 clinging to it. The amount of water that can 
 
30. THE THREE CHIEF INGREDIENTS OF SOILS; ON LEFT, HUMUS OR 
 DECAYING VEGETATION; ON RIGHT, A LUMP OF 
 CLAY; IN MIDDLE, SAND 
 
 These three are combined in nearly all farm soils in 
 varying proportions 
 
 
 *l5^-twl!afe!V^ v 
 
 31. A CLAY SOIL CRACKING 
 
 The soil may be cracked for some distance below the surface. Much soil 
 water is escaping through the cracks 
 
■& HOW FILM WATER IS PREXENTED FROM EVAPORATING BY 
 A SOIL MULCH 
 
 The water drawn up from the pan by this soil has been stopped by the shallow layer of 
 loose soil on top. Thus it is in the field illustrated below 
 
 .:: ( ,\'\ I I \\ I ■, crRLIXG IN A DROUGHT 
 
 A soil mulch has been made. How to furnish crops with an adequate and equable supply 
 of water is one of the greatest problems of the farm 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 31 
 
 adhere to a single grain of soil is, of course, in- 
 finitely small, but the amount of water that can 
 cling to all the soil grains of a field is enormous, 
 especially when we consider the vast surface area 
 of the grains, in the aggregate, A good farm soil 
 often holds more than one-half its weight of film 
 water. 
 
 Film water is far more important in farming 
 operations than free or bottom water, for it is the 
 direct supply of plants. No common farm crops 
 can thrive in free water, but all must have a large 
 area of soil that is moist with film water. Much of 
 this supply of film water, however, is drawn from 
 the natural reservoir of free water below. 
 
 Water absorbed from the air. — Under certain 
 conditions the soil absorbs a small amount of water 
 from the air. The air that fills the spaces between 
 the particles of soil usually contains much water 
 vapour; if the soil becomes very dry it may absorb 
 some of this. The surface soil may also absorb 
 water vapour from the air, especially when there 
 are heavy fogs. This "hydroscopic" water, how- 
 ever, is not of much importance as a means of 
 supplying plants with water, except in a time of 
 great drought. 
 
 THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL 
 
 The soil must be warm in order to produce crops. 
 Most farm soils of the United States are not likely 
 to become too warm for ordinary crops; there is 
 far greater likelihood that they may be too cold. 
 This is especially true in the Northern States, where 
 the season is short, and it is very often desirable to 
 make the soil warmer, particularly in early spring. 
 The seeds of most cultivated plants will decay 
 
32 SOILS 
 
 before they have had time to germinate if the 
 temperature of the soil is below 45° ; the colder the 
 soil, the slower the seeds germinate. Only after the 
 soil has reached a temperature of 65° to 70° do most 
 crops grow well in it. The soil temperature that is 
 considered most favourable for the germination of 
 barley has been determined by experiment to be 61° 
 to 70° F.; of clover, 77° to 100° F.; of pumpkins, 
 100° F.; of tomatoes, 100° F. 
 
 The growth of a crop after germination is in- 
 fluenced fully as much by the temperature of the 
 soil as is the sprouting of the seeds. The farmer 
 knows that certain crops, as onions, barley, turnips, 
 parsnips, peas and potatoes, are "cool plants"; 
 they can be sown early when the ground is cold, 
 and thrive in the coolness of spring. Others, as 
 corn, tomatoes, melons and squashes, are *'hot 
 plants"; seeds of these do not sprout well if sown 
 very early, and the plants do not begin to grow 
 satisfactorily until there have been summer days 
 to warm the soil thoroughly and deeply. 
 
 The Temperature of Different Soils. — The tem- 
 perature of a soil depends upon many factors, most 
 of which are beyond the control of the farmer, but 
 some of them he can regulate by comparatively 
 simple means. The temperature of every soil 
 varies widely with the season, and from day to 
 night. The surface soil becomes warm on a hot 
 day and cools several degrees at night, but this 
 fluctuation rarely extends below two and one- 
 half feet. At a depth of thirty feet the soil tem- 
 perature changes little if any throughout the year, 
 even in the Northern States. Much also depends 
 upon the materials of which the soil is composed. 
 The coarser it is, the warmer it gets, and the better 
 it holds the heat; hence gravelly and sandy 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 33 
 
 loams are among the earliest and warmest of soils. 
 In Europe, gardeners sometimes put loose gravel 
 around grape vines to keep them warm during the 
 night. But a soil in which the particles are very 
 small, as in clay, warms much faster than sand 
 because the particles lie so close together that the 
 heat passes more readily from grain to grain than 
 in sand where the grains lie loosely. For the same 
 reason a clay soil loses more heat by radiation than 
 a sandy soil. Moreover, a clay soil holds more 
 water than a sandy soil and so loses more heat be- 
 cause of the larger amount of evaporation. Hence, 
 fine-grained soils, though they absorb more heat 
 than coarse-grained soils, are colder. Sandy soils 
 are "warm," clay soils are "cold." 
 
 Drai7iing a Soil Warms it. — The warmth of a 
 soil comes chiefly from the sun and incidentally 
 from the fermentation and decay of the vegetable 
 matter and other refuse that it contains. The 
 temperature of a soil is modified most by the 
 amount of water it contains. Wet soils are cold. 
 The wetter a soil is the colder it is, at least during 
 the summer, when warmth is needed most. It is 
 the coolness as much as the excess of moisture and 
 lack of air that makes corn with "wet feet" grow 
 poorly. The chief reason for this is that it takes 
 a large amount of heat to evaporate the excess 
 water from a soil, and also much heat to warm the 
 wet soil that remains, water being a poor con- 
 ductor of heat, the evaporation of one pound of 
 water from a cubic foot of clay soil makes it 10 
 degrees cooler. There may be a difference of 7° 
 to 10° in the temperature of a well-drained 
 loam and a poorly drained soil of the same 
 character. There is one exception to the state- 
 ment that the wetter a soil is the cooler it is. 
 
34 SOILS 
 
 In early spring we frequently have warm rains 
 that raise the temperature of the surface soil several 
 degrees. It is after these rains that "things just 
 jump." 
 
 Fortunately the means of controlling this factor 
 is largely in the hands of the farmer. The excess 
 water may be removed, and the soil warmed by 
 draining it. The draining of land by deep plowing, 
 ditching, tiling and other methods is considered 
 in Chapter IX. 
 
 Influence of Exposure on Warmth of Soil. — The 
 "lay of the land" with reference to the compass, and 
 the steepness of the slope, have an important in- 
 fluence on the warmth of the soil. The soil on a 
 northern slope — which receives about one-third 
 less sunshine than a southern slope, depending 
 upon its steepness — naay average 7° to 10° cooler in 
 summer than the soil on a southern slope. The 
 soil of a gentle southern or western slope may be 
 3° to 5° warmer than the same kind of soil is on a 
 level. In the northern part of the United States the 
 sun is always more or less in the south, so that its 
 rays never strike level soil squarely. It is farthest 
 in the south when the need of greater soil warmth 
 is most likely to be felt. In early spring a slope of 
 12 to 15 feet in a hundred will catch the largest 
 number of the sun's rays, being most nearly at 
 right angles to them. Many of the rays glance off 
 from the level land because they strike it obliquely. 
 The practical conclusion is that a moderate slope 
 to the south or southwest is the best site for a crop 
 when earliness is desired; which is what hus- 
 bandmen, especially fruit growers and gardeners, 
 have known and practised for centuries. 
 
 Dark-coloured Soils Absorb More Heat. — The 
 colour of a soil is often some index to its agricul- 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 35 
 
 tural value and has an important influence on its 
 temperature. A dark- coloured soil is usually 
 warmer and earlier than a light-coloured soil. All 
 dark substances absorb more of the sun's rays 
 than light substances. That is why we wear light- 
 coloured clothes in summer, and partly why snow 
 melts faster on the dark-coloured, plowed ground 
 than on the meadow. In Switzerland farmers some- 
 times hasten the disappearance of the snow by strew- 
 ing it with black, powdered slate. Gardeners some- 
 times sprinkle a light-coloured soil with peat, 
 charcoal and bog mould; these are called "sun 
 traps." Melons are ripened in Saxony with the aid 
 of a layer of coal dust. But although colour has 
 an important influence on the power of a soil to 
 absorb heat, it has not ability to retain heat. Schub- 
 ler states that, other things being equal, a dark- 
 coloured soil is about 8° warmer near the surface 
 than a light-coloured soil. 
 
 This difference in the temperature of soils, due to 
 colour, may have a marked influence upon the 
 growth of a crop, especially on its germination. 
 When earliness is a prime consideration, as it is 
 with most market-garden crops, the colour of a 
 soil may become very important. Dark, sandy 
 loams, rich in humus, are preferred by market 
 gardeners. Light-coloured soils may be made 
 dark by filling them with humus. Two or three 
 green-manuring crops plowed under will darken a 
 light-coloured soil quite noticeably. I have a 
 neighbour who, in three years, has transformed a 
 poor, yellow soil into a black, retentive and pro- 
 ductive loam by plowing under four inches of com- 
 posted manure every fall. Another neighbour, 
 under similar circumstances, has accomplished 
 nearly as good results by plowing under muck 
 
36 SOILS 
 
 drawn from a near-by swamp. The chief 
 reason for adding humus to a soil is to improve 
 its texture, but another benefit, and one that 
 is often quite important, is to improve its 
 colour. 
 
 The buff yellow and yellowish-brown colours of 
 soils are usually due to the presence of iron oxides. 
 These soils are most common south of the glaciated 
 part of the United States, particularly in the south- 
 ern Appalachian states. 
 
 The Influence of Tillage on Soil Temperature. — 
 The way in which a soil is handled has much to do 
 with its warmth. Uneven, ridged soil, like that 
 left by fall plowing, loses more heat than smooth, 
 level soil. However, ridging may warm the soil 
 by drying it, and this usually more than counter- 
 balances the loss of heat because of the greater 
 surface exposed. Rolling land in fair and warm 
 weather makes it warmer, but rolling it in cloudy 
 and cold weather, especially if it is wet, makes it 
 colder. Deep plowing makes the soil cooler, 
 because loose soil is a poor conductor of heat. The 
 decay and fermentation of farm manure plowed 
 into a soil may raise its temperature several de- 
 grees; it produces as much heat in the soil as it 
 would if burned in the open air. Manured soil 
 is usually about 2° warmer in spring than unma- 
 nured soil. Thorough tillage, especially in the 
 preparation of a seed bed, has a marked influ- 
 ence on soil temperature; it prevents the evap- 
 oration of soil moisture and hence keeps in the soil 
 the large amount of heat that it takes to evaporate 
 water. Good tillage saves heat, then, as well as 
 water, especially in early spring. This means that 
 the soil for early crops should be plowed early and 
 tilled often. 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 37 
 
 THE VENTILATION OF THE SOIL 
 
 The spaces between the soil grains are filled 
 either with water, or air, or both. This soil air is 
 somewhat different from the free air above the sur- 
 face, containing less oxygen, more carbonic acid gas 
 and more ammonia gas. Part of its oxygen is used 
 by the plant roots; the other gases are absorbed 
 from the vegetable matter decaying in the soil. 
 
 Practically all of our farm crops need a well 
 ventilated soil. The roots of plants, except certain 
 bog, marsh and water plants, must have air to 
 breathe. If it is denied them, because the inter- 
 spaces of the soil are filled with water, the plants 
 will die. Corn is "drowned out" in low, wet 
 places, chiefly because the roots cannot breathe. 
 Furthermore, air is needed in the soil to make more 
 plant food. The air penetrates deeply into the soil 
 and its oxygen, carbonic acid and ammonia dissolve 
 the minerals and make the soil more fertile. The 
 nitrogen of this air may be used as a food by certain 
 plants (See Chapter XII), The oxygen of the 
 soil air combines with the nitric acid produced by 
 the decay of plants, making it a nitrate, which is 
 a plant food. Manure which is piled loosely, so 
 that air penetrates it readily, heats quicker and 
 stronger than tightly packed manure; likewise a 
 soil that is well drained and open, so that air passes 
 into it freely, has more life, fermentation and 
 fertility in it than a close-grained, air-tight soil. 
 Air may penetrate the soil to a depth of many feet, 
 depending upon its openness. Soil air changes in 
 temperature like surface air, and continually passes 
 up and down in currents. 
 
 Methods of Improving the Ventilation of Soil. — 
 Any kind of tillage which stirs and loosens the soil. 
 
38 SOILS 
 
 like plowing and harrowing, promotes a better aera- 
 tion, or ventilation, of the soil. Plowing under farm 
 manure, green manure or stubble also has the same 
 desirable effect, since the humus thus produced 
 separates the particles of soil and renders it more 
 porous, hence more open to the downward passage 
 of air. Under-draining, however, is the chief 
 means of ventilating a heavy soil. Remove the 
 water and the air will rush in. When the water 
 table is lowered two or three feet, as it may be by 
 under-draining, the roots of plants grow deeper, 
 when they decay, they leave little channels in the 
 soil and through these air penetrates. Earthworms 
 and ants still further deepen and aerate the soil 
 by following these channels. 
 
 When land is tile-drained, the tiles themselves 
 provide a system of underground ventilation of far 
 reaching influence. The soil of a tile-drained 
 field is ventilated much more thoroughly than the 
 soil of another field of the same character in which 
 the water table stands naturally at the same height. 
 The air in tile drains is largely surface air. 
 
 The roots of most farm crops deepen and aerate 
 the soil, but the roots of leguminous plants, espe- 
 cially of clover and alfalfa, are particularly useful 
 in soil ventilation. This is partly because clover 
 roots are large and bore straight down into the sub- 
 soil for several feet, leaving much larger and more 
 effective channels for the passage of air and water 
 than the roots of grains ; and also, in a very slight 
 measure, because these plants absorb nitrogen 
 from the soil air, thus making it necessary for more 
 surface air to be forced into the soil to replace that 
 which is lost. 
 
 Fortunately for the farmer, most soils are able 
 to absorb various gases, notably ammonia, which 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 39 
 
 is very valuable for the nitrogen which it contains. 
 Advantage is taken of this fact when decaying 
 animal matter is buried to remove the offensive 
 smell, and when sandy loam is used behind cows in 
 the stable. The soil acts much like a charcoal 
 filter which is used to remove objectionable odors 
 from water. 
 
 THE ELECTRICITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 Weak currents of electricity continually pass 
 through the soil and through the plants it nour- 
 ishes. In recent years the effect of soil electricity 
 on plant growth has been studied quite thoroughly. 
 The practical value of passing moderate currents 
 of electricity over and through the soil by means of 
 wires has been demonstrated in several European 
 and American fields. For this specific purpose 
 Messrs. R. &B. Bomford, near Evesham, England, 
 have 19 acres of land with wires suspended 16 feet 
 above the ground so as not to interfere with steam 
 plowing. The current discharged from the wires 
 is generated by a dynamo. This treatment is said 
 to increase the yields of barley and wheat 25 per 
 cent, and give a still larger increase of straw. It 
 makes the plants germinate quicker and grow 
 lustier. The current is turned on morning and 
 evening until harvest. In our own country, several 
 small fields and greenhouse soils have been treated 
 with electricity from wires sunk in the soil, 
 with decidedly beneficial results. The U. S. 
 Department of Agriculture is making a special 
 study of this matter. 
 
 Most of the beneficial effect of electricity is 
 probably due to the fact that it makes some of the 
 plant foods more soluble; perhaps, also, it enables 
 
40 SOILS 
 
 the plants to take some nitrogen from the air. 
 Only weak currents can be used; a strong current 
 kills the plants. It is quite doubtful whether 
 the benefit derived from the use of a weak current 
 will make it profitable to use electricity in general 
 crop production, for the expense of wiring a field 
 is large; but it may be useful in greenhouses. 
 
 GERM LIFE IN THE SOIL 
 
 No soil has exactly the same composition from 
 year to year, or even from month to month. It 
 is constantly receiving additions of new soil from 
 the weathering of rocks, from the decay of plants, 
 the deposits of winds and other sources. It is 
 constantly losing by leaching, by erosion and by 
 the demands of plant growth. It also has numer- 
 ous activities within itself that exert a most potent 
 influence on its fertility. Some of these activities 
 are physical, some are chemical and some are due 
 to germ life. A few are already known and under- 
 stood, but only the merest beginning has been 
 made in the study of soil life. 
 
 Nitrogen-Fixing Germs. — One of the most 
 interesting phases of soil life is the process called 
 "nitrification," due to the activity of very minute 
 germs or bacteria, and sometimes called the 
 "nitric acid ferment." This is somewhat like 
 the ferment that sours milk, and the bacteria in 
 yeast that raise bread by their growth. Although 
 the air contains vast amounts of nitrogen, this is 
 not used by any plants, so far as is known, except 
 to some extent by the "legumes," of which clovers, 
 alfalfa and vetch are examples. (See Chapter 
 XII.) Most farm crops get their nitrogen, which 
 they need in considerable quantities, solely from 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 41 
 
 the soil. This nitrogen enters into their structure, 
 and is returned to the soil when the plants decay, 
 but not in the same form. It enters the plant as a 
 salt of nitrogen — a nitrate; it returns to the soil 
 in combination with many other substances, and is 
 called by the chemist "organic nitrogen." The 
 important point about this is that plants cannot 
 use organic nitrogen, because it will not dissolve 
 in water, and all the food that plants get from the 
 soil must be taken in liquid form. It must first be 
 separated from its partners in the compound, and 
 then changed into a nitrate before the soil water 
 can dissolve it, and the roots of plants absorb it. 
 
 The work of transforming valueless organic 
 nitrogen into valuable nitrates, which are plant 
 food, is performed by our tiny helpers, the "nitro- 
 gen-fixing germs." They are found in all fertile 
 soil in inconceivable numbers, busily engaged in 
 making plant food out of all vegetation that is re- 
 turned to the soil, provided the conditions are 
 right. One essential condition is that they have 
 plenty of food. All these ferments may be con- 
 sidered very minute plants; they must have food 
 like other plants. One food of the nitrogen fixing 
 germs is phosphoric acid, which is also one of the 
 most important foods of ordinary farm crops. If 
 a soil has very little phosphoric acid in it, the 
 transformation of humus into plant food is apt to 
 take place very slowly. The principal food of the 
 germs, however, is humus itself. This they can 
 use only after the leaves, stems, or other vegetation 
 has been thoroughly incorporated with the soil and 
 is rotted. 
 
 These minute plants need moisture and a 
 medium temperature in order to thrive and do 
 their work, as the yeast ferment needs moisture and 
 
42 SOILS 
 
 a certain temperature in order to multiply and as a 
 corn plant needs water and hot weather in order to 
 bring forth its increase. The growth of these 
 microscopic soil plants is checked in very dry 
 weather as much as the growth of the larger plants 
 above ground. Furthermore, they do not thrive 
 in a very wet soil. The temperatures most favour- 
 able for their growth have been found to be 54° to 
 99° F, In the Southern States they grow the year 
 around. Another essential condition is a plenteous 
 supply of oxygen, such as would be had if the soil 
 were well drained and hence well ventilated. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that the conditions that 
 favour the growth of these useful workers are 
 those that are most necessary for the growth of 
 farm crops — a moist, well-drained soil and thor- 
 ough tillage. Given these conditions, a multitude 
 of the germs attack the rotten leaves, stems or 
 stubble lying in the soil, or the clover, rye or cow- 
 peas that have been plowed under, and soon 
 change the useless organic nitrogen into a nitrate. 
 In order to do this, however, the soil must contain 
 a sufficient quantity of some "base,*' as lime, to 
 combine with the nitrogen and so make it a nitrate. 
 If the soil is at all acid, or sour, (see Chapter XIV), 
 the germs cannot complete their work. 
 
 Germs That Waste Nitrogen. — It is interesting 
 to know that there are also at work in some soils 
 bacteria that accomplish a result exactly opposite 
 to that of the nitrogen-fixing germs. The process 
 is sometimes spoken of as *' de-nitrification," and 
 the germs may be called *' nitrogen- wasting" germs. 
 They feed upon the nitrates, and set free the nitro- 
 gen gas, which may then escape into the air and so 
 be lost to the soil. These germs are abundant in 
 wet soils ; under-draining benefits the soil in more 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 43 
 
 ways than by merely removing water. Thus these 
 two, the nitrogen-saving and the nitrogen-wasting 
 bacteria, are pitted against each other; the one is 
 a blessing to the soil, the other may be a detriment- 
 It is wise farming to encourage the growth of the 
 former by providing the conditions most favourable 
 for them — thorough tillage and excellent drainage. 
 
 Other Soil Bacteria. — These two kinds of bac- 
 teria are but a very small part of the germ life of the 
 soil. Adametz has calculated that there are 
 50,000 germs of various kinds in a single gram of 
 fertile soil. Many are beneficial, most of them 
 are harmless, some are injurious. When the roots 
 and stubble of a certain crop decay in the soil, a 
 certain kind of "ferment," which is bacterial 
 growth, is produced. If the crop is grown for 
 several years on the same soil, after a while the soil 
 may become crowded with the particular kind of 
 ferment that the decay of the crop produces. The 
 result may be that eventually the soil will no longer 
 produce satisfactory crops of this plant, but it will 
 produce larger crops of some other. This is the 
 explanation, in many cases, of "clover-sick" and 
 "flax-sick" soils and other soils that fail to respond 
 as they used to. The practice of inoculating soils 
 with certain beneficial bacteria is discussed in 
 Chapter XII , with particular reference to legumi- 
 nous crops. 
 
 The limits of the practical value of soil bacteriol- 
 ogy can only be surmised at this time ; but it seems 
 not improbable that the farmers of some future 
 generation may be able to inoculate their soils 
 with different beneficial bacteria and secure spe- 
 cific and valuable results, much as the butter 
 maker of to-day secures certain flavours with certain 
 cultures. The field of study opened before us by 
 
44 SOILS 
 
 recent investigations in soil bacteriology is ex- 
 tremely interesting and it may yield extremely 
 important results. 
 
 CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE SOIL 
 
 The chemical changes that are constantly taking 
 place in every farm soil are no less numerous and 
 no less important than the changes resulting from 
 the work of bacteria. The elements of which the 
 soil is composed are always shifting and changing. 
 The compounds, which are merely combinations 
 of several elements, are continually dissolving 
 partnership and the elements join themselves to- 
 gether in new bonds, according to affinity. The 
 nitrogen released from a nitrate by the nitrogen- 
 wasting germs may be instantly seized by some 
 near-by hydrogen to make ammonia. The am- 
 monia may then be attacked by the nitrogen-saving 
 germs and made into nitrous acid; which, in turn, 
 may soon become a nitrate, or it may escape into 
 the air and be lost to the soil, until brought down 
 by rain. The phosphoric acid that the farmer 
 applies in superphosphate or bone meal is at once 
 seized by hungry elements and enters into several 
 partnerships. Some of it is readily soluble in 
 water and might leach away were there not some 
 lime or sodium handy to catch it. That part of it 
 which is not used by plants the first year or two 
 may get locked up so strongly in partnerships 
 with other elements that it becomes valueless to 
 plants. When a potash fertiliser, as ashes, is 
 applied to the soil, the plant food it contains would 
 mostly dissolve in the soil water and wash away 
 were it not that it unites with some of the *' bases" 
 of the soil and becomes "fixed." In fact, the 
 
THE NATURE OF SOIL 45 
 
 plant food in most fertilisers applied to soils would 
 be quickly leached or washed away, if these chem- 
 ical changes did not occur and hold it until the 
 roots of plants can use it. Plants feed, not upon the 
 materials that we apply to the soil — ashes, bones, 
 phosphates, guano, and the like — but upon the 
 chemical compounds formed in the soil by them. 
 
 These and other chemical changes that all fer- 
 tilisers pass through before they are absorbed by 
 the roots of the plants illustrate what takes place 
 with each and every constituent of the soil, whether 
 it is essential to the growth of the plant or not. The 
 soil is a great chemical laboratory. Numberless 
 reactions, or new adjustments of the partnerships 
 between the elements, occur every hour. No 
 chemist holds the beaker or fires the great retort; 
 the changes take place in obedience to natural 
 laws, quietly and methodically, yet with results so 
 far reaching that we can hardly grasp their signifi- 
 cance. It is the business of the chemist and the 
 bacteriologist to explore this laboratory and report 
 how its chemical changes are effected by the dif- 
 ferent methods of handling the soil. It is the 
 business of the farmer to keep the soil laboratory 
 in excellent working order, by a wise and varied 
 husbandry ; and especially by giving careful atten- 
 tion to those principles of good farming that we 
 already know make it run smoothly — thorough 
 tillage, excellent drainage, and a rotation of crops. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 KINDS OF SOILS AND HOW TO MANAGE THEM 
 
 SOILS may be classified according to their 
 origin or according to their composition. 
 With respect to origin all soils are either 
 transported or sedentary; that is, they are composed 
 of materials that have been moved by some natural 
 agency, as wind, water, or ice, as discussed in 
 Chapter I, or they have been made by the weather- 
 ing of rocks or the decay of plants in the places 
 where they now are. In one sense all soils are both 
 sedentary and transported, since they have all 
 received more or less material from other sources ; 
 but these terms are meant to apply in a broad 
 sense. 
 
 SEDENTARY SOILS 
 
 In a general way the soils in that part of Northern 
 United States which was covered by the great 
 glacier are mostly transported, while the soils 
 farther south, and east of the Mississippi River, are 
 mostly sedentary. Sedentary soils are usually not 
 deep, because the mother rock beneath weathers 
 very slowly, being largely protected by the soil 
 above it. The red clay soils of Tennessee, Georgia 
 and other parts of the South, and the famous "blue 
 grass soil" of Kentucky, derived from limestone, 
 are excellent illustrations of a sedentary soil. 
 They are usually very fertile. 
 
 Other examples of a sedentary soil are muck and 
 
 46 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 47 
 
 peat, which are made almost entirely by the decay 
 of plants, together with the little mineral material 
 that is blown in. The plant that accomplishes 
 the most in this direction is sphagnum moss. It 
 is a semi-aquatic plant and grows with great 
 luxuriance, making a thick carpet over the 
 water. Eventually the whole surface of a 
 shallow pond may be covered with sphagnum. 
 Other plants get a foothold upon this — rushes, 
 sedges, cat- tails, cranberries, and the like. " Float- 
 ing" cranberry bogs are quite common on the fresh- 
 water marshes of Cape Cod. Finally the covering 
 of plants is solid enough and has decayed suffi- 
 ciently for small water-loving shrubs, as huckle- 
 berries and alders, to get established. The float- 
 ing carpet gets thicker and heavier from the decay 
 of plants; finally it either breaks and sinks at once 
 to the bottom of the stream or lake, or sinks into 
 it gradually and is covered with water. Then 
 begins the formation of peat. This process of 
 pond, swamp, and stream filling is going on in all 
 parts of the United States, mostly on a small scale 
 but sometimes on large areas. One million acres 
 of soil in the Kissimmee Valley of Florida have 
 been made in this way. The Great Dismal Swamp 
 of Virginia is another illustration. When drained 
 these swamps may be very fertile. 
 
 TRANSPORTED SOILS 
 
 Transported soils are more numerous. Among 
 the most important of these are the alluvial or 
 water-made soils. These are rarely stony, are 
 usually level, fine-grained and often very deep. 
 Water usually leaves the soil it carries in more or 
 less distinct layers; this "stratification" can often 
 
48 SOILS 
 
 be seen in alluvial soils. The largest area of 
 alluvial soil in the country is the flood plain or 
 delta of the lower Mississippi. It reaches from 
 the mouth of the Ohio southward for 1,100 miles. 
 The whole area is flooded periodically and receives 
 each time a deposit of the mud that gives the 
 Missouri its Indian name, meaning "Big Muddy." 
 It is exactly such conditions as this that have en- 
 abled the valley of the Nile to produce bountiful 
 crops for 4,000 years without artificial fertilisation. 
 The same process is responsible for thousands of 
 meadows, swales, and swamps in northern United 
 States, and it may be seen in action on the banks 
 and at the mouth of every stream. Alluvial soils 
 are made mostly of very fine sand, and silt and clay. 
 They vary greatly in chemical composition, but 
 are usually very rich. 
 
 Dri^t Soils. — Of even greater agricultural im- 
 portance are "drift" soils, those that were formed 
 by the action of the great ice sheet of the geologic 
 past. They are distinguished from all others by 
 having many rounded rocks or boulders, which 
 were worn smooth and rounded by glacial action. 
 Some drift soils are assorted or in layers, having 
 been laid down by successive streams of water 
 issuing from the ice; others are not in layers, having 
 been deposited directly by the ice. The deposits 
 of drift soil are not always spread evenly over 
 the land. Sometimes the underlying rock comes to 
 the surface, making patches of sedentary soil; 
 sometimes drift soil is heaped into broad rounded 
 knolls, from several feet to 300 feet high. These 
 "morains" or "drumlins" are a distinctive feature 
 in the farm landscape from eastern Massachusetts 
 to North Dakota and north into British Columbia. 
 The average depth of drift soils is about 30 to 50 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 49 
 
 feet, but in some places it is 300 to 500 feet deep, 
 and often it is merely a skim coat of seven or eight 
 inches over the surface. 
 
 As would be expected, the distribution of drift soils 
 is very erratic. An acre may contain several wholly 
 distinct kinds. There is a field of one acre near Lan- 
 sing, Mich., in which about one-half of the soil is 
 a stiff clay, one-fourth is gravelly loam and the 
 balance, which was formerly a swamp, is muck. 
 Who would try to advise the owner how to treat this 
 field as regards tillage, fertilising, and draining.^ 
 
 All the variations in soils that affect the production 
 of crops are not apparent on the surface; the char- 
 acter of the subsoil has a very important influence 
 on the fertility of the surface soil. The subsoils of 
 drift or glacial soils are extremely varied. The diver- 
 sity of many of the soils of northeastern United 
 States may be judged from a report of James Geikie 
 on the different kinds of soils that he found in a cut 
 355 feet deep, working from the surface downward: 
 
 Sandy clay 5 feet 
 
 Brown clay and stones .... 17 " 
 
 Mud 15 " 
 
 Sandy mud 31 " 
 
 Sand and gravel 28 " 
 
 Sandy clay and gravel 17 " 
 
 Sand 5 " 
 
 Mud 6 " 
 
 Gravel 30 " 
 
 Brown sandy clay and stones . . 30 " 
 
 Hard red gravel 4 " 6 inches 
 
 Light mud and sand 1 " 8 '' 
 
 Light clay and stones 6 " 6 " 
 
 Light clay and thin block . . . 26 " 
 
 Fine sandy mud 36 " 
 
 Brown clay, gravel, and stones . . 14 " 4 " 
 
 Dark clay and stones 68 " 
 
 355 feet 
 
50 SOILS 
 
 This is probably more varied than most drift 
 soils, but it shows the extent to which the ice, and 
 streams of water produced by the melting of ice, 
 have assorted and mixed the soils and soil ma- 
 terials of the Northeast. 
 
 The value of drift soils for cropping is very 
 variable, depending upon the material of which 
 they are composed, and the way in which they are 
 laid down. As a rule, however, they are fertile be- 
 cause they are composed of materials that have 
 been brought together from several sources, and 
 there is therefore greater likelihood that the essen- 
 tial plant foods will be present in abundance. They 
 are apt to contain more sand or gravel and less 
 clay than sedentary soils; hence they are 
 usually of good texture and easily worked. But a 
 drift clay or muck is not more valuable or manage- 
 able than a sedentary clay or muck. Those con- 
 taining a fair percentage of clay are more valuable 
 than those that consist chiefly of gravel. 
 
 Wind-built Soils. — Still another type of trans- 
 ported soils — those built mostly by wind — is some- 
 times very valuable for cropping. The wind- 
 formed soils of Washington and Oregon are com- 
 posed of fine basaltic ash. The loess and adobe 
 soils discussed further on have been made partly 
 by wind. More frequently, however, wind-formed 
 soils are of little or no value, being composed 
 mostly of fine sand ; and moreover, they may cover 
 and ruin other soils that are valuable. On the 
 •southeast shores of Lake Michigan sand dunes 
 100 to 200 feet high have buried large areas of 
 forest. The sand hills of Wyoming cover about 
 20,000 square miles of territory on both sides of the 
 Niobrara River. These are a part of the "Bad 
 Lands," a dreary waste of naked, rounded hills, 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 
 
 51 
 
 composed chiefly of yellowish or grayish sand, or 
 sandy clays blown by the wind, and extending over 
 portions of Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and 
 Utah. The "Pine Barrens" of Michigan and of 
 the Atlantic Coast are other illustrations of drift 
 soils worthless for agricultural purposes. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SOILS 
 
 With respect to composition, all soils are made of 
 four ingredients — sand, silt, clay and humus. No 
 one of these ingredients alone makes a valuable soil, 
 nor is it possible to find any soil composed entirely 
 of a single grade. The most valuable soils — the 
 loams — are a mixture of the four ingredients. 
 
 The basis upon which the four ingredients of 
 soils are separated is the size of the grains, and here 
 an arbitrary division is made. This is called a 
 "mechanical" analysis" of the soil as distinguished 
 from a chemical analysis, described in Chapter 
 XI. The coarser materials are screened from the 
 soil by passing it through several sieves, with 
 meshes of different sizes. Fine sand, silt, and clay 
 are separated by allowing them to settle in water, 
 the fine sand settling first, then the silt and finally 
 the clay. The approximate size of the different 
 ingredients is: 
 
 Coarse sand 
 
 • -h to J^ 
 
 Medium sand 
 
 • oT to Y^^ 
 
 Fine sand . 
 
 tU to ^7) 
 
 Very fine sand 
 
 • ^\ts to -^ 
 
 Silt . . . 
 
 7^0 to 75-^7 
 
 Fine silt. . 
 
 • innnr to -^^-^ 
 
 Clay . . . 
 
 ■J-JFTTTT to ^^si^.TFlTTy 
 
 of an inch in diameter 
 
 Sand is made chiefly of particles of quartz, and 
 
52 SOILS 
 
 all its grains are large enough to be readily sepa- 
 rated and distinguished without a microscope. 
 The grains of sand are large because quartz is very 
 hard, almost as hard as diamond; hence the grains 
 weather very slowly. Sand contains very little 
 plant food, since the spaces between the large grains 
 allow water to pass through very readily. The 
 chief value of sand in a soil is in making it mellow, 
 porous and warm. Mix a handful of sand with a 
 handful of stiff clay and note that the latter is made 
 much more workable, but less retentive of moisture. 
 
 Clay is made entirely of very fine particles, so 
 small that a single grain cannot be seen without 
 a microscope. It would take 5,000 large grains of 
 clay laid side by side to measure an inch. Clay 
 may be made from any kind of rock, as silica, 
 limestone, mica and feldspar. Clay is exactly 
 opposite to sand in its physical properties. Being 
 very small, clay grains sink but slowly in water, 
 so they are often carried long distances by streams 
 and lodge only when the current becomes sluggish. 
 The sediment that settles to the bottom of a glass of 
 muddy water is mostly clay. Because it contains 
 so many very small spaces between the minute 
 grains, clay absorbs water slowly, but holds it 
 tenaciously. Hence it is adhesive and unmanage- 
 able when wet. Pure clay is a powerful cement. 
 Clay in a soil gives it body and richness and in- 
 creases its ability to hold water, but if a soil has too 
 much clay it is wet, cold and hard to handle. 
 
 8ilt is a name given to the grains of a soil that 
 are intermediate in size and in character between 
 sand and clay. It holds water well and is espe- 
 cially rich in plant food. For these reasons a soil 
 that contains a large proportion of silt is apt to be 
 mellow and productive. Most of the soils of the 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 53 
 
 western prairies, and in fact a large part of the 
 grain soils of the United States, are composed 
 mainly of silt. A high proportion of silt in a soil 
 has about the same effect upon it as a large amount 
 of clay, making it tenacious of water and of plant 
 food. Many soils said to be clayey have more fine 
 silt in them than clay. 
 
 Humus is mostly decayed vegetation. All the 
 vegetable matter in a soil, however, is not humus; 
 the carpet of rotting leaves beneath a forest tree is 
 not humus. Not until this is entirely decayed and 
 has become a loose, black mould, in which neither 
 leaf nor stem may be discerned, is it humus. There 
 are all stages between this and the vegetation that 
 is just beginning to decay, and all have value. The 
 value of humus in a soil for increasing its capacity 
 to hold water, for making it mellow, and for fur- 
 nishing plant food has been stated in preceding 
 Chapters, and is considered yet more fully in 
 Chapter XII. 
 
 THE LEADING TYPES OF FARM SOILS 
 
 From these four materials — sand, clay, silt and 
 humus — many kinds of soil have been made, dif- 
 fering widely in the proportion of each ingredient, 
 and in agricultural value. The relative amounts 
 of each material in a soil influence its texture, the 
 way it responds to heat and moisture, and its value 
 for cropping fully as much as its richness in plant 
 food. While nearly every fertile soil contains all 
 four, most soils are pronounced one way or another. 
 Thus we have, as a broad classification of agricul- 
 tural soils, sandy soils, clayey soils (which include 
 soils that are mainly silt) , and humus soils, in which 
 each of the respective ingredients predominates to 
 
54 SOILS 
 
 ^ 
 
 a greater or less degree. Then there are the loams, 
 which are combinations of sand, clay, and humus, 
 the sand predominating in sandy loams, and the 
 clay in clayey loams. These are the common 
 types of soils with which the farmer has to deal. 
 Their characteristics, and brief suggestions on how 
 they may be handled to best advantage, are given 
 in the following paragraphs. 
 
 SANDY SOILS 
 
 Soils containing 80 per cent, of sand and less 
 than 10 per cent, of clay are called sandy. 
 These soils are usually poor in plant food and are 
 leachy, especially if the sand grains are large. The 
 finer the sand the more valuable is the soil, as a 
 rule. In dry weather crops on sandy soils are 
 quickly parched. These soils absorb little if any 
 water from the air. On the other hand a sandy 
 soil dries out very soon after a rain, so that it can 
 be worked quickly. Moreover, a sandy soil is 
 warm, because the large quartz grains hold heat 
 well; they are miniature soapstones. If kept wet 
 and if enriched, sandy soils respond with large 
 crops, especially if the farmer fills them with 
 humus. Heavy dressings of barnyard manure 
 have a very beneficial eft'ect upon sandy soils, not 
 merely because manure enriches them in plant food, 
 but more particularly because the humus in it clogs 
 the large spaces between the sand grains, making 
 the soil less porous. A green crop plowed under 
 has the same effect. Manures and fertilisers 
 should not be applied to sandy soils long before the 
 plants need them. 
 
 Some of the most valuable early truck and fruit 
 lands, notably in Delaware and New Jersey and 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 55 
 
 elsewhere along the Atlantic seaboard, are sandy 
 soils that have been built up and given greater 
 body and life by green manuring. Soils known 
 technically as "Norfolk sand," the '* Fresno sand" 
 of California, and the "Miami sand" of inland 
 regions are other examples. They are especially 
 valuable where earliness is essential and are 
 adapted for quick-growing crops, particularly 
 Irish and sweet potatoes, peas, peppers, water- 
 melons, canteloupes; also early fruits, especially 
 strawberries and peaches. They are too light for 
 wheat, oats, rye and other general farm crops. The 
 main point to look after in handling a sandy soil 
 is to fill it with humus. It should not be plowed 
 deeply, as this loosens the soil still more. Heavy 
 rolling compacts the grains and is often very 
 beneficial on soils of this type. Liming will bind 
 the particles together, making the soil more com- 
 pact. 
 
 SANDY LOAMS 
 
 When a soil contains from 60 to 70 per cent, of 
 sand it is commonly called a sandy loam; while a 
 soil that is 70 to 80 per cent, sand is called a light 
 sandy loam. The gradations between the two are 
 insensible. The balance of these soils is clay 
 silt and humus. These are valuable soils for mar- 
 ket garden crops, because they are early, hold a 
 fair amount of water and fertility and are easy to 
 work. Sandy loams are especially desirable for 
 all the trucking crops mentioned as succeeding on 
 sandy soils and are fairly good for general farming 
 crops, although rather light for this purpose. Corn, 
 cotton, rye, potatoes, and the common garden 
 vegetables, as melons, squashes, turnips, tomatoes. 
 
56 SOILS 
 
 beans, etc., enjoy this type of soil. Clover and alfalfa 
 will do well upon it, provided the soil is deep; 
 black raspberries and peaches also thrive upon 
 sandy loams. However, they are preeminently 
 vegetable gardening soils. 
 
 In handling these soils the important thing to 
 do is to remedy their chief defects, which are leach- 
 iness, and, as a consequence, deficiency in available 
 plant food. They need to be fertilised highly 
 and are likely to be benefited most of all by stable 
 manure, which corrects both defects. Usually it 
 is not best to plow them in the fall and leave them 
 over winter without a cover crop, because much 
 plant food will be lost by leaching. 
 
 CLAY SOILS 
 
 Soils containing 60 per cent, or more of clay and 
 silt are commonly called clay soils. A large part 
 of so-called clay soil rnay be silt. Some clay soils are 
 80 to 90 per cent clay and silt; these are usually 
 worthless for farming. Clay soils are exactly the 
 reverse of sandy soils in nature and in agricultural 
 value. The very small spaces between the ex- 
 ceedingly fine grains admit air and water very 
 slowly. When a clay soil is once thoroughly wet 
 it is sticky ; when dry it cracks and bakes and be- 
 comes cloddy. Hence, such soils are not only hard 
 to till, but they are also hard on plants, often being 
 too wet in a wet time and too dry in a dry time. 
 The diflBculty lies in the slowness of clay soils to 
 move water. The dark, bluish-gray colour which 
 so many clays possess is mostly due to the presence 
 of iron oxide or iron sulphide; the red or yellow, 
 is due to the presence of peroxide and protoxide of 
 iron. 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 57 
 
 On the other hand, clay soils are usually rich in 
 plant food, especially in potash. Plants once 
 established in them, particularly deep-rooting 
 plants, are carried ahead vigorously. The farm 
 crops that succeed most generally on clay soils are 
 the cereals, grasses and some tree fruits, notably 
 the apple, pear and plum. Clay land is especially 
 valuable for hay. 
 
 The treatment of a clay soil should be that which 
 will remedy its chief defect — heaviness. Under- 
 drainage will do much to accomplish this result. 
 Underdrainage removes the surplus water in a dry 
 time and promotes aeration and warmth in these 
 soils, many of which are sadly deficient in these 
 respects. The fine particles of clay may be 
 separated from each other and the soil loosened 
 and lightened by mixing them with particles of 
 humus or sand. Barnyard manure or a green 
 manure crop will lighten a heavy clay soil, 
 as well as give body to a light sandy soil. Man- 
 ures applied to clay soils in the fall lose but 
 little of their plant food by leaching. It is 
 rarely practicable to haul sand upon a clay soil and 
 plow it under, because of the expense, but if this 
 can be done expediently the result will be gratifying. 
 It often happens that a muck bed, marking the 
 place where a small swamp formerly existed, is 
 adjacent to clay land. Three or four inches of 
 muck spread upon clay soil is of immediate and 
 lasting benefit. 
 
 Extreme caution should be used in plowing and 
 tilling clay soils. If plowed when too wet they 
 become cloddy. There is a certain point between 
 wetness and dryness when a clay soil crumbles 
 quite readily; it should be tilled only at this time, 
 so far as is possible. The texture of a clay soil 
 
58 SOILS 
 
 may be ruined for several years by one injudi- 
 cious plowing, when it was too wet. Unless 
 the soil is very tenacious, and "runs together" or 
 *' puddles" if left bare over winter, clay land may 
 be fall-plowed to advantage, leaving it rough and 
 exposed to the mellowing action of freezing and 
 thawing. The crust that forms so easily over the 
 surface of clay soil in summer should be prevented 
 by frequent shallow tillage. Something may also 
 be done to improve the texture of clay soils, in 
 certain cases, by liming them. This causes many 
 of the fine grains to stick together, forming larger 
 grains, thereby making the soil looser and more 
 porous. The liming of soils is considered in 
 Chapter XIV. 
 
 CLAY LOAMS 
 
 These are quite similar to clay soils, but they 
 contain less clay and silt, and more sand. A soil 
 carrying 30 to 40 per cent, of clay is generally 
 classed as a clay loam, and a soil carrying 40 to 50 
 
 f)er cent, of clay as a heavy clay loam. A clay 
 oam usually has 25 to 35 per cent, of sand, and a 
 heavy clay loam 10 to 25 per cent, of sand. The 
 fair proportion of sand mixed with the clay in this 
 type of soils makes them easier to handle than clay 
 soils, and more porous. They are apt to be rich, 
 especially in potash, not only because of the store 
 of native plant food, but also because they are very 
 retentive soils. The plant food in fertilisers that 
 may be applied to them is not quickly leached 
 away, as it is on sandy soils, but is held very 
 tenaciously by this more compact soil. Crops 
 upon clay loams are not likely to suffer from 
 drought as badly as on clay soils, because water 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 59 
 
 moves through them more freely. Some clay 
 loams, however, are cold and wet. These soils 
 more than any other type, are benefited by under- 
 drainage. 
 
 The clay loams are suitable for a larger range of 
 cropping than any other soils, except the loams 
 themselves. They are especially valuable for 
 grass, wheat and corn. In handling clay loams 
 attention should be given to the details of manage- 
 ment that are beneficial to clay soils, and espe- 
 cially to underdrainage, judicious plowing and the 
 incorporation of humus. 
 
 LOAM SOILS 
 
 These are the most useful "all around" soils; 
 they combine the lightness and earliness of the 
 sands, with the strength and retentiveness of the 
 clays. Loams contain from 40 to 60 per cent, of 
 sand, and 15 to 25 per cent, of clay. They "work 
 up" easily, do not crust or crack, are well supplied 
 with plant food, and, what is chiefly important, 
 water moves through them freely and still they are 
 not leachy. Practically all farm crops grow satis- 
 factorily on a loam. It is especially suitable for 
 potatoes, corn, market-gardening crops, and small 
 fruits; but grasses, cereals, clover, alfalfa, and 
 cotton, find it congenial. It requires no special 
 treatment, except such attention to good tillage, 
 drainage, and the addition of humus as is a neces- 
 sary part of the best farm practice everywhere. 
 
 GRAVELLY AND STONY LOAMS 
 
 These are sandy loams, clay loams, or loams 
 with an admixture of gravel or stones ; all pieces of 
 
60 SOILS 
 
 rock from 1-25 of an inch in diameter up to two or 
 three inches are gravel — larger pieces are stones. 
 Gravelly and stony loams are most common in the 
 North, especially in the Northeastern states, where 
 they were formed by the work of glaciers. Most of 
 the pieces of rock are" worn smooth. The presence 
 of a large quantity of small stones in a soil makes it 
 warmer, for rock absorbs heat more freely than 
 soil, and loses it more slowly, thus keeping the soil 
 warmer at night. If the stones are numerous 
 and large, however, the increased difficulty of 
 tillage may more than offset the advantage 
 of earliness. For this reason a gravelly loam 
 is usually more valuable than a stony loam. 
 A gravelly or stony sandy loam is sought when 
 extreme earliness is desired. Some of the most 
 profitable strawberry plantations in New York are 
 on this type of soils. As a rule they are better 
 adapted for fruits, especially small fruits, than for 
 staple farm crops. 
 
 PEAT AND MUCK SOILS 
 
 Peat and muck are the black soils produced 
 when a luxuriant growth of plants decays slowly 
 under water for many years. When the plants are 
 but partially decayed, so that the soil is very 
 spongy and fibrous, it is called peat. When decay 
 has progressed further, and especially when the 
 soil is alternately submerged and exposed to the 
 air, becoming finer, blacker and no longer fibrous, 
 it is called muck. Muck is an advanced stage of 
 peat. Both are passing through the same process 
 by which coal has been formed. 
 
 Peat and muck swamps and bogs are found all 
 over the eastern United States, and in many parts 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 61 
 
 of the West except in the arid regions. Most of 
 our fresh water marshes are muck or peat. They 
 are not so numerous here, however, as in many 
 parts of Europe, especially in Ireland, one-tenth 
 of which is said to be peat bogs. These 
 soils are being made to-day, where shallow lakes, 
 ponds, streams, and swamps are being filled by the 
 growth of plants, especially the sphagnum moss; 
 but less peat is being made now than during a 
 period in the earth's history when rainfall was 
 more abundant. 
 
 The Value of Peat and Much Soils. — The value 
 of peat and muck soils for farming depends chiefly 
 upon the amount of mineral matter they contain 
 and upon their drainage. Some of these soils are 
 nearly 100 per cent, humus, others are but 30 
 per cent, humus. Considerable fine rock or mineral 
 soil may be blown upon peat or muck land; the 
 more of this the better. Muck, being further ad- 
 vanced in decay than peat, is more apt to become 
 serviceable as a farm soil than peat; it is, moreover, 
 more compact and usually contains more mineral 
 soil, having been above water longer. 
 
 Many muck and some peat soils need only to be 
 drained in order to become valuable for cropping. 
 Thousands of acres of land, especially fresh marsh 
 land, have been reclaimed in this way. In Michi- 
 gan and Ohio reclaimed swamp lands are largely 
 used for growing celery and onions. Open ditches 
 are most commonly used for this purpose, these 
 soils being so loose that tile drainage is usually 
 impracticable at first, except for the most earthy 
 mucks. The result of drainage is to lower the 
 water table so that air can penetrate the soil. Many 
 peats, and some mucks in which the decay has not 
 progressed far, do not make good farm land, even 
 
62 SOILS 
 
 after they are drained; they become very dry and 
 chalky, having scarcely more power to draw up the 
 free water beneath by capillary action than a pile of 
 chips. Not until several years after drainage, when 
 the fibrous matter has been broken down and made 
 into fine soil, are soriie peat and muck soils able to 
 grow profitable crops. 
 
 When well drained and sufficiently fined to per- 
 mit the free movement of water upward, these soils 
 are especially suitable for cabbage, cauliflower, 
 celery and peppermint. On the finest of mucks the 
 grasses and a variety of vegetables are successful. 
 In southwestern Massachusetts, and in New Jersey, 
 Wisconsin, Michigan and some other sections, peat 
 and muck bogs are ditched, the surface covered 
 with 3 to 6 inches of sand, and then planted with 
 cranberries. 
 
 In handling muck and peat soils one must 
 remember that they are largely humus and always 
 contain a large per cent, of nitrogen, the chief fer- 
 tilising element produced by the decay of vegeta- 
 tion. In fact, muck often contains as much ni- 
 trogen as barn manure, although but little of this 
 is in available form, being in the form of 
 organic nitrogen. These soils usually need 
 fertilising with the mineral plant foods — potash, 
 phosphoric acid, and lime. Wood ashes are espe- 
 cially beneficial to muck soils. As a rule they do 
 not respond to manuring as satisfactorily as soils 
 that contain more mineral matter. 
 
 LOESS SOILS 
 
 The name "loess" is applied chiefly to large 
 areas of soils that have been carried to their 
 present resting places by water or wind, and which 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 63 
 
 show no layers, being of the same nature through- 
 out. The largest deposit of loess soils in the 
 United States is the alluvial loess of the great 
 Mississippi Valley, including thousands of square 
 miles of the "prairie" soil of the central states. 
 They are found in southern Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, 
 Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, 
 Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama, Mis- 
 sissippi, Louisiana. Smaller areas of alluvial loess 
 soils are found in the valleys of the Connecticut, 
 Ohio, and other rivers; while wind-formed loess 
 soils are found in California, Washington, Oregon 
 and many other western states. There are large 
 deposits in the valley of the Rhine, the famous 
 steppes of Russia and the inland plains of China. 
 Loess soils are noted for their great depth and 
 remarkable fertility. In China they have pro- 
 duced bountiful crops for over three thousand 
 years, with little apparent diminution of fer- 
 tility. The richness of our own loess lands 
 in the central West is well known. There 
 the soil is from 5 to 150 feet deep. Although 
 loess soils may differ very widely chemically, 
 they are all about the same physically — a fine 
 silt or clay, possessing great tenacity. Most 
 of the loess soil of the West contains from 
 55 to 75 per cent, of silt and from 6 to 15 per 
 cent, of clay. 
 
 ADOBE SOILS 
 
 These peculiar soils are found only in the arid 
 West, especially in Utah, Arizona, southern 
 California, New Mexico, western Texas, and 
 in the elevated valleys of Colorado and New 
 Mexico. They consist very largely of clay and 
 silt, partly worn down from surrounding high land 
 
64 SOILS 
 
 and partly blown there from elsewhere. They 
 are exceedingly sticky when wet and bake very 
 hard when dry, so that they are used for building 
 purposes. This makes them very hard to work; 
 in short, they are aggravated clay soils. When 
 they are wet enough they are remarkably pro- 
 ductive, as they are unusually rich in plant food. 
 Some adobe soils are very deep- — those in some of 
 the valleys of the arid regions being over 2,000 
 feet deep. 
 
 Adobe soils are usually light buff or gray, ex- 
 cept when they contain a considerable quantity of 
 humus, which makes them darker. They are very 
 fine grained; no grit is felt when adobe is rubbed 
 between the fingers. The depth, fineness and 
 virginal fertility of adobe soils, since they have lost 
 very little from leaching, makes them wonderfully 
 productive. These soils are quite similar to the 
 loess soils of the Central West. 
 
 SALT MARSH SOILS 
 
 All along the Atlantic Coast, and especially in 
 New England, are thousands of acres of marsh 
 land that some day will be used for farm crops. 
 They are made largely from soil that has been 
 worn by the sea from the rocks on the coast. Each 
 wave that curls its crest over the "stern and rock- 
 bound coast" wears it away to some extent, as is 
 witnessed by the honeycombed rocks at Marble- 
 head and elsewhere. The headlands that project 
 into the sea are worn down and strewn upon the 
 beach as sand. Each wave that comes tumbling 
 in grinds these rock particles a little finer — we can 
 hear them rustle and grind against each other in 
 the undertow. After a while the coarse sand of the 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 65 
 
 beach becomes fine sand or mud; it may then be 
 carried out to sea by the undertow or deposited 
 along the inlets and bays by coastwise currents. 
 The latter case marks the beginning of a salt 
 marsh soil. As soon as it gets fairly well started, 
 though still covered with water, the soil is occupied 
 with a dense growth of eel-grass. This accumulates 
 more soil; sea weed, dead fish and other refuse 
 collect and the soil thickens rapidly. Finally it is 
 raised above the tides and the eel-grass gives place 
 to other grasses which slowly extend to the beach 
 over the mud flats. In the course of time farmers 
 cut from these flats "salt hay," which is much 
 relished by cattle. 
 
 All salt marshes are likely to be overflowed 
 occasionally. It is necessary to drain them thor- 
 oughly and to prevent the overflow of salt water by 
 diking before they can be used for ordinary farm 
 crops, which object to so much salt in the soil. 
 It is stated that there are over 200,000 acres of very 
 rich salt marsh land between New York City and 
 Portland, Me., which would be worth $20,000,000 
 if reclaimed; and that there are 3,000,000 acres on 
 the entire Atlantic Coast that could be reclaimed. 
 The cost of diking and draining these lands should 
 not be over $50 per acre. A considerable area of 
 salt marsh soils Has already been reclaimed. 
 
 Salt marsh soils are particularly valuable for 
 growing grass, onions, cabbage, celery; where 
 they contain a large amount of muck cranberries 
 are successful. 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF ALKALI SOILS 
 
 Between the Missouri River and the Rocky 
 Mountains, in parts of California, and in a few 
 
66 SOILS 
 
 other parts of the West, are large areas of alkali 
 soils. They are found almost entirely in arid or 
 semi-arid regions. These soils produce an insignifi- 
 cant growth of a few native plants and are wholly 
 unfit for cropping until properly treated. They are 
 called alkali soils" because they contain large 
 quantities of various salts, mostly common salt and 
 carbonate of soda, which is ordinary washing soda. 
 Otherwise they are normal. Thousands of acres of 
 once valuable land have been made too alkaline for 
 crops by seepage waters. The surface of alkali soils 
 is often covered with crystals of the salts, making it 
 look whitish. This is caused by the evaporation 
 of water from the soil, leaving behind on the sur- 
 face the salt that was dissolved in it. Over-irri- 
 gation, especially on heavy lands, often makes them 
 alkaline and may ruin them. But all soils that are 
 white on the surface are not alkali. Excellent 
 limestone soils have sometimes been mistaken for 
 alkali, because they had a coating of carbonate of 
 lime on the surface. Quite frequently there are 
 alkali spots in an otherwise fertile field, the spots 
 varying from several feet to several acres in extent. 
 
 There are two common types of alkali soils, 
 "black alkali" and "white alkali." The former 
 contains chiefly carbonate of soda, which de- 
 composes the humus in the soil and makes it very 
 black; while the latter is a mixture of several salts, 
 chiefly common salt and sulphate of soda. Black 
 alkali is much more injurious to plants than white. 
 
 The effect of alkali upon plants depends chiefly 
 upon the kind of plant and upon the amount of 
 salt in the first foot or two of soil. Some plants 
 cannot stand alkali at all, some are tolerant of it, 
 a very few prefer it. The plants that tolerate it 
 are mostly native salt bushes and grasses. Of 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 67 
 
 cultivated plants, sugar beets, alfalfa and sweet 
 clover are most tolerant, especially sugar beets. 
 The grains are impatient of it, but rye and barley 
 appear to stand it better than the other cereals. 
 Practically all the common farm crops will not 
 thrive in alkali soils, but after the salts are removed 
 from these soils they are found to be remarkably 
 fertile and produce very large crops. 
 
 How to Treat Alkali Soils. — There are two 
 methods of improving alkali soils; the alkali may 
 be removed, or it may be changed into another 
 form. The most common and most efficient way 
 of removing alkali, whenever non-alkaline water 
 can be had in abundance, is to irrigate the land and 
 drain it. If persisted in, irrigation and drainage 
 usually effect a permanent cure. Irrigation washes 
 the salt out of the soil and drainage carries it off. 
 The waters of some streams and wells, however, 
 contain much alkali and are not suitable for irri- 
 gation. Irrigation without drainage may make 
 a soil more alkaline, by bringing more of the salts 
 to the surface. Under-drainage alone is usually ef- 
 fective, especially for small areas that can be drained 
 at slight expense, but it is too expensive to be prac- 
 ticable except for land having a high valuation. 
 
 In irrigating alkali land the entire surface of the 
 soil should be flooded to remove the salts. 
 In experiments by the Bureau of Soils in Utah a 
 40-acre tract of waste land containing 2 1-2 per cent, 
 of salt, or 6,650 tons to a depth of 4 feet, was flooded 
 with 57 inches of water per year. Of this amount 
 45 inches were recovered as drainage, and this 
 drainage water contained 2,401 tons of salt. In 
 other words one-third of the alkali was removed in 
 one year. The cost of this work is from $16 to 
 $30 per acre. 
 
68 SOILS 
 
 The injurious salt may be changed into another 
 material that is less harmful by dressing the soil 
 with gypsum, or land plaster. An application of 
 four to six hundred pounds per acre is considered 
 sufficient. This treatment is valuable only for 
 black alkali. When a quarter or more of the salt 
 is on or near the surface, as is often the case, it is 
 sometimes practicable to scrape the surface and 
 cast the scrapings elsewhere. 
 
 Certain plants, notably greasewood and the 
 Australian Salt-bush, thrive on alkali soils and 
 take large quantities of salts from them. Occa- 
 sionally it is practicable to crop soils that are very 
 alkaline with these plants for several years, to 
 remove part of the salts. The plants should not 
 be burned on the land, however; ashes of all kinds 
 and especially these, make the soil more alkaline. 
 A crop of Australian salt bushes produces 15 to 
 20 tons of excellent green forage per acre, or 3 to 5 
 tons of dry forage. This plant grows well upon 
 black alkali. 
 
 Some soils that are very badly alkaline may not 
 be worth the attempt to reclaim; those that are 
 only mildly alkaline it will certainly pay to reclaim, 
 providing they possess the other requisites of a 
 fertile soil. Usually it takes several years to com- 
 pletely remove the objectionable salts, but if the 
 soil is under-drained a fair crop can be grown upon 
 it the second season. Deep plowing should be 
 given to all soils that are more or less alkaline. 
 Thorough tillage lessens the evaporation of water 
 and hence lessens the amount of salt deposited upon 
 the surface. Hilgard says, " When the alkali is not 
 very abundant nor very noxious, frequent and 
 deep tillage may afford all the relief needed. More 
 than half the alkaline land in this state (California) 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 69 
 
 that the people are afraid to touch requires no more 
 remedy than thorough, deep tillage, maintained 
 at all times." Liberal dressings of manure, espe- 
 cially horse manure, are very beneficial. 
 
 Alkali soils are apt to be deficient in nitrogen, 
 because the nitrogen-fixing germs are not able to 
 do their work when there is much alkali present. 
 It is stated by Snyder that if a few loads of soil 
 from fertile land are sprinkled on alkali spots the 
 beneficial germs will be introduced and much good 
 will result. After steps have been taken to remove 
 the excess of salts the land should be cropped first 
 with plants that are not very impatient of alkali. 
 Oats is considered one of the best crops for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Practically all farm soils contain some alkali, 
 but wherever rainfall is plentiful the salts are 
 washed away before they accumulate suflSciently 
 to injure plants. A very little alkali in a soil is 
 beneficial. In fact, it is necessary to apply lime to 
 some acid soils in order to make them sufficiently 
 alkaline to be most productive, as is noted in 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 THE SUBSOIL 
 
 The soil immediately beneath the richest part of 
 the surface soil is called the subsoil. It may be of 
 any depth, and extends to the underlying rock. 
 The distinction between the soil and the subsoil, 
 as the two names are commonly used, lies almost 
 entirely in the colour and texture, due to the 
 greater amount of humus near the surface. In 
 cultivated land there is usually a niore or less dis- 
 tinct line between the rich, black surface soil and 
 the poorer and lighter-coloured subsoil. In most 
 
70 SOILS 
 
 soils, especially in the East, this line marks the 
 depth of plowing. The depth at which the vege- 
 tation that gives the surface soil its black colour 
 and looser texture has been buried is about nine 
 inches. Many soils, especially those made by wind 
 or built by water, and peat and muck soils, show 
 very little if any difference in colour or texture be- 
 tween the first nine inches of soil and that below. 
 
 In nearly all cases the subsoil contains less 
 available plant food than the soil above because it 
 is not affected as much by weathering, being pro- 
 tected, and because it is less affected by acids re- 
 sulting from the decay of vegetation, since it con- 
 tains less humus. We might call the subsoil 
 rotting rock, and the soil rotted subsoil. This 
 is a providential arrangement. If the plant food 
 in all the soil, down to bed-rock, were as easy to lose 
 as that in the first nine inches of soil our fields would 
 become unproductive much sooner than they do 
 now. The subsoil is a store of plant [food that is 
 held in reserve. We should look upon the rocks, 
 stones, pebbles and subsoil of our fields as so much po- 
 tential plant food. It is being doled out to us from 
 year to year as fast as it can be used to advantage. 
 
 As the surface soil slowly wears away and is 
 carried off in crops, the subsoil gradually becomes 
 surface soil. The roots of deep-feeding plants, 
 as clover and alfalfa, bring up plant food that they 
 secure below the roots of ordinary crops. When 
 these crops are cut, and the stubble and roots 
 plowed under, a part of the plant food that the sub- 
 soil has contributed to their growth is returned to 
 the surface soil, enriching it. Earthworms bring 
 to the surface subsoil that has never seen the light 
 of day and this adds richness. A plowing some- 
 what deeper than usual may mix an inch or more of 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 71 
 
 light subsoil with the surface soil. This may re- 
 duce the crop for a year or two, or until the raw 
 plant food in the subsoil has been acted upon by 
 air, water, and soil acids, but eventually the surface 
 soil is enriched by the fresh material. 
 
 It is advantageous for a sandy soil to rest upon an 
 impervious clay subsoil, and for a clay soil to be 
 underlaid with a sand or gravel subsoil; both sub- 
 soils help to correct the defects of the soil above 
 them. A deep gravel or sandy subsoil, however, 
 is usually a disadvantage, as it allows plant food to 
 leach down beyond the roots of plants. 
 
 ANALYSING THE SOIL AT HOME 
 
 The determination of the relative proportions 
 of sand, silt, clay, and humus in a soil is called a 
 "mechanical analysis," as compared with a "chem- 
 ical analysis," in which the kinds and the amounts 
 of the different plant foods are determined. It is 
 not always possible to have the soil analysed 
 by a chemist, but it is always practicable for a 
 farmer to determine himself, roughly, the relative 
 amounts of the four ingredients that his soil con- 
 tains. A mechanical analysis should point out 
 the deficiencies of the soil much better than simply 
 viewing it on the surface. 
 
 A close examination of a handful of the soil will 
 reveal much concerning its composition, especially 
 if a miscroscope or even a pocket lens is used. 
 Note the colour, whether dark or light; look closely 
 for the tiny black particles of humus that are likely 
 to be the cause of the dark colour, and are a sign 
 of good texture and large water-holding capacity. 
 Rub the soil gently between the thumb and fore- 
 finger to determine the size of the particles. Are 
 
72 SOILS 
 
 they mostly coarse or fine? If the soil feels dis- 
 tinctly gritty it probably contains a considerable 
 amount of sand; if it feels quite smooth and makes 
 a very smooth, sticky paste when water is added to 
 it, it contains a large percentage of clay or silt. 
 Take a handful of moist— not wet — soil and 
 squeeze it hard. If the ball of soil crumbles 
 quickly and freely when the pressure is removed 
 the soil contains sufficient humus or sand and is 
 likely to prove of good texture and easy to work. 
 If, however, the ball of moist soil retains its shape 
 to a considerable extent, remaining hard and 
 compact, it indicates that clay and silt predom- 
 inate and that the soil will need to be handled 
 carefully. 
 
 A more accurate test for clay, silt, sand and 
 humus may be made in the following manner. 
 Take a small sample of moist soil, as it is found in 
 the field, say a quart; screen out all except fine par- 
 ticles, and weigh it very carefully. Spread it thinly 
 on a pan and set it in a very moderate oven or on the 
 back of the stove, where it will dry slowly, but not 
 burn. When it is perfectly dry weigh it again. 
 The difference shows the amount of water that the 
 soil contains, all of which has been driven off as 
 vapour of water. 
 
 Place this dry soil upon a coal-shovel above hot 
 coals, or on a pan placed in a very hot oven. The 
 humus in it will begin to smoke. If the soil is 
 kept very hot for two or three hours practically all 
 of the humus will burn, leaving only the "ash" 
 or mineral part of the soil. A fairly reliable meas- 
 ure of the amount of humus that the soil contains is 
 secured by comparing the weights before and after 
 burning. All soils that have a fair proportion of 
 humus and are therefore most valuable for farming, 
 
KINDS OF SOIL 73 
 
 should shrink considerably in bulk and in weight 
 by burning. 
 
 Separating the Sand, Silt and Clay. — After the 
 humus is burned out of this soil the sand, silt and 
 clay remain. These being pieces of rocks, or 
 mineral matter, they will not burn like humus, 
 which is vegetable matter. A simple way to 
 separate the three ingredients is to put the soil into 
 a tall, wide-mouthed bottle; one holding two 
 quarts will answer, but a larger one is better. Fill 
 this full of water and shake it violently until all the 
 soil is mixed with water. Stand it on the table and 
 watch the soil settle. If the soil contains coarse 
 sand this will settle almost immediately, being 
 largest and heaviest. Medium sand and fine sand 
 will settle more slowly. Part of the silt and clay 
 will remain suspended in the water for many hours. 
 After several days, or when the water is clear, all 
 the soil will be deposited in the bottom of the jar; 
 the sands on the bottom, then silt, and clay on top. 
 These ingredients may not be deposited in well- 
 defined layers, because sand, silt and clay are ar- 
 bitrary terms, used to designate soil grains of cer- 
 tain abitrary sizes, for the sake of convenience in 
 describing them. In some cases the sand may 
 grade into the silt and the silt into clay impercep- 
 tibly; in other cases ill-defined layers can be seen. 
 In any case a close scrutiny of the way in which the 
 soil settles and of its appearance after it settles will 
 enable one to estimate roughly the proportions of 
 sand, silt, and clay that it contains. 
 
 It will pay a farmer to test the different types of 
 soil on his farm in this way, and especially to test 
 several different soils at the same time and com- 
 pare them. The results of these simple experi- 
 ments will bear out and emphasise field observa- 
 
74 SOILS 
 
 tions on the agricultural value of these soils, or 
 they may indicate a weakness where none is sus- 
 pected. It is well to take a dozen or more samples 
 of soil from different parts of a field in which the 
 soil is all approximately similar, to mix them and to 
 take from the combined lot the sample of soil that is 
 tested. This makes it quite certain that the re- 
 sults obtained represent the field fairly. 
 
 The Bureau of Soils of the United States De- 
 partment of Agriculture is making a "soil survey." 
 The types of soils in all the important agricultural 
 sections of the country are being studied. About 
 100,000 square miles of land in different states 
 have already been studied and reports issued. 
 These reports should be very useful to the farmers 
 in these sections. They may be obtained of the 
 Division of Publications, Washington, D. C. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SOIL WATER 
 
 PROBABLY no other phase of modern farming, 
 except the ever pressing problem of how to 
 keep up thef ertihty of the soil, is now receiving 
 more attention than the problem of how to maintain 
 an adequate supply of soil water. The farmers of 
 our vast arid regions, both in the irrigation and in 
 the dry-farming sections, pay scarcely more atten- 
 tion to it than the farmers in the states east of the 
 Mississippi, where the rainfall is supposed to be 
 sufficient for ordinary crops. 
 
 It is frequently stated that the lack of sufficient 
 water at the right time does more to reduce the 
 yields of farm crops in the United States than the 
 lack of available plant food. This does not refer 
 particularly to the great droughts, which may 
 reduce the corn crop of the whole Mississippi 
 valley 50 per cent. ; nor even to the local droughts, 
 which sere the meadows and shrivel the gardens 
 in scattered localities. The greatest losses from 
 lack of water are not from noticeable droughts, but 
 from the unnoticed dryness which merely lessens 
 the crops year after year, reducing the average and 
 lowering the standard. There are a few restricted 
 sections of the country where the problem of soil 
 water is not pressing; but in most parts of the 
 United States a paramount problem in crop 
 production is how to supply moisture at the right 
 time and in adequate quantity. If a man handles 
 his soil in such a way that it is in the best condition 
 
 75 
 
76 SOILS 
 
 to receive and hold a limited rainfall, he has taken 
 the most important step in solving the coordinate 
 problem of how to maintain its fertility. 
 
 THE AMOUNT OF WATER NEEDED BY PLANTS 
 
 It takes a very large quantity of water to mature 
 even an ordinary crop. Irrigation farmers appre- 
 ciate this much more than farmers in humid re- 
 gions, because they can see it in bulk. Ilellricgel 
 has determined the amount of water necessary for 
 the growth of average crops of the following plants: 
 clover, 400 tons per acre; potatoes, 400 tons; 
 wheat, 350 tons; oats, 375 tons; corn, 300 tons; 
 grapes, 375 tons. This does not take into account 
 water that is constantly being evaporated from the 
 soil in which the crop is growing; it considers only 
 the water used by the plants themselves. At the 
 Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station it was found 
 that the loss of water in growing a ton of clover hay, 
 including what was used by the plants and what 
 evaporated from the soil, was about 1560 tons, or 
 enough to cover an acre 13.7 inches deep. The 
 loss of water in growing one ton of air-dried corn 
 fodder was 570 tons, or five inches per acre; of one 
 ton of oats, 1200 tons of water, or 11 inches per 
 acre; of 200 bushels of potatoes, 582 tons of water, 
 or 5.6 inches per acre. The loss of water in grow- 
 ing one acre of pasturage was 3223 tons, which is 
 equivalent to a rainfall of 28 inches per acre. These 
 interesting figures emphasise what every good 
 farmer already knows: that an abundant supply 
 of water is even more essential to a large crop than 
 an abundance of plant food, and that some crops 
 make larger demands upon the soil reservoir than 
 others. 
 
SOIL WATER 77 
 
 How Plants Drink. — It is not easy to see 
 how it can take from 200 to 375 pounds 
 of water to make one pound of dry plants 
 unless one knows something of the way in 
 which plants drink. Only a small amount 
 of this water becomes a part of the structure 
 of the plant. Some plants are very succulent; 
 94 per cent, of the strawberry fruit is sweet- 
 ened water, 90 per cent, of the entire corn plant 
 is water, and 80 per cent, of the entire potato 
 plant is water. 
 
 Even if the crop were 99 per cent, water 
 this would account for only a small portion 
 of the amount that is actually lost from the 
 soil during its growth. Most of this enormous 
 amount of water is lost by evaporation through 
 the leaves. Contrary to the old notion, plants 
 do not feed by sucking up tiny particles 
 of soil. The plant food in the soil is first 
 dissolved in soil water, as salt dissolves in 
 water; this is then drawn up through the 
 roots by a peculiar process of absor[)tion called 
 "osmosis." The soil water drawn up by the 
 roots contains very little plant food; it is so 
 weak that we consider it pure water, and 
 we drink it as it comes from tile drains or 
 wells. Therefore the plant has to draw up 
 a very large quantity of water in order to get 
 sufficient food. 
 
 After the plant has used the food in this very 
 weak fertiliser solution, the pure water is exhaled 
 through the pores of the leaves. Put a geranium, 
 or other potted plant, under a glass jar and note 
 how soon the inside of the jar becomes clouded 
 with the moisture given off by the leaves. The 
 soil in the pot may be covered with oil-cloth or 
 
78 SOILS 
 
 coated with hot wax to prevent evaporation from it. 
 A plant, then, is a pump; there is a cloud of in- 
 visible water vapour rising from every grass blade 
 and every cotton leaf. The value of some plants 
 as pumps compares quite favourably with the 
 pumps we buy. Eucalyptus trees are sometimes 
 used for draining malarial swamps; willows 
 planted at the mouth of the sink drain keep the 
 soil from getting soggy. 
 
 RAINFALL INSUFFICIENT OR UNEVENLY 
 DISTRIBUTED 
 
 With these figures on the actual amount of water 
 that a soil may lose in producing certain crops, and 
 with this explanation of where so much of it goes, 
 the farmer may now get from the nearest Weather 
 Bureau a statement of the average amount of water 
 that falls upon his soil each year or he may consult 
 the general rainfall map on another page. Then 
 compare the two sets of figures. At first sight, it 
 may look as though there ought to be no difficulty 
 in watering the crop; the rainfall may be thirty 
 inches and the crop may use but thirteen. But 
 how much of this rainfall comes during the months 
 when the crop is growing ? How much of the rain- 
 fall previous to the planting of the crop can be 
 saved in the soil ? These two questions must be 
 answered. The weather man will answer the 
 first; only the farmer can answer the second, 
 for it depends entirely upon the kind of 
 soil he cultivates and upon the way he 
 handles it. 
 
 A comparison between the average rainfall dur- 
 ing the growing season, say from April 1st to Sep- 
 tember 15th, and the amount of water needed by 
 
SOIL WATER 79 
 
 the crop, may reveal an interesting situation. It 
 may show, for instance, that the rainfall in those 
 months is equal to or greater than the water used 
 in producing the crop. This would be all right 
 were it not for two facts; quite frequently there 
 are years that fall much below the average in sum- 
 mer rainfall, perhaps considerably below the 
 amount needed by the crop; it is the average of 
 wet years and dry years that gives the "normal" 
 rainfall. Then, again, not all the rain that 
 falls becomes available for plant growth. 
 Some of it runs off as surface water and 
 fills the creek; some of it passes down through 
 the soil; some of it evaporates. Very often 
 not half of the summer rainfall can be utilised 
 by crops. 
 
 The comparison of figures may show that the 
 total amount of water that falls during the growing 
 season is only about one-third as much as the crop 
 needs. In nearly all sections of the country the 
 situation is that not enough rain falls during the 
 growing season to water the crops after that lost 
 by surface drainage, evaporation and seepage is 
 deducted. The total rainfall may be adequate, but 
 it is unevenly distributed. The problem, then, is 
 to store the abundant rains of winter and early 
 spring against the dryness of summer; this is one 
 of the most important problems in farming. The 
 water may be stored in reservoirs and used for 
 irrigation or it may be stored in the soil itself; 
 the former is a Western, the latter an Eastern 
 method. Soil storage is more common and re- 
 quires more skill. The man who has learned 
 to store water in the soil effectively ha^^ 
 mastered one of the most important problems in 
 crop husbandry. 
 
80 SOILS 
 
 CAPACITY OF DIFFERENT SOILS TO HOLD WATER 
 
 The different forms in which water is found in 
 the soil have been mentioned in Chapter 
 II. The water .that is most valuable to 
 the plant is that which is held by the 
 grains as film moisture, although a large 
 part of this may be drawn from the reser- 
 voir of free or standing water below. Soils 
 vary widely in their ability to hold film 
 water. In judging the value of a piece of 
 land for cropping, it is fully as important to 
 consider its water-holding capacity as its rich- 
 ness in plant food; a soil may be exceedingly 
 rich in the essential plant foods, yet if it does 
 not hold enough water to dissolve that food 
 and carry it to the plants, it will produce no 
 more than a very poor soil. Fertility consists as 
 much in an abundance of soil water as in an 
 abundance of plant food. 
 
 The capacity of a soil to hold water depends 
 upon its composition and upon its texture. 
 The lighter a soil is, or the more sand it 
 contains, the less water it will hold. The 
 smaller the grains, the more water the soil 
 holds, since there is more surface for it to 
 cling to and less likelihood that it will leach 
 through. Each soil grain is surrounded by a 
 film of moisture ; if there are over 168,000,- 
 000,000 grains in an ounce of soil, as in some 
 alluvial soils, the amount of surface for the 
 water to cling to is much greater than if there are 
 but 56,000,000,000 grains in an ounce, as in some 
 truck soils. The more humus a soil contains the 
 greater is its water-holding capacity, for humus is 
 vegetable sponge. If small quantities of several 
 
SOIL WATER 81 
 
 kinds of soil are completely dried in an oven, 
 and water is then added to them, it will be 
 found that they will hold about the following 
 amounts : 
 
 Sharp sand 25% 
 
 Clay soil (60% clay) 40% 
 
 Heavy clay (80% clay) 61% 
 
 Loam 51% 
 
 Garden mould 89% 
 
 Humus 181% 
 
 The same soils do not hold as much water as 
 this in the field, because a large part of it drains 
 off, as it must in order to make the soil congenial 
 for plants. It is far more important to know how 
 much water a soil will hold under its natural con- 
 ditions in the field, after the excess water that fills 
 the spaces has drained away and only film moisture 
 remains. The amount of film water held by dif- 
 ferent soils is about as follows: A coarse sand 
 holds but 12 to 15 per cent, by weight of film 
 moisture; a sandy loam from 20 to 30 per cent.; 
 a clay loam from 30 to 40 per cent. ; a heavy clay, 
 or a soil very rich in humus, may hold 40 to 50 per 
 cent, of film moisture. This means that a mellow 
 loam with a retentive subsoil holds four to five 
 inches of water in the first foot of soil. 
 
 Although a sandy soil holds less water than a 
 clayey soil this disadvantage is partially offset 
 by the fact that the lighter soils give up to the 
 plants a larger percentage of the water they do 
 contain than the heavier and wetter soils. A 
 light soil may hold 30 per cent, of water and a heavy 
 soil 55 per cent., yet the lighter soil may give nearly 
 three-fourths of its water to the crop while the 
 plants could secure scarcely one-half of the water 
 held by the heavy soil. 
 
82 SOILS 
 
 Influence of Subsoil on the Water-holding Ca- 
 pacity of Soils. — The amount of water held by a 
 soil depends not only upon the character of the 
 upper two or three feet of surface soil, in which the 
 roots of most farm plants chiefly feed, but also upon 
 the character of the subsoil and upon the distance 
 to the water table. Some subsoils are retentive, 
 others are leachy. A layer of gravel or sand three 
 or four feet below the surface may provide perfect 
 natural drainage, thereby increasing the amount of 
 film water that the upper soil can hold. A hard- 
 pan of impervious clay, or of rock close to the sur- 
 face, will greatly reduce the water-holding capacity 
 of the soil, strange as it may seem. One might 
 think that if the water could pass down only three 
 or four feet before it strikes hardpan, the soil 
 above would be wetter than if the water could pass 
 down through many feet of soil. But the fact is 
 that the shallow soils are dry est; because, in times 
 of abundant rains, the water soon fills the soil, and 
 then flows off as surface drainage; whereas it 
 sinks down into the deep soil for many feet and is 
 stored there for the future use of the crop. The 
 first five feet of a strong loam may contain enough 
 water to make a layer ten to twenty inches deep 
 over the field. 
 
 Height of Water Table. — The distance below the 
 surface at which free water is found has an im- 
 portant influence on the amount of film water held 
 by the soil above it. Generally speaking the nearer 
 the water table is to the area in which the roots of 
 cultivated plants forage, the larger will be the 
 amount of film water held by this soil; for a large 
 part of this film water is drawn directly from the 
 free water, and the nearer this is, the more abun- 
 dant and equable will be the supply. The roots 
 
SOIL WATER 83 
 
 of most cultivated crops rarely go more than five 
 feet deep, hence a soil in which the water table is 
 from four to six feet below the surface is apt to be 
 most abundantly supplied with film water. When 
 wet land is tile drained, the level of the water table 
 is reduced from four to six feet deep, depending 
 upon the depth at which the drains are laid below 
 the surface. The chief reason why wet lands are 
 so valuable after being under-drained is that the 
 water table is lowered only to the point where it can 
 most easily supply the soil above with film moisture; 
 while in lands that need no under-drainage the 
 water table may be thirty feet deep instead of six. 
 
 HOW TO INCREASE THE WATER-HOLDING CAPACITY 
 
 OF SOILS 
 
 Fortunately for the farmer he can do much to in- 
 crease the amount of film water that some soils can 
 hold, and thereby increase their productiveness. The 
 farmer who irrigates should be interested in the sub- 
 ject as much as the farmer who depends upon natural 
 rainfall to supply his crops with water; it is tedious 
 and expensive to irrigate frequently, and he should 
 know how to increase the capacity of his soil to hold 
 water so that fewer irrigations will be needed. 
 
 Under-drainage is the most efficient means of im- 
 proving a soil in which the water table is always so 
 close to the surface that the soil is too wet for farm 
 crops; or which is very wet in winter and very dry 
 in summer. Deep plowing, harrowing, cultivating 
 and other tillage operations also do much to deepen 
 the soil and enlarge the reservoir, because the more 
 a soil is pulverised the more water it will hold. 
 The addition of humus to a soil in the form of farm 
 manure, muck or a green manure, has a very 
 
84 SOILS 
 
 marked influence on its ability to hold water. Fur- 
 thermore, if the surface of the soil is softened, rains 
 sink into it better. Fall plowing will leave the soil 
 loose so that it will ■ absorb the winter rains : if 
 the surface is hard and compact, much of the water 
 runs off. All of these operations are so funda- 
 mental to successful farming that each one is dis- 
 cussed at length in subsequent chapters. 
 
 Influence of Forests on Water Supply. — The 
 influence of forests upon the water supply should 
 not be overlooked. When forests near streams 
 are removed, the soil of the adjoining farm land is 
 made dryer, and there is increased danger of floods. 
 The large body of humus beneath forest trees holds 
 an immense amount of water, like a sponge — nearly 
 twice as much as its own weight when dry. In 
 times of drought, this water is given off gradually to 
 adjoining dryer land. Moreover, the air near large 
 forests contains more moisture than the air of 
 cleared areas because the trees give off large 
 quantities of water through their leaves: hence 
 farm soils in deforested areas lose water more 
 rapidly, because the air above them is dryer. There 
 are thousands of acres of land in this country which 
 have been cleared of timber to use for farming, 
 but which are nearly valueless for that purpose 
 and should revert to forest; to say nothing of the 
 wholesale destruction of forests for timber alone. 
 Policy, as well as sentiment, should induce every 
 man to [leave as much of his farm in woodland 
 as is practicable. 
 
 LOSS OF WATER BY SEEPAGE 
 
 The free water of all soils is continually passing 
 downward in obedience to the law of gravitation. 
 
SOIL WATER 85 
 
 Near the surface it seeps down slowly, but as it 
 goes deeper it gathers volume and power. If the 
 soil is shallow, it soon strikes hardpan and over- 
 flows as surface drainage. If the soil is deep, it 
 may sink down many hundreds of feet until it 
 comes to some kind of a check or channel; per- 
 haps a stratum of rock, perhaps a layer of coarse 
 gravel. Down this it passes, joining forces with 
 other underground currents, as the rill joins the 
 brook and the brook joins the creek. This channel 
 may lead it many miles away to where the stratum of 
 rock or gravel comes to the surface. Then it 
 gushes forth as a spring near the base of some hill, 
 or on the bottom of some lake. Or it may not come 
 to the surface but seek a lower level and there 
 seep upward through the soil because of the pres- 
 sure of other water behind it. Just as surface water 
 flows down hillsides and collects in valleys, so 
 underground water may sink through the soil of the 
 mountain, hill, knoll or ridge, until it reaches the 
 levels, where it may be pushed up towards the 
 surface again by the pressure of water behind 
 it. Many thousands of acres of farm lands are 
 thus sub-irrigated, or watered from below, by 
 water that has seeped down from higher land, 
 perhaps many miles away. When drained, these 
 soils become very productive, not only because 
 of the equable supply of water that they 
 receive from below, but also because this 
 water, having perhaps travelled a long dis- 
 tance in seeking its level, has dissolved much 
 plant food from the soil through which it has 
 passed. 
 
 Loss of Plant Food in Seepage Water. — This 
 latter phase of the seepage of soil water has a very 
 important bearing upon the fertility of the land. 
 
86 SOILS 
 
 The water in the soil, both free and film, is not pure 
 but has in it various salts and elements that it has 
 dissolved from the soil. Some of these are plant 
 foods. The nitrates, containing that most ex- 
 pensive of plant foods, nitrogen, are most likely to 
 be carried off in this way; also the phosphates and 
 the potash salts to some extent. Most any kind 
 of farm plant will grow very well in the water 
 caught from a drain tile, and nothing else, showing 
 that this water contains as much plant food as 
 that which the plants in the soil draw up through 
 their roots. 
 
 The coarser a soil is, and the less humus it con- 
 tains, the less able is it to retain the rain that falls 
 upon it. It takes longer for water to seep down 
 through clay soils, in which the spaces between 
 the particles are very small, than through a sandy 
 soil, in which the spaces between the grains are 
 much larger. This is why sandy soils are leachy. 
 The loss of water from clayey soils, through seep- 
 age, is much facilitated by the burrows of earth- 
 worms and the decay of roots, both of which open 
 channels; also, to a considerable extent, by the 
 numerous cracks that appear in all clay soils as 
 they dry. These cracks are often very large on 
 the surface; smaller though less numerous cracks 
 are found for several feet below. 
 
 With the exception of very sandy soils, the loss 
 of water by seepage is not likely to occur during the 
 growing season. In most parts of the country the 
 upper soil becomes so dry during the summer that 
 the summer rainfall is mostly taken up or evapo- 
 rated before it is lost by seepnge. It is during the 
 season when vegetation is dormant or inactive, 
 which is usually when the precipitation is largest, 
 that the loss of water ])y seepage, and the loss of 
 
SOIL WATER 87 
 
 the plant food dissolved in this water, is likely to 
 be largest. 
 
 The loss of soil water by seepage can be prevented, 
 in part, by judicious farm practice. If a leachy 
 soil is filled with humus, either from manure or 
 from decaying vegetation, the large spaces between 
 the grains are clogged and water sinks through the 
 soil less rapidly. An open, porous soil may also 
 be compacted by rolling, which reduces the size 
 of the spaces by crushing the grains together. 
 Liming a sandy soil may have a slight effect in the 
 same direction. If the soil is not left bare during 
 the winter when a crop is not growing upon it, but is 
 kept covered with a catch crop, as rye, the roots and 
 herbage of this crop hold much of the water that 
 otherwise would be lost. These operations are 
 discussed at length in succeeding chapters. 
 
 THE MOVEMENT OF FILM WATER 
 
 In Chapter II it was stated that by far the most 
 important kind of water in the soil is that which 
 surrounds the soil grains like a film; because it is 
 this, not free water, which the roots of plants use. 
 This water is held to the surface of the soil grains by 
 tension or adhesion, as a film of water adheres to 
 a pebble dipped into the brook. There is also 
 more or less water in the spaces between the grains. 
 These films of water are not all of the same thick- 
 ness. Some grains have more water on them than 
 others; therefore parts of the soil are dryer than 
 others. The dryness of some parts of the soil may 
 be due to the fact that they have received less water 
 from rainfall. It may also be caused by the roots 
 of thirsty plants. 
 
 The movement of film water takes place in this 
 
88 SOILS 
 
 way: The minute root hairs are always absorbing 
 water, together with the plant food that is dissolved 
 in it; not free water, but the film water clinging to 
 the grains of soil. The soil grains which thus pay 
 tribute to the plants become dry. But they touch 
 grains that are not in direct contact with the plant 
 pump; part of the film moisture clinging to these 
 IS passed along to the dry grains, so that both be- 
 come equally moist. Now the grains a little further 
 off have more moisture than these which have given 
 a part of theirs to the dry grains in the grasp of the 
 root hairs. These, likewise, give of their abun- 
 dance to the soil grains less favoured. So it comes 
 about that there is always a steady current of film 
 water passing to every root hair of every thirsty, 
 growing plant; not flowing through the soil, but 
 creeping from particle to particle, and space to 
 space. 
 
 In exactly the same way there is always a cur- 
 rent of film water passing upward on every 
 summer day to replace the water that the upper- 
 most soil grains have lost by evaporation. The 
 amount of water lost from common farm soils 
 by evaporation may be as much as five inches a 
 month during the summer. There must be in- 
 equalities in the dryness of the soil that are due 
 to other causes, as difference in texture or com- 
 position; but for the most part we may think of 
 this great volume of film water, equal to a layer 
 of water over fifteen inches deep in the first five 
 feet of some soils, as settling strongly in two currents 
 — toward the surface, to replace the loss of water 
 by evaporation, and toward the roots of plants. 
 These invisible currents are not affected by the 
 law of gravitation; they travel up, down, or sidewise 
 in the endeavour to make the soil equally moist 
 
SOIL WATER 89 
 
 throughout its bulk. But this result is never 
 brought to pass; it is prevented by the frequent 
 downward passage of water, constant evaporation 
 from the surface and continued absorption by 
 roots. 
 
 We are not concerned about checking the current 
 of film moisture toward the roots, except to in- 
 crease it. Usually the larger the loss of film water 
 in this way, the greater the gain to the farmer. 
 But we are neatly concerned about the current 
 of film water that is passing upward to the surface 
 of the soil and is then lost in the air as water vapour. 
 We cannot afford to lose this water; and we can- 
 not afford to lose, even temporarily, the plant food 
 that is dissolved in it. When the water evaporates, 
 this is left upon the surface of the soil where it is 
 useless to plants, until washed down into the root- 
 feeding area. We would rather have the water 
 evaporate, not from the soil, but through the leaves 
 of crops, after it has given to the plants the food 
 that it contains. 
 
 The sun is the mightiest of pumps. The 
 amount of water that is evaporated from the soil in 
 one summer day is astonishing even to those who 
 have observed how quickly the soil becomes dry 
 in midsummer after a heavy rain. King found 
 that each square foot of an ordinary farm soil 
 lost 1.3 pounds of water daily by evaporation 
 from the surface. 
 
 Capillary Action. — The movement of film water 
 in the soil is frequently called "capillary action." 
 The soil being made of millions of tiny grains, 
 there are likewise millions of tiny spaces between 
 the grains, as in a pile of wheat; so it follows that 
 there is a more or less continuous passage from one 
 space to another, making many small and very 
 
90 SOILS 
 
 crooked tubes — hence the term "capillary," hair- 
 Hke. Fihn water passes up, down and sidewise 
 through tliese tubes, but mostly upward, for there 
 is where the soil is most likely to become dry. For 
 the purpose of illustration, then, we may conceive 
 that every farm soil is permeated with very fine 
 hair-like tubes which reach deep into the subsoil; 
 that it is, we will say, something like a bundle of 
 wheat straw. The lower ends of the tubes rest 
 U})on the water table — which may be two, six or 
 thirty feet below the surface, according to the depth 
 at which free water is found. The upper ends of 
 the tubes open upon the surface. Water is drawn 
 up through these tubes, from the water table to the 
 surface, by a kind of suction called "ca})illary ac- 
 tion." Capillary action is something like the pro- 
 cess by which oil is drawn up through a wick; the 
 flame that burns the oil is like the sun that 
 evaporates the water; as oil creeps up through the 
 strands of the wick, so soil water creeps up through 
 tiny j)ores of the soil. Whenever the sun is hot, or 
 a (Irying wind hugs the ground, water is drawn up 
 through these tubes. In reality the tubes are as 
 crooked and irregular as the holes in a piece of 
 cheese, yet the principle and the results are the 
 same. 
 
 How to Prevent the Loss oj Film Water. — How 
 can this great loss of water — sometimes amounting 
 to over one and one-half inches of rain in a single 
 week — be checked ? Obviously there is but one 
 way to do it — by stopping the mouths of the tubes. 
 One need not travel far to find illustrations of how 
 this may be done. Turn over a board or stone 
 lying on the ground; the soil beneath is more 
 inoist than the adjacent soil; the pores of the 
 earth have been closed, and the current of water 
 
SOIL WATER 91 
 
 passinoj upward has been stopped. That is why 
 fishermen Imnt for earthworms beneath stones, 
 when the weather is very dry. A layer of small 
 flat rocks scattered over the surface of the ground 
 would prevent a large part of the film water from 
 escaping, were it practicable. The woodpile 
 offers another illustration, for the soil is always 
 moist beneath the layer of chips, showing that evap- 
 oration has been checked. But a layer of straw 
 does just as well and is easier to a})ply. 
 
 Any material that is spread uj^on the soil to stop 
 up the mouths of the water tubes and shade the 
 surface from the sun, thus preventing the loss of 
 soil water, is called a mulch. The most effective 
 and practicable mulches are coarse hay, straw, and 
 farm manures; not only because they are easy to 
 apply, but also because they benefit the soil in other 
 ways, chiefly through the humus that they add. 
 Occasionally other materials are used to mulch the 
 soil, as leaves, straw waste, coal ashes, sea-weed. 
 Mulching to save soil water is rarely practised in 
 growing common farm crops. Small fruits, espe- 
 cially the strawberry, currant and gooseberry and 
 also, to a slight extent, the tree fruits, are frequently 
 mulched with these materials. 
 
 The Soil Mulch. — The most practicable mulch 
 in general farming is made of loose, dry soil. This 
 is obtained by stirring the surface of the soil with 
 the implements of tillage, as the plow, harrow and 
 cultivator. Stirring the soil makes it much looser. 
 The pores are broken. Water can creep from one 
 soil grain to another only when the grains are close 
 together — when the soil is compact. Stirring the 
 soil spreads the grains so far apart that water can- 
 not pass from one grain to another, or but very 
 slowly. So it comes no further than the mouths 
 
92 SOILS 
 
 of the tubes, which are now not on the surface but 
 eight inches, six inches or three inches below the 
 surface, according to the depth to which the soil 
 has been loosened. The practical application of 
 this fact, and other benefits of tillage, are fully 
 described in Chapter V. 
 
 THE WATER-MOVING ABILITY OF DIFFERENT SOILS 
 
 Since soils are so variable in composition and in 
 texture they naturally vary a great deal in their 
 "capillarity," or their ability to move film water. 
 This point is worth considering when selecting a 
 farm; a soil through which water moves slowly is 
 not apt to be very productive. The coarser a soil 
 is, the less water it can draw up. Fill one lamp 
 chimney with coarse sand and another with clay 
 loam, both packed hard. Set both of them 
 in a pan of water and note the difference in 
 the amount of water that they draw up and the 
 time it takes them to do it. For a while water will 
 rise rapidly through sand, but it will not be drawn 
 very high, because the spaces or tubes are so large. 
 In the finer soils, especially those containing some 
 clay, water rises more slowly, but it is drawn up 
 very much farther. Humus increases the water- 
 drawing power of a soil. 
 
 The importance of securing a soil with high 
 capillary power lies in the relation this has to the 
 water supply of crops. Film water, on which 
 plants feed, is drawn largely from the reservoir 
 of free water below. It is important that a soil be 
 able to draw water freely and rapidly in order to 
 keep the roots constantly bathed in the life giving 
 fluid. A large crop makes a tremendous drain 
 upon the water in the upper part of the soil during 
 
SOIL WATER 93 
 
 a single day. If the sun is very hot, the amount of 
 water lost by evaporation is large; even thorough 
 tillage cannot entirely prevent the escape of water. 
 This means that the supply of film water in the 
 surface soil must be quickly replenished from be- 
 low, else the plants will suiter. 
 
 In some soils the water table is many feet 
 below the soil in which the roots of plants 
 feed; in such cases there is especial need 
 that the water be able to move rapidly through 
 the soil. Very sandy soils not only do not hold 
 much water, but also have little power to transport 
 it by capillary action. Very stiff clay soils, on the 
 other hand, while they hold a large amount of 
 water, regain water very slowly after having be- 
 come dry, so that they frequently suffer much in a 
 drought. When a clay soil dries it shrinks, and 
 cracks appear not merely on the surface, but also to 
 a depth of several feet. These cracks let in air 
 which still further dries the soil ; the roots of plants 
 may also be torn apart and exposed. All kinds 
 of loams have excellent water-carrying power; 
 this fact, together with their mellowness and fer- 
 tility, makes them among the most valuable of 
 farm soils. 
 
 How to Test the Water-holding Capacity of 
 Farm Soils. — The points that have been brought 
 out in the preceding paragraphs will be made 
 more concrete to the reader if he will try a few 
 simple experiments. Get a quart each of stiff clay, 
 sand, and the black, spongy humus beneath 
 forest trees. Put the three samples into a slow 
 oven and dry them for two or three hours, or until 
 they appear perfectly dry. Stand three lamp 
 chimneys in pans and fill one with the dry humus, 
 one with the dry sand and one with the dry clay. 
 
94 SOILS 
 
 Pack each very tightly. Fill three quart jars with 
 water and pour water slowly from one of them into 
 the top of the chimney of humus; water the chim- 
 neys of sand and clay likewise from the other two 
 jars. Pour in only a very little water at a time so 
 as to allow it to settle slowly and wet all the soil 
 thoroughly. Stop pouring water when the soil is 
 wet to the bottom, and water begins to seep from 
 the bottom of the chimney. Note first, how 
 quickly water passes through sand and how little 
 water it holds — it is leachy. Observe that the 
 humus also absorbs the water quite readily, but 
 holds much more of it. The clay takes up the 
 water very slowly but holds a large quantity of it. 
 The water left in each of the three jars shows the 
 relative water-holding capacity of the soils. 
 
 The chimneys of soil represent actual conditions 
 in the field ; the water held by the soil in the chim- 
 neys is film or capillary water, while the water that 
 seeps out at the bottom of the chimney is free or 
 standing water. The same results may be secured 
 in another way by filling several flower pots 
 with different soils and drying them in an oven. 
 After weighing each pot of soil separately, add 
 water to it very slowly until it seeps out at the 
 bottom. Set the pots away to dram. When no 
 more water seeps out, weigh them again. The 
 difference in weight is the amount of film water 
 that the soil can hold. 
 
 The several types of soil on the farm may now 
 be tested in the same way. Compare the water- 
 holding capacity of a sandy loam with a clay 
 loam. If you have a stiff clay soil, fill one chimney 
 with this, another with a sample of the same soil 
 which has had some humus mixed with it, and a 
 third chimney with another sample of the same 
 
SOIL WATER 95 
 
 soil which has had some sand mixed with it. A 
 comparison of these three samples should point 
 a profitable lesson. If you have a very sandy soil 
 find the influence of adding humus to it in like 
 manner. If accurate measurements are desired, 
 weigh the dry soil and the same soil after it is 
 thoroughly saturated. A good soil should be able 
 to absorb at least one-half its own weight of water ; 
 humus often holds almost twice its own weight of 
 water, and sand from 15 to 25 per cent. 
 
 Testing the Water-moving Ability of Soils. — The 
 ability of a soil to move water by capillary action, 
 and to draw upon the free water to supply the 
 needs of plants, may be determined with a fair 
 degree of accuracy in the following manner. Take 
 chimneys of fire-dried and well-packed clay, sand 
 and humus, as in the previous test, and stand 
 them in a pan. Cover the bottom of the 
 pan with half an inch of water. Note the water 
 creep up into the chimney by capillary attraction. 
 It rises very rapidly in the sand at first, but is carried 
 only three or four inches high and then stops — 
 the spaces between the grains are too large for it to 
 be drawn higher. Humus takes the water up more 
 slowly but eventually the soil at the top of the 
 chimney is wet with the film water drawn up from 
 below. The clay absorbs water even more slowly 
 than humus, but the surface soil of the chimney of 
 clay is wet in a few hours. Now test in a similar 
 manner the farm soils which you have to handle. 
 See what effect mixing a little sand or humus with 
 the clay has upon its water-drawing power, and 
 what influence mixing a little humus with the 
 sand has upon its capillary power. Compare 
 the capillary power of sand when it is put into 
 the chimney loosely, and when it is packed 
 
96 SOILS 
 
 into the chimney very firmly; it may suggest the 
 value of rolling. 
 
 The chimney of soil is a field in miniature; all 
 fertile soils draw up water from the water table by 
 capillary action, as these samples of soil draw up 
 water from the pan. One of the most important 
 functions of the soil is here exemplified. Some- 
 times simple experiments like these show in tang- 
 ible, concrete form, the results that may be expected 
 from a farm practice that must be extended over a 
 number of years in order to achieve these same 
 results in the field. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 
 
 TILLAGE — stirring the soil — is the simplest 
 and commonest operation on the farm. Pos- 
 sibly this is why it is understood the least. 
 There are a hundred farmers who can explain per- 
 fectly the theory of a balanced ration to a dozen who 
 know all the benefits of the ordinary soil-stirring 
 that occupies their time more than any other 
 farm practice. This is largely due to the fact that 
 there are two perfectly obvious benefits of tillage 
 — the ground must first be stirred to make a mellow 
 seed bed, and it must be stirred to kill the weeds 
 that dispute with the crops for possession of the 
 land. The necessity for stirring the soil to ac- 
 complish these ends is so apparent that many have 
 looked no further for the benefits of tillage than 
 those that appear on the surface. 
 
 The Present Emphasis on Good Tillage. — During 
 the past twenty-five years there has been a marked 
 change in the attitude of farmers toward tillage. 
 Probably no other farm operation has advanced 
 farther in the quarter century, not only in a better 
 understanding of its purpose, but also in the eflfi- 
 ciency with which it is performed. During the last 
 quarter of the ninteenth century emphasis was 
 placed most emphatically on tillage — "good tillage,'* 
 "thorough tillage," "better tillage," and similar 
 captions were the subjects for more articles in 
 farm papers and more talks at farmers' institutes 
 than any other operation of farming. The results 
 
 97 
 
98 SOILS 
 
 of this campaign, or "tillage era," as it has 
 been called, are seen everywhere in better crops 
 and more fertile fields. Just now we seem to be 
 passing through a "humus era" in our agricultural 
 development. The • benefits of green manuring 
 and cover crops are being heralded far and wide — 
 perhaps over-emphasised a bit — as the benefits of 
 tillage may have been overstated; for humus, as 
 well as tillage, is only one of many factors that enter 
 into the profitable production of crops. It is well, 
 however, that each of the important points in 
 good farming is before us so prominently for a 
 time; it brings them to the attention of men who 
 would not consider them so carefully were they not 
 stated so emphatically and discussed so exclusively. 
 
 TILLAGE TO PREPARE THE SEED BED 
 
 The primary object of stirring the soil is to pre- 
 pare it to receive the crop and to eliminate com- 
 petition with other plants. In the wild, seeds are 
 sown on untilled land and very few find a congenial 
 seed bed and grow into lusty specimens of their 
 kind. They may find the soil upon which they 
 fall hard, cold and unresponsive, or already pre- 
 empted by other plants of the same or other kinds. 
 Even if the seeds germinate they at once engage 
 in a life struggle with their neighbours for food, 
 water, sunshine, a struggle that is relentless and 
 inexorable. A very few plants, favoured by some 
 accident in position, get a start over the others and 
 slowly choke them to death, or keep them in wan 
 and feeble subjection. Nature is satisfied, appar- 
 ently, with small returns for her prodigal seed sow- 
 ing; if one seed in a thousand brings forth fruit unto 
 the harvest she is satisfied. 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 99 
 
 Man requires a larger increase. It is in his 
 power to secure it in two ways; he can make the 
 condition of the soil favourable for the germination 
 of the seeds and the growth of the plants, and he 
 can prevent competition by isolating his plants. 
 All of these conditions are secured by tillage. The 
 plow buries wild plants and loosens and deepens 
 the soil ; the harrow makes it mellow to receive the 
 seed; the cultivator kills the weeds that would 
 dispute with the crop for possession of the land. 
 Simple as these statements are, they are funda- 
 mental truths. 
 
 An Improvement on Nature.— The farmer whose 
 land yields the most increase is the one who im- 
 proves upon Nature the most, in sowing seeds and 
 in growing plants. He sows seed, not in Nature's 
 haphazard way, wherever the wind blows, on good 
 soil or poor, but only upon soil that is congenial 
 for that plant and that has been specially pre- 
 pared to receive it. He grows plants alone, not 
 in a hand to hand struggle with other plants that 
 he does not want. In fact, a man's success in 
 farming is measured largely by his ability to re- 
 move from his plants the uncertainties and the 
 competition that these plants would have to face 
 were they growing in the wild. This result is 
 accomplished largely by tillage. 
 
 Good tillage is especially needed in making the 
 seed bed. The farmer who does the most harrow- 
 ing is usually rewarded at harvest time far beyond 
 the value of the time spent. All seeds need a 
 mellow soil, a warm soil and a well ventilated soi' 
 in order to germinate quickly and grow fast. Plow- 
 ing and harrowing make the soil finer and secure 
 these conditions; and the degree of mellowness, 
 warmth, and aeration it has is governed very largely 
 
100 SOILS 
 
 by the thoroughness with which the land is fitted. 
 It is one of the common remarks at farmers' insti- 
 tutes that too little attention is paid to the *' tillage 
 of preparation," as it is sometimes called; that 
 farmers content themselves with plowing and then 
 harrowing the soil once or twice before seeding, 
 when perhaps three or four harrowings and one or 
 two turns with the clod crusher would have paid. 
 Seeds will not germinate readily if they are placed 
 between three or four large lumps of soil. No 
 matter how moist the lumps are, the seeds dry out 
 fast because they do not touch the soil on all sides. 
 If the lumps are broken into fine soil and the seeds 
 are planted in this, they have an even and constant 
 supply of water. It is as impracticable and un- 
 profitable to sow seeds upon lumps as to spread 
 fertiliser upon lumps. 
 
 The number of times that it will pay to harrow 
 when fitting a seed bed depends entirely upon its 
 texture; a sandy loam soil may be as mellow and 
 friable after one turn around the field as a clay 
 loam is after three turns. Moreover it is impossible 
 to make some soils mellow, even with a dozen 
 harrowings. The trouble lies deeper — it may be 
 lack of humus or poor drainage, which must be 
 corrected in other ways. But up to a certain 
 point tillage does fine, loosen, drain, aerate, and 
 warm the soil and fit it for growing a profitable 
 crop. Some soils respond to this tillage of prep- 
 aration better than others; a good farmer soon 
 finds out, by experimenting and observing, how 
 thoroughly it pays to fit his land. He may 
 be surprised to find that one or two extra 
 turns with the harrow will pay him much more 
 when harvest time comes than the cost of the 
 labour. 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 101 
 
 TILLAGE TO KILL WEEDS 
 
 The second object of tilling — that of kilHng 
 weeds — is forced upon the attention of the farmer 
 with back-breaking and sweat-rolHng regularity. 
 A weed is a plant that is not wanted — whether it 
 is a Canada thistle in the pasture, a daisy in the 
 meadow, quack-grass in the corn or "pusley" in 
 the garden. The plant may be innocent enough 
 in itself, and may sometimes even be grown as a 
 crop, as when sand vetch sown this year for hay 
 comes up next year in the corn planted on the same 
 land. A weed is a plant out of place, accord- 
 ing to man's scheme, so he becomes its bitter 
 enemy. 
 
 The Tirade Against Weeds. — -From the amount 
 of wordy abuse that weeds have to stand 
 from man one would think that they are 
 free moral agents and capable of choosing be- 
 tween the already overcrowded wildwood, where 
 they would have to fight for a living, and the in- 
 viting farm lands where the soil has been made 
 soft and comfortable. If one were to ask a 
 thousand farmers in this country, "What is the 
 greatest trouble you have in farming ? " the com- 
 plaint that would rise most readily to the lips of 
 nine hundred of them would be *'I could get along 
 all right if it was not for those pesky weeds." 
 Weed recipes, purporting to be short cuts to the 
 extermination of this torment, are offered by the 
 score. Many bulletins and several books on weeds 
 keep constantly before him the danger of relaxing 
 watchfulness against the great pest. It would al- 
 most seem, from all that is said about and against 
 weeds, that if only those plants that we put into the 
 soil could grow, and no others, the chief impediment 
 
102 SOILS 
 
 to the farmer's prosperity would be removed and 
 he could take a half holiday six times a week. 
 
 Friendly Words for Weeds. — In recent years there 
 has grown up an entirely different attitude toward 
 weeds on the part of some people. We are told that 
 weeds are a great blessing, not a curse. The reason 
 given is that if there were no weeds to kill, many 
 farmers would not cultivate their soil; hence the 
 other benefits of tillage — saving moisture and set- 
 ting free plant food — would not be secured as often 
 as they are now, w hen a multitude of weeds makes 
 it necessary to till frequently. We have also been 
 told that if a man cultivates his land as often as he 
 ought, in order to secure these other benefits of 
 tillage, weeds will not bother him much. 
 
 Here, then, are two extreme views concerning 
 the warfare between man and weeds. One man 
 says that all that it is necessary to do is to cultivate 
 often enough to keep down weeds and the other 
 benefits will be secured in so doing. The other 
 man says that if the soil is tilled as it ought to 
 be in order to save water all the weeds w ill be killed 
 in so doing. Both are radicals. The fact is that 
 sometimes the soil should be stirred when there 
 are no weeds in sight; and sometimes weeds 
 are so bad that the soil must be stirred two or 
 three times as often as would be necessary 
 were we considering only soil moisture and plant 
 food. During a hot, muggy July, with heavy 
 thunder storms about every other day, the hoed 
 crops would not suffer for lack of water were 
 it not for weeds. Purslane, ragweed, crab-grass 
 and a host of other worthies luxuriate over the 
 ground, choking and stifling the crop and pumping 
 immense quantities of water from the soil. 
 
 The chief way in which weeds injure crops is by 
 
ao. PorATOKS IN DIRE NEED OK IILLAGE 
 Soil water is l)oinK lost rapidly, and the plants need it 
 
 80. POTATOES LUXURIATING UNDER A MULCH OF LOOSE, DRY SOIL 
 This preserves the moisture to them. This crop will "iian out"; the other will not 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 103 
 
 robbing them of water. They do use some 
 plant food, but the loss is not as great. These 
 weeds must be killed, even if one has to 
 use the cultivator twice as often as would 
 be necessary otherwise. On the other hand 
 there may come a dry August during which 
 few weeds start, but it is very essential that the 
 cultivator be run over the ground once or twice 
 a week so as to keep a layer of loose dry soil be- 
 tween the precious soil moisture and the air which 
 is hungry to suck it up. I have a little garden back 
 of my house. During a rainy spring if I worked it 
 enough to keep down all weeds it would be about 
 three times a week, which is about three times 
 oftener than it would be necessary to cultivate 
 were soil moisture and plant food the chief con- 
 cern. The question as to whether weeds or the 
 saving of water, should be the guide to the fre- 
 quency of tillage depends upon the locality and 
 trie season ; it is as often one as the other. 
 
 Weeds a Spur to the Sluggard. — Weeds, are how- 
 ever, a mentor that we but half appreciate. It is 
 easy to advise "Till as often as is necessary to keep 
 soil water from escaping," but the escape of soil 
 water is a very intangible thing, likewise the setting 
 free of plant food, a benefit of tillage that will be 
 mentioned shortly. We cannot see either of them, 
 and most of us are apt to be careless about the 
 things we cannot see. But weeds are very much 
 in evidence. If the average man sees a dozen lusty 
 pigweeds waving triumphantly above his early 
 potatoes he will be much more likely to cultivate 
 and hoe his garden than if he happens to notice 
 that there is a thin, moisture-losing crust on the 
 surface of the soil. Every good farmer has a big 
 bump of pride which begins to thump impatiently 
 
104 SOILS 
 
 when his crops get weedy, especially if they are 
 close to the road. So he begins to stir the soil with 
 a cultivator and to dig into it with a hoe; then the 
 chief mission of weeds in farming has been ac- 
 complished. From the beginning of husbandry 
 they have pricked men on to till the soil. Now we 
 know of other reasons for keeping the soil stirred 
 around our plants, reasons that are important 
 enough to make the best farmers till when there are 
 no weeds. But weeds will always remain the spur 
 of the sluggard — and a fairly reliable tillage guide 
 to the rest of us. 
 
 TILLAGE TO SAVE WATER 
 
 Aside from preparing the soil to receive the crop 
 and killing the weeds that would compete with the 
 crop, tillage accomplishes another result that may 
 be even more valuable to the farmer. It saves 
 soil water, as has been described in the preceeding 
 chapter, by establishing a mulch, which makes it 
 impossible for much water to evaporate. The 
 amount of water that is saved by keeping the sur- 
 face of the soil thoroughly stirred may be as much 
 as one-third of the total amount that the soil re- 
 ceives. Snyder found that the soil of a corn field 
 which had been cultivated frequently contained 
 17 per cent, of water in the layer of soil from 9 
 to 17 inches deep, while the same layer of 
 soil in another part of the same field, but which 
 had not been tilled, contained only 12 per cent, 
 of water. 
 
 The efficiency of a soil mulch in preventing the 
 escape of soil water needs no further proof than 
 observation in orchard, field and garden. During 
 a summer drought the corn leaves shrivel first 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 105 
 
 where the farmer has cultivated least. Just be- 
 neath the loose dry soil of his cultivated field he 
 finds moist soil, with plant roots revelling in it. 
 On an uncultivated field he may have to dig down 
 a foot or more before he finds moist soil. Even a 
 casual examination of the farms in any community 
 will convince a man that the operation which con- 
 tributes most largely to success or failure in farming 
 is tillage, chiefly in its relation to the saving of soil 
 water. 
 
 Tillage to Increase the Water-holding Capacity 
 of a Soil. — Besides saving water by surface tillage 
 tne farmer can increase the capacity of his soil to 
 hold water by deep tillage, as by fall plowing and 
 by subsoiling^ These operations loosen the soil 
 to a deptli of 5 to 14 inches and thereby enable it 
 to retain more of the water that falls upon it as rain 
 or snow, a large part of which runs off as surface 
 drainage when the soil is hard, carrying with it, 
 perhaps, much fine soil. The shallow plowing so 
 common in parts of the South is responsible for 
 much of the loss of soil by washing in this region. 
 
 Heavy clay soils and other soils that are quite 
 compact, so that they absorb water very slowly, 
 are benefited by subsoiling and fall plowing. Soils 
 containing a large amount of sand are not bene- 
 fited by this treatment — they are already too loose. 
 The methods of plowing and subsoiling are con- 
 sidered at length in the following chapter. 
 
 DRY FARMING 
 
 An important phase of tillage, in its relation to 
 the saving of soil water, is the farm practice now 
 commonly called "dry farming." In reality all 
 farming that does not make use of irrigation is dry 
 
106 SOILS 
 
 farming, but the term is commonly understood to 
 mean the growing of crops in the arid or semi-arid 
 regions without irrigation. In recent years much 
 interest has been manifested in dry farming, and 
 its methods have been appKed with increasing 
 success over a constantly widening territory. The 
 sections where it is practised are chiefly eastern 
 North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, western 
 Kansas, western Oklahoma, central Texas, eastern 
 Washington, eastern Oregon, and scattered areas 
 in Idaho, California, Utah, Montana, Colorado, 
 New Mexico, Wyoming and Arizona. These 
 regions include approximately 300,000,000 acres. 
 Nevada is said to be the only arid state in which dry 
 farming cannot be practised successfully. 
 
 For the most part dry farming is practised on the 
 border land of aridity, and on land in arid regions 
 that it is impossible or impracticable to irrigate. 
 There are many millions of acres of land in the 
 arid and semi-arid regions that are above the 
 "ditch line"; that is, they lie so high that the ex- 
 pense of bringing water to them would be greater 
 than the returns. Of such a nature, for example, 
 are the high bench lands in the Cache Valley, Utah. 
 Moreover, the amount of water in the arid and 
 semi-arid regions that is available for irrigation is 
 sufficient to water but a small portion of the entire 
 area. Dry farming is the only kind of farming 
 possible on millions of acres of land in the West. 
 
 Dry farming is an attempt to grow the common 
 crops with the minimum amount of moisture. 
 Most of the sections in which it has been successful 
 have a rainfall of from 10 to 15 inches, from 2 to 
 5 inches of which, and often more, is lost by drain- 
 age and seepage. Some dry farming sections have 
 less than 10 inches of rainfall, yet crops are grown 
 
37. WATER HELD BY A COARSE AND BY A FINE SOIL 
 
 The finer a soil is the more water it will hold. An abundance of soil water is as essential 
 
 to the production of large crops as an abundance of plant 
 
 food. Tillage makes a soil finer 
 
 38. A LUMPY SOIL 
 
 The soil in these lumps is useless to crops for the time being, as the root hairs feed only 
 
 on the outside of small particles. Break up these lumps by wise tillage 
 
 and by adding humus and so increase the " pasturage" of the crops 
 
■S'X A PERFECT SOIL MULCH 
 It is five inches to moist soil. The surface layer of dry soil acts as a blanket 
 
 40. WHERE TROUBLESOME WEEDS ARE WONT TO CONGREGATE 
 ANT) TO MULTIPLY 
 
 Keep the fence rows clean or, better yet, do away with them altogether. Many 
 fences and walls are unnecessary 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 107 
 
 that compare very favourably with those of Eastern 
 farms that receive from 30 to 40 inches. Dry 
 farming is never resorted to, however, except when 
 irrigation is impossible or inexpedient. It is an 
 illustration of what can be done by tillage to con- 
 serve soil water that every farmer in the humid East 
 may consider with profit. 
 
 Dry Farming Methods. — The success of dry 
 farming is based upon a most thorough application 
 of the principles of tillage. Two things are essen- 
 tial : the subsoil must be put in condition to receive 
 and hold all the water that falls upon it, and the 
 surface soil must be made dry and mellow to pre- 
 vent the escape of that water by evaporation. A 
 third essential, in some cases, is to secure seeds that 
 are adapted to these trying conditions. 
 
 In preparing the subsoil, an effort is usually 
 made to leave it compact. Sometimes this is done 
 with a special tool called a subsoil packer. This 
 is a bevel wheel roller that follows the plow, rolling 
 down and packing the subsoil. Each of its ten 
 wheels has V-shaped rims which press deeply into 
 the soil, compacting it below. The object is to 
 make the subsoil so firm that the air spaces will be 
 very small, hence air will not circulate freely 
 through the soil and dry it out. The soil packer 
 usually accompanies a steam plow outfit, which is 
 generally used in dry farming. A weighted disk 
 harrow, with disks set straight, is also used. The 
 harrow is then put on — the same day if possible 
 — and three or four inches of the surface soil is 
 made into the most efficient kind of soil mulch, 
 which is renewed frequently. Keep the harrowing 
 close up to the plowing. The mulch established 
 in dry farming would be a revelation to those 
 Eastern farmers who barely scratch the surface 
 
108 SOILS 
 
 of their fields, scarcely keeping down weeds, and 
 who complain about drought. 
 
 The combination of tools sometimes used in dry 
 farming is remarkable. Frequently one 32-horse- 
 power traction engine will drag twelve 14-inch 
 plows, two corrugated iron rollers, two clod crushers, 
 besides harrows and seed drills, the whole making 
 a long procession, with unbroken land in front and 
 smooth and seeded land behind. Such an outfit 
 prepares and seeds about 35 acres a day. 
 
 When the rainfall is very scanty it is necessary 
 for success in dry farming to summer-fallow the 
 land every other year. The object of the summer 
 fallow is to store water for the next crop. Excellent 
 tillage, together with packing the subsoil in some 
 cases, is tne simple and easy secret of dry farming. 
 It is the application, in an almost perfect way, 
 of a principle that has been known, but usually 
 very imperfectly applied, for several hundred years. 
 
 Crops Under Dry Farming. — The crop grown 
 most largely under dry farming is Durum or 
 macaroni wheat. This was introduced into Amer- 
 ica from Russia by the United States Department 
 of Agriculture about ten years ago and has proved 
 a most valuable acquisition. In Russia it has been 
 grown successfully for many years on the steppes, 
 where the rainfall is less than 10 inches. The 
 readiness with which this remarkable plant lends 
 itself to dry farming, and the wonderful increase 
 in its culture, is shown by the fact that the first 
 large crop of macaroni wheat in the United States 
 was harvested in 1901, w^hile the crop of 1905 was 
 close to 30,000,000 bushels. Average crops are 
 15 to 25 bushels of wheat per acre in the arid region 
 regions, and 30 to 50 bushels in the semi-arid 
 regions. It thrives only in a very dry climate. 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 109 
 
 Besides Durum wheat, Turkestan alfalfa, Kaffir 
 corn, sorghum, emmer, dwarf milo maize, and a 
 number of forage grasses are grown under dry 
 farming. Rye and barley are also grown some- 
 what. It is important to sow less seed than in 
 humid farming, 30 to 35 lbs. per acre is usually 
 enough. This seed should be grown in semi-arid, 
 not in humid, sections. 
 
 The present interest in dry farming in many 
 parts of the West amounts to little less than a 
 speculative fever. Dry farming companies are 
 being organised to plant farms of 3,000 acres or 
 larger. The values on "desert" land are appre- 
 ciating rapidly, in some cases running from $2.50 
 to $50 an acre in two or three years. Undoubtedly 
 dry farming is doing much and will do vastly more 
 to reclaim land formerly considered worthless be- 
 cause of lack of water for irrigation. Next to 
 irrigation it is the most important agricultural 
 practice of our times in the arid West. Yet it is 
 altogether likely that land will be used for dry 
 farming which ought never to be cleared of sage 
 brush. The present enthusiasm over dry farming 
 bears some of the ear-marks of a boom. There are 
 bound to be some disappointed and some ruined 
 practitioners of dry farming, just as there were 
 thousands of disappointed and ruined "rain- 
 belters" in western Kansas, Nebraska, and the 
 Dakotas twenty years ago. Undoubtedly the 
 area that can be brought under profitable dry farm- 
 ing may be greatly extended, as better methods for 
 husbanding scanty rainfall become more gener- 
 ally known and practised. But there is an 
 unusual amount of risk connected with it, and no 
 man should undertake this kind of farming until 
 he has investigated it thoroughly. Whenever 
 
no SOILS 
 
 possible irrigation should be used to supplement dry 
 farming. 
 
 TILLAGE TO PROMOTE FERTILITY 
 
 The longer a soil lies idle, so far as the farmer is 
 concerned, but is covered with Nature's crops year 
 by year, the richer it becomes. The chief reason 
 for this is pointed out in Chapter XII. Nature's 
 crops die, decay and are returned to the soil, adding 
 to it what they have taken out and improving 
 its texture; the farmer's crops are mostly removed. 
 On the other hand, it is also true that tillage makes 
 the soil more fertile. It will do so as long as the 
 supply of humus that is in the soil when it is cleared 
 for cropping is maintained, and provided as much 
 plant food is added to the soil each year as is re- 
 moved in crops. But since neither of these con- 
 ditions are complied with, it usually happens that 
 the longer the soil is tilled the poorer it gets. The 
 falling off in its ability to produce crops would be 
 very much greater, however, were it not for the 
 food-producing power of tillage. 
 
 How Tillage Increases Fertility — The explana- 
 tion of the power of tillage to increase fertility 
 is very simple. In Chapter I it was stated 
 that the chief agency that has broken up the 
 rocks and made them into soil is weathering — the 
 action of water, air, heat and cold. This action is 
 still going on; soils are being weathered, as well as 
 rocks and stones; their grains are becoming finer, 
 their plant food more available. Tillage makes 
 a soil more fertile chiefly because it loosens it, thus 
 allowing a free entrance to these agencies that 
 make it finer, and hence expose more surface for 
 the roots to feed upon. Every time that a soil 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 111 
 
 is plowed, harrowed or cultivated it is loosened, 
 and air, water, heat and cold enter it more freely 
 and attack it more vigorously. Nearly all farm 
 soils, even some that produce poor crops, contain 
 enormous quantities of plant food (Chapter XI), 
 most of which, however, is in such a form that the 
 plants cannot use it, being "unavailable" as the 
 chemist says. Tillage makes much of this latent 
 plant food available from year to year, by pro- 
 moting better weathering. 
 
 Tillage mixes the soil grains and changes their 
 relative positions so that certain particles are 
 brought together that have been separated before, 
 and there is greater likelihood of chemical changes. 
 It may carry to the surface grains of soil that have 
 been lying several inches deep for many years, thus 
 exposing them to weathering. It fills the soil with 
 air which hastens the decay of vegetation, thus 
 making humus and a large amount of carbonic 
 acid. This carbonic acid becomes a part of the 
 soil water and greatly increases its power to dis- 
 solve plant food from the mineral portion of the 
 soil. The better aeration of the soil due to tillage 
 is favourable for the growth of the valuable nitro- 
 gen-fixing bacteria described on page 40 . The 
 activities of other beneficial germs in the soil are 
 promoted by the warmth, drainage and aeration 
 that follow tillage. If it were not for these benef- 
 icent effects of tillage soils would become "worn- 
 out" much sooner than they do now from con- 
 tinued cropping with little return. 
 
 Tillage the ''Poor Man's Manure.'" — Tillage has 
 been called "the poor man's manure," with some 
 fitness. Stirring the soil does enrich it to the ex- 
 tent that it enables the farmer to use more of the 
 native plant food in the soil. But it is not a manure 
 
112 SOILS 
 
 in the sense of plant food applied. The value of 
 thorough tillage to increase fertility was first dem- 
 onstrated about 1730 by a wise old English 
 farmer, Jethro Tull. We read in his "Horse Hoe- 
 ing Husbandry" that he planted wheat in rows far 
 enough apart to allow tillage between them, and 
 raised more profitable crops without adding ma- 
 nure than his neighbours, who manured highly 
 but tilled little. In his enthusiasm Tull made the 
 mistake of believing that tillage could take the 
 place of fertilising, which we now know to be 
 wrong. Good tillage — deep plowing, thorough 
 harrowing, frequent cultivating — will largely reduce 
 the fertiliser bill or delay the day when fertilisers 
 and manures will be needed, because it enables the 
 farmer to get the most from the soluble plant food 
 already in the soil. But there always comes a time 
 when tillage must be supplemented with manuring 
 or fertilising. Tillage is not fertilising; but, if 
 done thoroughly, it may save much fertilising. 
 
 THE ALCHEMY THAT FOLLOWS THE PLOW 
 
 Thus it is seen that simply stirring the soil, the 
 commonest work on the farm and the work which 
 often receives the least thought, sets at work many 
 agencies that exert a profound influence on the 
 productivity of the land. Every tiller of the soil 
 should know something of the wonderful alchemy 
 that follows the plowshare and cultivator tooth. 
 As he plows, harrows, cultivates, rolls, drags, he 
 should think, not that this is so much dirt that he 
 must handle, so many weeds that he must kill, but 
 that he is getting the soil laboratory ready for the 
 delicate reactions and subtle changes that are a 
 part of the wonderful process by which soil is made 
 
THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 113 
 
 into plants. There is much more to tillage than 
 burying trash, killing weeds and mellowing lumps. 
 The farmer who sees only these things when he 
 stirs the soil is not getting as much pleasure from his 
 business as he might. As he trudges up and down 
 the long field behind the sweating team, turning the 
 moist earth into crumbling furrow slices, or guiding 
 the cultivator between rows of thrifty plants, the 
 work will seem less irksome if he thinks of these 
 wonderful activities that he has set in motion, and 
 plans how he may keep the soil laboratory in the 
 best running order. 
 
116 SOILS 
 
 been broad, high and bent over at the top very 
 little, so that they inverted the soil very neatly but 
 did not crumble it much. It was soon seen that 
 the only way to accomplish this end was to make 
 the furrow slice twist as it turned over. Then was 
 produced the modern broad, flat plowshare with 
 overhanging mouldboard, which accomplishes this 
 result admirably. 
 
 Subsequent to this discovery, during the last 
 half of the nineteenth century improvements on 
 the plow followed rapidly. The length of the 
 beam and handles was increased and the latter 
 set lower, thus making the plow much easier 
 to control. The jointer, that most useful 
 adjunct of the modern plow, was introduced and 
 improved. One of the greatest troubles with the 
 early plows was that they did not "scour" well; 
 that is dirt collected on the mouldboard, making 
 it rough and greatly reducing its efficiency and 
 increasing the draft. The introduction of the 
 Oliver chilled plow, in 1870, was a notable event 
 in plow making. 
 
 About 1870 gang plows were introduced. The first 
 gang plows were two or three plows fastened to one 
 beam. These were very cumbersome and were soon 
 superseded by the sulky gang plow, which is largely 
 used to-day, especially in the West. Various methods 
 of hardening the mouldboards of plows were tried, 
 until carbonising or chilling came into general usefor 
 both steel and cast iron plows. Plow making has 
 reached its highest development in America, from 
 v/hich plows are shipped to all parts of the world. 
 There are about 9,000,000 plows in use on American 
 farms, representing an investment of $80,000,000 
 for this tool alone. 
 
 The Modern Ploiv. — The modern plow is the 
 
l-H 3 
 
 O ° 
 
42. FLAT-FURROW PLOWING— THE SLICE COMPLETELY INVERTED 
 Handsome, but does not crumble soil enough. Good for burying herbage 
 
 43. CLAY SOIL PLOWED WHEN TOO WET 
 Note the glazed appearance of the furrow-slice. This will make the soil cloddy 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 117 
 
 product of more than forty centuries of slow im- 
 provement. During this time it has developed 
 from a crooked stick, which barely scratched the 
 surface and served no other purpose than that of 
 permitting the seed to be sown, to a tool that pul- 
 verises the soil, increases its water-holding capacity, 
 adds to its fertility and has a more important in- 
 fluence on the productiveness of the land than any 
 other single treatment that it receives. Many 
 attempts have been made to introduce substitutes 
 for the plow in preparing the soil for crops, but 
 none have been uniformly successful, although 
 various ingenious spading tools are of considerable 
 utility in special cases. 
 
 The improvement of the plow and of plowing will 
 continue. Where it is practicable for the farmer to 
 use greater power, deeper working plows will be 
 used, which will pulverise the soil to a much greater 
 depth, thus increasing its water-holding capacity 
 and its productivity. The fact that the plow — the 
 most important tool of agriculture — was improved 
 more during the nineteenth century than in all the 
 centuries that precede, well illustrates the changed 
 point of view, in this new era, when the best 
 thought and the highest inventive genius of the world 
 are being brought to bear upon the problems of the 
 farmer. Two centuries ago this would not have 
 been possible. 
 
 THE OBJECTS OF PLOWING 
 
 Aside from crumbling the soil, the chief objects 
 of plowing are to destroy wild plants so that culti- 
 vated plants may be grown in their place; and to 
 bury the trash, as corn stubble and potato vines, 
 so that the soil may be made ready for a new crop. 
 
118 SOILS 
 
 A plow that does not accomplish both of these re- 
 sults is faulty. All refuse should be covered so 
 deeply that it is not brought to the surface by the 
 harrow. This can usually be done without com- 
 pletely inverting the furrow slice. A broad and 
 deep furrow buries trash better than one that is 
 narrow and shallow. If tall herbage is to be 
 plowed under, as in plowing under a green manur- 
 ing crop or a heavy growth of weeds, a chain with 
 one end attached to the beam of the plow and the 
 other to the end of the double-tree will make it easier 
 to bury the plants, especially if a jointer is used 
 also. Sometimes it is necessary to rake the coarsest 
 part of the manure into the furrow in order to 
 bury it completely. Herbage and refuse that is 
 plowed under deeply decays more rapidly than if 
 it is turned under with a shallow furrow, because 
 the surface soil is dryer. When there is a large 
 amount of herbage or trash to bury the team should 
 be stronger and the furrow deeper than if the soil 
 is unencumbered. If the furrow slice is com- 
 pletely inverted herbage and trash is buried best, 
 but the soil is not pulverised much. It is possible 
 to bury herbage and trash with a crumbling furrow. 
 Pulverising the Soil. — Unless a plow pulver- 
 ises the soil so that the harrow can finish the pro- 
 cess easily, it is not doing all that should be ex- 
 pected of it. Plows differ greatly in the way which 
 they leave the furrow. The furrow-slice is some- 
 times completely inverted and lies flat on the bot- 
 tom of the preceding furrow; this is called "flat- 
 furrow plowing." Other furrows stand nearly 
 edgewise without being crumbled much; this is 
 called " overlapping-f urrow plowing." Still others 
 are broken to pieces entirely; this is called "rol- 
 ling-furrow plowing." 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 119 
 
 The way in which the surface is left by a plow 
 depends chiefly upon the style of the mouldboard 
 that is used; the bolder or more overhanging it is 
 the more completely is the furrow-slice broken. 
 An overhanging mouldboard prevents the furrow- 
 slice from turning flat and leaves it rough. A 
 rolling furrow-slice buries herbage and trash about 
 as well as a flat one if a jointer is used; and it 
 crumbles the soil much better. A plow that turns 
 this kind of furrow is the best for most conditions. 
 Flat-furrow plowing is the handsomest but the 
 poorest plowing, in most cases. The soil is not 
 crumbled and, what is even more important, the 
 least amount of surface is exposed to the air. It is 
 also more diflScult for the harrow teeth to take hold 
 of the tips of these slices and break them without 
 distributing the sod or herbage beneath. But 
 flat-furrow plowing covers trash and herbage 
 better than the other types of plowing, so 
 that it may often be used to advantage for 
 plowing stubble land, especially if it is fairly 
 light. 
 
 Lap-furrow plowing, in which the furrow-slice 
 is only partly inverted, being left on edge and par- 
 tially overlapping the preceding furrow-slice, 
 leaves the soil fairly well pulverised and with a 
 ridge surface so that it is easily mellowed and fined 
 by the harrow, but it does not bury trash or herb- 
 age well. It is especially valuable for fall plowing, 
 particularly of clayey soils, as it leaves many air 
 spaces beneath the furrow-slice and the soil is fully 
 exposed to weathering. 
 
 It is well worth while to have two or three types 
 of plows on hand and use each acording to the 
 results it accomplishes and the purpose in view. 
 This costs more, but greater eflficiency results. 
 
no SOILS 
 
 A very slight difference in the hnes of the mould- 
 board may make wide results in plowing. Much 
 depends upon the nature of the soil. Sandy soils 
 may be plowed with a flat furrow-slice with much 
 less detriment than clayey soils, which need much 
 loosening and pulverising. If a tenacious soil is 
 plowed so that the furrow-slice is completely in- 
 verted it is much heavier and colder, for the season 
 at least, than if the furrow-slices were overlapped. 
 
 Plowing to Prepare the Seed-bed. — It is expen- 
 sive work fitting soil to receive the seed. Plowing 
 usually represents less than one-half the cost of 
 preparing land for the crop; harrowing, dragging, 
 planking, etc. if well done, cost more. One of the 
 objects in plowing, then, should be to leave the 
 soil in such a condition that as little subsequent 
 tillage as possible will be needed to fit the land for 
 the crop. This means that the plowman should 
 not be satisfied with the handsome flat-furrow 
 plowing that took prizes at the agricultural fairs 
 50 years ago, but which requires much expensive 
 harrowing to make it mellow. He should turn a 
 furrow-slice that is just as loose and crumbly as 
 possible and still bury the trash, so that the labour 
 of harrowing may be reduced. The kind of plow 
 that should be used, and the condition in which the 
 land should be left, depends upon the kind of soil 
 and the crop to be grown upon it; but whenever 
 a plow is purchased its ability to pulverise the soil 
 should be the chief measure of its value. 
 
 Plowing to Promote Fertility. — It does this by 
 all the ways mentioned in the previous chapter. 
 It exposes the soil to weathering more completely 
 so that more of its insoluble plant food is made 
 available. It lets in the air which corrodes the 
 minerals, forms carbonic acid with the humus and 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 121 
 
 enters into many chemical and physical combina- 
 tions that have an important influence on soil fer- 
 tility. Deep plowing brings to the surface sub- 
 soil that has not lost so much of its plant food as 
 the surface soil, not having been weathered so com- 
 pletely. After one or two seasons this rich, raw 
 soil becomes weathered sufficiently and is then 
 utilised by crops. Furthermore, the mere fining 
 of the soil by plowing increases its fertility by pre- 
 senting a large surface for the roots to feed upon. 
 The work of the nitrogen-fixing germs and of other 
 useful agencies that make for fertility is wonder- 
 fully hastened by the warmth and aeration induced 
 by plowing. It is chiefly the depth to which the 
 plow stirs soil that gives it preeminence among 
 tillage tools. 
 
 Ploiving to Deepen the Soil Reservoir. — Plowing 
 may be made the means of increasing the water- 
 holding capacity of a soil. Soils of a close texture, 
 as the clays and clay loams, may be made to hold 
 more water by deep plowing, because rain will sink 
 into the loosened soil better. But sandy soils should 
 not be plowed deeply ; they are too leachy at best. 
 Light soils through which water passes too readily 
 may be made somewhat more retentive by plowing 
 them at the same depth every year. The tramping 
 of the horses and the weight of the plow tend to com- 
 pact the soil at the bottom of the furrow, making 
 a kind of artificial hard-pan, or "plow bed, "which 
 checks the downward passage of water somewhat. 
 The depth at which this hard-pan should be formed 
 is six to eight inches, depending upon the rooting 
 habits of the crop grown. On the other hand, in 
 plowing heavy soils the aim should be to prevent 
 the formation of the hard-pan by varying the depth 
 from year to year. The benefit of deep plowing 
 
122 SOILS 
 
 to prevent the washing of clay soils is pointed out 
 in a following paragraph. 
 
 Plowing to Drain the Soil. — Plowing may also 
 be made the means of draining a soil. It is best 
 to have a soil of such texture that all water falling 
 on it will be absorbed or pass through it. But 
 this is rarely possible, particularly when the soil 
 is heavy. Such soils, especially if nearly level, 
 may often be plowed into "lands" to advantage. 
 The dead furrows may be in the same place for 
 several consecutive seasons, thus throwing the 
 soil into slightly elevated beds. Lands from 
 15 to 30 feet wide are often used, but lands 
 60 to 75 feet wide drain the soil more efficiently, 
 because not enough water may flow into narrow 
 dead-furrows to make sufficient current to carry 
 it off. Even when the field is fairly well drained, 
 naturally or artificially, it is best to leave dead fur- 
 rows from 30 to 50 feet apart, though not in the 
 same place for succeeding years. 
 
 Plowing to Establish a Mulch. — In addition to 
 its value for increasing the capacity of a soil to hold 
 water, plowing is one of the best means of prevent- 
 ing the evaporation of water already in the soil. 
 King, who has made many noteworthy experiments 
 on this subject, concludes "In the conservation of 
 soil moisture by tillage there is no way of develop- 
 ing a mulch more efl^ective than that which is pro- 
 duced by a tool working in the manner of a plow, 
 to completely remove a layer of soil and lay it down 
 again, bottom side up, in a loose condition." 
 
 HOW DEEP TO PLOW 
 
 There is sometimes much discussion about how 
 deep the soil should be plowed. It is as impossible 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 123 
 
 to answer this question definitely and conclusively 
 for all farmers as it is to prescribe that corn should 
 be planted the first week in June everywhere. The 
 best depth for plowing depends upon conditions; 
 these each farmer must study for himself. No 
 general statement can be made ; "plow deep" is 
 sound advice in many cases, and very bad advice 
 in others. 
 
 The depth to plow should be governed mainly 
 by the nature of the soil. As a general rule, the 
 heavier the soil the deeper it should be plowed, for 
 heavy soils need the loosening, draining and aerat- 
 ing effect of deep plowing. Such soils are com- 
 monly plowed from seven to ten inches deep. On 
 the contrary, the lighter the soils the more shallow 
 should they be plowed, since deep plowing makes 
 the soil looser, and it is already too loose and 
 leachy. If, however, humus is being plowed under, 
 as manure or a cover crop, the plowing can be 
 deeper. Sandy soils are commonly plowed four 
 or five inches deep. If, however, it is desired to 
 form an artificial hard-pan on such soils they may 
 be plowed deeper. On raw soils it is well to plow 
 about half an mch deeper each year until a depth 
 of nine or ten inches is reached. 
 
 The depth to plow should be influenced by the 
 feeding habit of the crop to be grown. Are its 
 feeding roots mostly in the first foot of soil or in 
 the first five feet ? Plowing for fruit trees and root 
 crops should be deeper, as a rule, than for other 
 farm crops. 
 
 Plow somewhat deeper in midsummer and fall, 
 when the soil is apt to be dry, than in spring when 
 the soil is cold and wet. In the humid sections 
 farm manures or green manures plowed under at 
 that time decay quicker near the surface than 
 
124 SOILS 
 
 eight or nine inches deep. If the soil is damp and 
 it is desired to dry and warm it for an early plant- 
 ing» say of corn, it should be plowed more shallow 
 than ordinarily. This is not advocating shal- 
 low 'plowing for heavy lands in general, but stat- 
 ing what may be done in certain cold, wet and late 
 seasons. 
 
 Eight inches may be considered deep plowing 
 for many soils ; rarely is it practicable to plow more 
 than eleven inches deep. Most field crops feed 
 much more deeply than is commonly realised. 
 Corn, parsnips and sweet potato roots occupy 
 the ground to a depth of four or five feet and may 
 go several feet deeper, depending upon the nature 
 of the subsoil. It is safe to say that, on an aver- 
 age, the roots of field crops forage five to six feet 
 deep. But most of the feeding roots are in the 
 plowed ground, because this is the richest, warmest 
 and the best ventilated part of the soil. Therefore, 
 the deeper the soil is plowed, within certain limits, 
 the greater will be the productivity, because more 
 of this congenial pasturage is provided for the roots. 
 
 Subsoiling. — The subsoil sets a limit to the depth 
 at which certain soils can be plowed. It may be 
 yellow or of a different nature than the surface 
 mould, and contain a large amount of raw plant 
 food. If much of this raw^ soil is mixed with the 
 surface soil the productivity of the land is apt to be 
 seriously reduced for a number of years, or until 
 weathering has acted upon the subsoil brought to 
 the surface. About 1850 there was a widespread 
 discussion in this country on the advantage of 
 deep plowing. It led to the introduction of an 
 implement with two plows upon one beam; a 
 small one which turned a furrow three or four 
 inches deep followed by a larger one which ran six 
 
i:<. AN IDl.AI, I'l.oW lOK ORIUNARV WORK 
 
 This is tlic plow used in Fig. 44. Note the lines of the mouldboard, the annlc of the 
 handles, and the jointer, beam wheel, and clevis 
 
 46. A CHEAP AND RATHER INEFFECTIVE WOODEN-BEAM PLOW 
 
 Compare mouldboard with prercdinc and note absence of overhang. Too shallow- 
 working for any work but furrowing out for planting 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 125 
 
 or eight inches deeper, turning its furrow-slice upon 
 that of the smaller plow. These plows proved 
 impracticable, chiefly because they left the raw 
 subsoil on top of the ground and buried the rich 
 surface soil at the bottom of the furrow. 
 
 The introduction of the subsoil plow, a little 
 later, remedied this fault. This follows the plow 
 and stirs the soil in the bottom of the furrow to a 
 depth of five to ten inches, but does not bring it to 
 the surface. There are two types of subsoil plows. 
 One is shaped something like a harrow tooth; the 
 other consists of a wedge-like shoe on the lower 
 end of the bar. There is much difference of 
 opinion concerning the value of the subsoil plow 
 in general farming. It is not used nearly as much 
 as it was fifteen years ago. The general conclusion 
 seems to be that it is of service only on the heavier 
 soils, which need better aeration and need to be 
 deepened. But the soil that is loosened by the 
 subsoil plow quickly falls back and becomes 
 compact again, so subsoiling affords only tem- 
 porary relief. Moreover, subsoiling may be a 
 positive injury to some soils by destroying the 
 earthworm burrows that effectively aerate and 
 drain the subsoil. 
 
 The lessened appreciation of the subsoil plow 
 in recent years is due largely to the more general 
 practiceofunder-drainage. Under-drainage loosens, 
 deepens and aerates the soil permanently and to a 
 much greater depth than subsoiling. Subsoiling 
 should follow, not precede, under-drainage. It 
 augments every good effect of drainage. At present 
 the use of the subsoil plow is confined mostly to 
 fairly well-drained lands which have a hard and 
 dry subsoil; and for breaking up a hard-pan that 
 is close to the surface. Subsoiling is usually in- 
 
126 SOILS 
 
 iurious to a wet, clayey soil, making it puddle. It 
 IS practised chiefly for crops that have long roots, 
 notably for parsnips and carrots. The cost of 
 subsoiling is from $1.50 to $3.00 per acre, or fully as 
 much as the cost of plowing. It is customary to 
 subsoil about every third or fourth year. 
 
 Deeper Plowing Desirable.— The probability is 
 that the future improvements in plows will be 
 largely along the line of increasing the width and 
 depth of the furrow without adding much to the 
 draft. The farmers of a century hence will stir the 
 soil deeper than we do, and so have more of it 
 directly under their control. But many farmers 
 of to-day do not plow nearly so deeply as they 
 might and ought. This is especially true in 
 the South, where the one-negro-one-mule-one-plow 
 combination is thought to be the best solution of 
 the problem. One mule can hardly furnish power 
 to turn even four or five inches of soil. A large 
 proportion of the Southern soils are clay, especially 
 in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. 
 These clayey soils, being very fine grained, absorb 
 water very slowly. Hence, if they are not loosened 
 and deepened by deep plowing the rains quickly 
 overflow them and the surface drainage washes 
 away the fine, rich soil and the fertility of the land 
 with it. There are other causes of this washing 
 (see Chapter XI), but shallow plowing is now ana 
 has long been one of the principal causes. 
 
 Farmers in other parts of the country are losing 
 nearly as much by persisting in the old-time shal- 
 low plowing of four or five inches, when they might 
 easily double the feeding pasturage of their crops. 
 Many of the farmers of the western prairies, in 
 Nebraska, Dakota and contiguous states, plow very 
 shallow. Sometimes the land is plowed only three 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 127 
 
 to four inches deep — sometimes it is not plowed 
 at all for a year or two, the surface being simply 
 scratched sufficiently to cover the seeds. When 
 the tough prairie sod was first broken in the pioneer 
 days, about seventy-five years ago, it was necessary 
 to plow very shallow. The great "prairie breaker'* 
 of those days had a beam nine to ten feet long, 
 was pulled by eight to twelve yoke of oxen, and 
 turned a furrow 18 inches to two feet wide and not 
 more than 2 or 3 inches deep. This served its 
 purpose admirably, but as soon as the native 
 grasses were subdued it was seen that deeper work- 
 mg plows were needed. Shallow-workmg "sod 
 plows" are still used for subduing sod. Prairie 
 soils are so open in texture and rich to such a depth 
 that deep plowing does not give the beneficial 
 results that it does in many other parts of the 
 country. But it is quite certain that in the long 
 run it pays to plow these soils deeper than the mere 
 surface scratching that is now given to many of 
 them. 
 
 DRAFT IN PLOWING 
 
 The power that it takes to plow, and the amount 
 of draft required, have an important influence on 
 the depth of plowing and the amount of pulverisa- 
 tion accomplished. Experiments by Anderson 
 showed that it takes 55 per cent, of the total draft 
 in plowing to cut the furrow slice, and 12 per cent, 
 to turn it; the 33 per cent, remaining is used in the 
 friction of the sole and the landslide. An old share 
 point makes plowing as hard work for three horses 
 as a new pomt does for two. The use of a bold 
 mouldboard increases the draft very slightly, not 
 over 2 or 3 per cent, more than when a straighter 
 mouldboard is used. This is a small price to pay 
 
128 SOILS 
 
 for the much greater efficiency of the bold mould- 
 board. 
 
 A plow not adjusted properly may require 
 50 per cent, more energy to move it. The 
 investigation of Sanborn, in 1888, showed that the 
 use of a coulter or "jointer increases the draft and 
 the use of a beam wheel decreases the draft. He 
 also found that the deeper a plow works, the less 
 draft it requires in proportion to the size of the 
 furrow-slice. That is, it does not take twice as 
 much power to turn a furrow 8 inches deep as to 
 turn one 4 inches deep, but less than this — about 
 10 per cent, for each additional inch in depth, 
 according to results at the Utica Plow Trial in 
 1867. Likewise the wider the furrow the less 
 power is required in proportion to the soil turned. 
 With a bold mouldboard a furrow may be turned 
 two or th^'ee times as wide as it is deep; if the 
 mouldboarc 's less overhanging it is necessary to 
 turn narrow furrows in order to leave the soil in 
 good shape. 
 
 Heavy Teams Do Better Work. — It is a mistake 
 to plow with a light team, and nothing but the 
 most shallow and least efficient plowing can be 
 done with a single horse or mule. A light draft 
 not only makes the plowing more shallow than 
 if a heavy team were attached to the same plow, 
 but the plow works in a jerky manner, and it is 
 harder for both team and man. Roberts says: 
 **If the little plow turning a furrow only nine 
 or ten inches in width and six inches deep could be 
 exchanged for a plow capable of handling a furrow 
 sixteen inches wide and ten inches deep; and the 
 two 900 pound horses replaced by three of 1,200 
 each, the necessity for subsoiling would be obviated 
 and the cost of plowing diminished rather than 
 
17. Sllll' II.l'SS I'LoWINC l.\ XORIII II.oRIDA 
 
 I'lic laiiil is plowed only where the rows of the crop are to go; ;ifliT the iro]i is Krowing 
 the farmer "breaks out the micldles" 
 
 , J 
 
 •IS. A TURMN'c; r.M.il.li IIIK I. lll,l,l...:,l. V.I I II 1111, .\II) OF A CHAIN 
 One end is fastened to the beam, the other to tlic doubletree 
 
ff. 
 
 iCl 
 
 
 4'J. THE APPEARANCE OK LAND AFTER FALL PLOWLXG 
 Soils that 'puddle" should not be plowed in the fall 
 
 50. THE APPEARANCE ()F THE SAME LAND THE FoLLuWLNG Sl'RLNG 
 
 The soil has been weathered and the texture improved. Fall plowing 
 also promotes earliness 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 129 
 
 increased, wherever the fields are large and fairly 
 level. The larger team could get through three 
 acres while the smaller is getting through two; 
 thus, by adding one-half more to the daily cost of 
 the team, without any increased expense for plow- 
 man, half as many acres again will be turned, and 
 much better." 
 
 Horses that walk fast are better than a slow 
 team, not only because they cover more ground, 
 but also because they do better work ; the faster the 
 plow moves, provided there are no obstructions, 
 the better is the soil pulverised. Large level fields 
 are plowed better and quicker with a two or a three 
 shore gang plow and four to six horses than if the 
 power is divided into three teams pulling three single 
 plows; and the saving of plowmen is worth con- 
 sidering in these times when farm help is scarce. 
 A still greater concentration of power is commonly 
 practised in the West, where it is not uncommon 
 to see fifteen or twenty horses pulling a single gang 
 plow. When two or more teams are used on one 
 plow the doubletrees of the forward teams are 
 chained to the ring of the neck-yoke of the beam 
 team. 
 
 The Power for Plowing. — Next to the style of 
 plow, the kind and quality of the motive power is 
 the chief factor that controls the depth and thor- 
 oughness of plowing. In America the ox, horse 
 and mule are used almost exclusively, being the 
 cheapest. Traction engines are quite frequently 
 used in the West, especially in the arid and semi- 
 arid regions. In many cases steam power has not 
 been as satisfactory as horse power, because it 
 costs more — horse flesh is cheap in this country. 
 In Europe, where horses are dearer and machinery 
 cheaper, steam power is often more practicable. 
 
130 SOILS 
 
 Either a traction engine or a stationary engine is 
 used. The former is run back and forth across the 
 field dragging behind it a gang plow with six to 
 twelve plows. A 25-horse-powerengine is commonly 
 used. A steam plow outfit complete costs from 
 $2,000 to $4,000. It is run by two men and plow- 
 ing usually costs about 50 cents an acre as against 
 75 cents to $1 by team. The stationary engine 
 runs the gang plow by means of wire cables. The 
 traction engine has been found more practicable 
 in this country than the stationary engine, but the 
 latter is used more commonly in Europe. There, 
 too, electricity is used as a power for plowing. 
 Some German fields are plowed with power se- 
 cured from an electric trolley which is stretched 
 above the field, giving, it is claimed, a cheaper 
 and more satisfactory })ower than steam. 
 
 Steam, electricity or any other machinery power 
 will not become a very important feature in Amer- 
 ican plowing for many years to come, except 
 in the West. It is solely a question of economics — 
 what kind of power is cheapest. Horses and 
 mules are the chea])est power at present on the 
 majority of American farms. We would naturally 
 expect that machine power will first become 
 practicable in this country where farming is done 
 on a very large scale, and where the land is suffi- 
 ciently level to make machine plowing feasible. 
 The great farms of the western plains furnish these 
 conditions and here steam plows are becoming 
 common. However, in view of the recent astonish- 
 ing developments in farm machinery, it would not 
 be surprising to see within a quarter of a century 
 some kind of a small power plow adapted for the 
 farmer who tills less than a hundred acres. One 
 can even imagine the small farmer of fifty years 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 131 
 
 hence riding over his field in a sort of automobile 
 plow and handhng it with brake and lever. There 
 nave been more remarkable improvements than 
 this within a generation. But certain New England 
 fields, at any rate, will never be plowed wiUi an 
 automobile plow unless the rocks in it weather 
 with remarkable ra})idity during the next few 
 decades. It is more than likely that a willing team 
 of Clyde or Perclieron horses and ji skilful man 
 guiding the handles of a good walking plow, will 
 be, for many years, tlie cheapest and most effective 
 method of getting the soil ready for a crop on 90 
 per cent, of American farms. 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD PLOW 
 
 There are many styles and makes of plows, each 
 different from the others in some res})ect. The 
 kind of plow that should be bought depends upon 
 the use for it and upon the way it is built. Do not 
 buy a plow by its name or i\w reputation of the 
 firm, any more than you would buy fertiliser by 
 brand or a cow by pedigree. The essential parts 
 of a good plow are l)riefiy discussed below: 
 
 The Beam. This nuiy be of iron, steel or wood. 
 A wooden beam is cheaper and lighter than a 
 metal beam; for these reasons a majority of the 
 plows now found on farms have wooden beams. 
 Walnut and ash make the strontijest plow beams. 
 Steel beams, which are much lighter than iron 
 beams, are rapidly replacing wooden beams, being 
 much stronger. 
 
 The Mouldboard is the most important part of a 
 plow; its shape should be studied carefully by a 
 plow buyer, so as to note how it will lift, turn and 
 pulverise the soil. The general shape of the 
 
132 SOILS 
 
 mouldboard should be spiral. This most important 
 principle in the construction of the mouldboard was 
 first stated clearly in 1839 by two plow makers, 
 Samuel Witherow and David fierce. '*The main 
 object is to pulverise the soil, and the only way in 
 which it can be effected is by bending a furrow-slice 
 on a curved surface forward so that it shall be 
 twisted, somewhat in the manner of a screw." 
 The more nearly spiral a mouldboard is, the more 
 completely will the soil be inverted, but it is not 
 pulverised to any extent. 
 
 The extent to which the mouldboard pulverises 
 depends mostly on the steepness of its upward curve 
 and the abruptness of its outward curve; that is, 
 the upper or rear end is curved more sharply than 
 the lower or forward end. This "bold mouldboard," 
 as it is called, draws slightly harder and clogs a 
 little more than those having a more moderate curve, 
 but its much greater effectiveness in pulverising the 
 soil more than compensates for these objections. 
 The abrupt mouldboard is adapted for nearly all 
 plowing, except for the fall plowing of clayey soils 
 and for breakmg new land, when a plow having a 
 long and gradually sloping mouldboard is more 
 effective. 
 
 The Coulter, or cutter, may be in the form of a 
 knife or a rolling disk. The disk coulter is usually 
 more useful than the knife coulter, which clogs 
 easily. It is especially serviceable for plowing 
 under litter, as cornstalks and straw, which it rolls 
 down and cuts. The jointer, however, is now used 
 more for this purpose. 
 
 The Joiniery or skim coulter, is a most service- 
 able attachment, especially when stubble, grass or 
 manure are to be turned under. When herbage 
 is plowed under without a jointer there is likely to 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 133 
 
 be a line of it left between the furrows. It skims a 
 shallow furrow and deposits the herbage in the 
 bottom of the furrow where it is covered by the 
 furrow-slice of the mouldboard. It also pulverises 
 the soil, if set deep enough to keep the furrow-slice 
 from turning too flat. Both coulter and jointer 
 increase the draft and should be kept sharp. 
 
 The Beam Wheels or truck, which is attached to 
 the end of the beam, is useful simply for steadying 
 the plow. It should not be used to regulate the 
 depth of the furrow, for if it is set low in order to 
 make the plow turn a shallow furrow, it acts as a 
 brake. If it is used merely to make the plow run 
 more steady by reducing the effect of the motion of 
 the horses, whiffletrees and eveners, it reduces the 
 draft to a considerable extent. 
 
 The Share, or plow-point, cuts the bottom of the 
 furrow-slice from the land. It should be kept 
 sharp, especially if grass or other roots are to be 
 cut. The draft of a plow with a dull share is about 
 7 per cent, greater than the draft of a plow with a 
 sharp share. Shares may be renewed or sharpened. 
 
 The Clevis, or bridle, is the metal attachment at 
 the end of the beam used to regulate the depth and 
 width of the furrows. The hitch on the clevis is 
 raised to increase and lowered to decrease the 
 depth; the clevis is swung to the right to increase 
 width and swung to the left to reduce it. The 
 clevis on swivel plows is changed by a lever from 
 the handle. With some plows the change is ef- 
 fected by moving the beam at the handles. Some 
 plows have only notches in the clevis for holding 
 the draft ring. There is a double clevis in use. 
 
 In brief, the characteristics of a good plow are 
 these: It should be as light as is consistent with de- 
 sired strength. It should run steadily and have 
 
134 SOILS 
 
 as light a draft as possible. It should pulverise 
 the soil as well as turn it. 
 
 When to plow 
 
 Most plowing is done either in early spring, just 
 before the planting of the crop, or late in the fall. 
 The chief factor that decides this question is that 
 of convenience. The best time to plow, however, 
 depends upon the climate, the soil and the crop, 
 as well as upon the convenience of the farmer. 
 It is not necessarily the same for adjacent farms. 
 
 Fall Plowing. — Land is plowed in the fall chiefly 
 in two cases ; to improve its texture and to prepare 
 it for fall seeding. Clayey soils, if not liable to 
 puddle, are benefited most because it exposes them 
 to weathering. Sandy soils may be greatly in- 
 jured by fall plowing, because they are already too 
 leachy. Where there is danger of washing from 
 plowing clayey soils in the fall Roberts recom- 
 mends that smgle furrows be drawn across the 
 field about four or five feet apart; as, for example, 
 between rows of corn. These improve the soil by 
 weathering, make it earlier and it does not run 
 together or puddle. These furrows are easily 
 levelled in spring with a scantling chained cross- 
 wise under the front end of the harrow, and driven 
 lengthwise of the furrow. This makes more work, 
 but it pays on cold, wet clays. It should never be 
 practised on any soils that wash badly during the 
 winter. 
 
 Fall plowing is practised more in growing wheat 
 and other cereals, and in market gardening, than 
 for other crops. It is an almost universal practice 
 in many sections of the West. It should be done 
 early, when the ground is fairly dry. An incidental 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 135 
 
 advantage of fall plowing, in some cases, is that it 
 destroys wire-worms. Land for fall seeding should 
 be plowed, if possible, two or three weeks before 
 sowing. Lap-furrow plowing is preferable. Land 
 plowed in the fall may be benefited by being plowed 
 again in the spring before being seeded ; but usually 
 a good disking is sufficient. 
 
 The Spring Plowing. — Spring plowing should 
 be done early, before the days when a hot sun and 
 drying wind suck from the unplowed soil much of 
 the water that the crop could use to great advan- 
 tage. A soil may lose as much as twenty tons of 
 water per acre weekly by being left unplowed late 
 into the spring. This is equal to 1.75 inches of 
 rainfall. Early plowing also dries and warms the 
 surface soil so that it may be planted early. Further- 
 more, the earlier soil is plowed, the more spring 
 rain it catches. If the land is covered with a catch 
 crop there are additional reasons for plowing it 
 early; the herbage will decay better, and if the 
 catch crop is one that lives over the winter, as rye, 
 it will be prevented from reducing the supply of 
 water in the soil by its spring growth. The popular 
 rule "Plow as early in spring as the ground works 
 up mellow" epitomises the experience of many 
 generations of farmers. 
 
 The exact time to plow in spring depends mostly 
 on the wetness of the soil. If the soil is light and 
 porous it may be plowed, oftentimes, two or three 
 weeks earlier than heavy soil on the same farm. 
 Not till the soil crumbles readily when turned up 
 in the furrow-slice is it in the best condition for 
 plowing. If it is turned over in clods there will 
 be trouble. The texture of a clayey soil may be 
 nearly ruined by plowing it once or twice when it 
 is wet; the soil is thrown into great clods which 
 
136 SOILS 
 
 it may take several years to mellow. There is 
 always a tendency to plow heavy soils too early, 
 when they are wet, since early plowing means so 
 much to the success of the grains which thrive 
 best upon these soils. On the other hand, it is 
 equally unprofitable to plow when the soil is very 
 dry, as such a soil is likely to be puddled by rains 
 when the lumps have been pulverised by the 
 harrow. In both fall and spring plowing it is al- 
 ways better to plow a week or more before seeding 
 so as to allow the loose soil to settle, thus increasing 
 its ability to supply film water to the seed. 
 
 WHEN PLOWING IS DISPENSED WITH 
 
 In a few sections of the country, especially in the 
 Southeastern States, some farmers have a way of 
 plowing only one or more furrows where each row 
 is to be. The crop is then planted and the ground 
 between the rows is plowed later. This "breaking 
 out the middles" is a back-handed way of 
 plowing, for the soil cannot be plowed and fitted 
 nearly as conveniently and thoroughly after the 
 crop is started as when the land is unoccupied. 
 The only excuse for this practice is a rush of work 
 at planting time, and it is doubtful if even this 
 ought to be valid. 
 
 There are occasions when it is best not to plow 
 at all. If a mellow seed bed can be prepared readi- 
 ly without plowing, and the surface soil is plenty 
 rich enough, the land may be simply harrowed 
 deeply in the spring and sown to the grains, which 
 prefer a compact soil beneath the surface. Farmers 
 in the prairie states sometimes follow this plan. 
 Sometimes land from which beans or other crops 
 have been removed is harrowed in preparation for 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 137 
 
 fall seeding of grain. These cases, however, are 
 very rare, as compared with the almost universal 
 experience that thorough plowing is the best prep- 
 aration of a seed bed. 
 
 USEFULNESS OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS 
 OF PLOWS 
 
 There are a number of distinct types of plows, 
 each of which is adapted for certain conditions. 
 Furthermore, there are many makes or brands of 
 each class of plows and these differ widely in 
 construction and in value. The merits of the five 
 most important classes of plows — landslide, swivel, 
 sulky, disk and gang — will be discussed briefly. 
 AVhen it comes to choosing between the different 
 makes of the same type of plow, the buyer must 
 scrutinise the construction of each, especially the 
 mouldboard, as advised in preceding paragraphs. 
 
 The Landside Plow is the oldest and most com- 
 mon type of plow. Probably five-sixths of all the 
 plows used in the country belong to this class. It 
 turns a furrow only in one direction, usually to the 
 right; and more perfectly than swivel plows, which 
 turn the furrow in either direction. It leaves a 
 dead-furrow, which is no disadvantage on most 
 land, as it assists in drainage. 
 
 The Swivel Plow is constructed so that a furrow 
 may be turned to the right or to the left, thus mak- 
 ing it possible to plow a field so that all the furrows 
 are turned one way and no dead-furrows are left. 
 It is especially adapted for plowing hillsides, be- 
 cause it leaves no dead-furrow to collect water. For 
 this reason it is sometimes called the hillside plow. 
 For general purposes, however, it is not usually 
 considered quite as eflScient as a landside plow. 
 
138 SOILS 
 
 The Sulky Plow is a plow mounted on wheels, 
 with provision for the driver to ride and to con- 
 trol it with a lever. The plow itself may be a 
 swivel, which is turned at the end of each furrow; 
 or there may be two landside plows, one turning 
 the furrow-slice to the right and the other to the 
 left, these being used alternately so that the plow- 
 ing is back and forth, not around the field, and no 
 dead-furrows are left. The landside construction 
 is usually considered somewhat superior to the 
 swivel construction in sulky plows. 
 
 Under ordinary conditions the draft of a sulky 
 plow is no greater than the draft of a landside plow 
 doing the same amount and quality of work. A 
 large part of the weight of the plow falls upon the 
 axles, so that the friction on the sole of the plow is 
 greatly relieved. A sulky plow weighing three or 
 four times as much as a landside plow does not 
 pull any harder, even with a man mounted upon it. 
 If the soil is soft, so that the sulky wheels sink into 
 it or clog, the draft is increased. Two heavy 
 horses can pull it, but three are better. A good 
 sulky plow, properly adjusted, should turn as even 
 and deep a furrow as a landside plow, and some- 
 what wider. If the soil is hard or rooty, it keeps 
 in the ground better than a landside plow. This 
 type of plow is of service only on comparatively 
 level land; it is not practicable on hilly and rocky 
 land. The mechanism of a sulky plow is not 
 difficult to operate nor does it get out of order 
 easily. Wherever it can be used to advantage the 
 sulky plow saves the time and strength of the plow- 
 man ; it is being used more every year by American 
 farmers. 
 
 The Gang Plow differs from the sulky plow 
 chiefly in the fact that it turns more than one furrow 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 139 
 
 at a time. From two to twelve plows are mounted 
 upon a frame, all turning furrows the same way, 
 one following another. The sulky gang plow pro- 
 vides a seat for a man; others have handles, like 
 a landside plow, and are guided by the plowman. 
 The latter commonly have two to four plows, run 
 on low wheels. Some of the largest gang plows 
 are reversible, like a sulky plow; they have two 
 gangs, one right hand and one left hand. 
 
 Gang plows are practicable only where there is 
 a large area of fairly level land to be plowed. In 
 this country they are used chiefly for plowing in 
 the West. The chief saving that they effect is in 
 decreasing the number of plowmen and in getting 
 a larger area plowed when the weather and soil 
 are suitable. Power is furnished by horses, mules, 
 or steam, principally by horses but frequently 
 by steam in this country. A steam gang plow, 
 combined with a seeder and harrow has reduced the 
 time required for manual labour in plowing, seeding 
 and harrowing, in the production of a bushel of 
 wheat, from 38.8 minutes in 1830 to 2.2 minutes at 
 the present time ; and the cost of human and animal 
 labour for the same operations, from four cents to 
 one cent per bushel. It takes from six to eight 
 horses to handle a four-furrow gang plow. When 
 adjusted right a gang plow should do as good work 
 as a sulky or landside plow. It is probable that 
 they will be used to an increasing extent in this 
 country, especially in the West ; but the sulky plow 
 is better adapted for average conditions in the 
 East. 
 
 Disk Plow. — This implement is beginning to be 
 used quite extensively in arid and semi-arid farming. 
 It consists of a tempered steel disk, either single 
 or in gangs of two or more, which is 25 to 30 inches 
 
140 SOILS 
 
 in diameter and set at an angle to the surface of 
 the soil, so as to invert and piilverise it. The disk 
 is kept from clogging by an adjustable scraper. 
 It is mounted on wheels and provided with levers, 
 as in a sulky plow. - The disk plow is commonly 
 used with steam power. It is especially valuable 
 for hard, sticky soils, and has been found most 
 practicable in "dry farming'* in the West. It 
 does not appearthat it will supplant the mouldboard 
 plow in the East, but it can be used to advantage 
 m humid regions for breaking up the "plow bed" 
 or "plow sole" formed by plowing heavy land 
 with a mouldboard plow at the same depth for 
 several years. 
 
 ADJUSTING THE PLOW IN THE FIELD 
 
 A good plow, handled or adjusted improperly, 
 is no better than a poor tool. The same implement 
 can do first-class plowing and very poor plowing, 
 according to the skill of the man who holds it. 
 When a plow is taken to the field the first thing to 
 do is to adjust it properly — the adjustment varies 
 with the team, the type of soil and the object sought. 
 It pays to spend some little time in getting a plow 
 adjusted right. 
 
 Professor W. P. Brooks gives the novice at 
 plowing some excellent suggestions on this sub- 
 ject; they are here condensed, and slightly modi- 
 fied: Hitch the team as close to the plow as pos- 
 sible and hitch to the lowest hole in the clevis. 
 Start the plow and note whether the furrow is 
 sufiiciently deep; if not, hitch higher one hole at 
 a time until the plow cuts at the right depth. If 
 the furrow-slice is turned over flat, and a lap or 
 rolling furrow is desired, it may be because the 
 
METHODS OF PLOWING 141 
 
 furrow is too wide in proportion to its depth; to 
 correct this, the clevis must be moved to tne left. 
 If the furrow stands too nearly on edge it is narrow 
 in proportion to its depth; move the clevis to the 
 right. A plow that is properly adjusted should 
 run in the soil for some distance without being 
 held, cutting a furrow of even depth and width, 
 provided the soil is free from stones and other 
 obstructions. If it will not do this either the plow 
 is a poor one, or, what is more likely, it is not cor- 
 rectly set up or adjusted. When it runs all right, 
 lower the beam wheel until it just touches the sur- 
 face. Thus adjusted the plow will do its best 
 work as easily as it can be made to run. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 HARROWING AND CULTIVATING 
 
 EVEN the best plowing is but the beginning 
 of good tillage. Unless followed by thor- 
 ough harrowing and, for crops planted in 
 in rows or drills, by thorough cultivation, the har- 
 vest is likely to suffer. The necessary tillage sub- 
 sequent to plowing is of two kinds. The first is 
 fitting the land to receive the seed, by harrowing, 
 rolling, planking, brushing, etc. This tillage be- 
 fore the crop is planted, together with plowing itself, 
 is sometimes called "the tillage of preparation." 
 After the crop is planted the only kind of tillage 
 needed is cultivating, called "the tillage of con- 
 servation," because its chief function is to save, or 
 conserve, the soil water. This distinction is made 
 to emphasise one very important fact; that if the 
 tillage of preparation is judicious and thorough, 
 the tillage of conservation will be easy and effec- 
 tive. The best cultivating cannot atone for hasty 
 and imperfect harrowing. Many of the tools used 
 for harrowing are equally valuable, in a modified 
 form, for cultivating, since the main object of both 
 is the same — to stir and fine the surface soil. 
 
 OBJECTS OF HARROWING 
 
 The plow leaves the soil in a rough condition, 
 too rough and hard, in most cases, for planting. 
 Some light sandy soils are so completely 
 pulverised and levelled by good plowing that 
 
 142 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 143 
 
 they are sometimes seeded without being har- 
 rowed, but this practice is rarely profitable. 
 The plowed ground must be loosened and pul- 
 verised so that the seeds will touch moist grains of 
 soil on all sides, instead of lying between clods and 
 lumps. The chief object of harrowing, then, is to 
 make a fine and mellow seed-bed. In so doing it 
 increases fertility, prevents the evaporation of soil 
 water, makes the soil warmer and accomplishes 
 all the other benefits of tillage. That the harrow 
 teeth fertilise and water the soil as well as fine it, 
 is a figure of speech that is based upon realities in 
 the field. Harrowing may also be a means of 
 covering the seed and of killing weeds. 
 
 Better Harrowing Needed. — The necessity for 
 harrowing more thoroughly than is commonly 
 done needs to be repeated and reemphasised. 
 Some farmers are content with one or two har- 
 rowings, or merely enough to break up the largest 
 lumps and enable the seeds to germinate. But 
 that is not enough. We harrow to increase the 
 feeding area of the roots all through the season by 
 giving them finely divided soil in which to spread. 
 We harrow to put the soil in the best possible con- 
 dition to catch and hold the rains. We harrow to 
 warm the soil, to aerate it and to promote the 
 activity of the germ life that is so essential to its 
 fertility. This means that the ground should be 
 gone over more than is necessary to merely break 
 up the lumps so that the seeds will germinate. It 
 means harrowing and cross-harrowing, three times, 
 four times, six times if necessary ; or until all of the 
 upper four or five inches of soil upturned by the 
 plow has been made as nearly like an onion 
 bed in mellowness as the texture of the soil will 
 permit. 
 
144 SOILS 
 
 It does not pay to skimp harrowing in the rush 
 of the busiest season of the farmers' busy year. A 
 farmer once told me that every time he went over 
 a certain piece of land with his cutaway harrow, in 
 preparing it for corn, he received more than seventy- 
 five cents an hour for the work when the ears were 
 bushelled. Of course there is a limit, for every 
 soil, to the number of times that it will pay to 
 harrow it. Eight harrowings might give a larger 
 crop than three harrowings, but would the increase 
 be enough to justify the expenditure ? It is worth 
 while for every farmer to find the point where better 
 tillage ceases to be profitable on his soil. When he 
 ascertains this he will be surprised to find how far 
 this limit is beyond the common practice of the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 KINDS OF HARROWS AND USEFULNESS OF EACH 
 
 Harrowing tools are of innumerable patterns. 
 Most any ingenious farmer can make a harrow that 
 will do good work. There used to be a great 
 many home-made harrows and cultivators, but 
 now the patent implements are so reasonable 
 in price and superior in efficiency that it 
 scarcely pays to get one made by the local 
 blacksmith. 
 
 All harrows and cultivators are of four general 
 types. The first class, represented by the spike- 
 tooth harrow, press the soil down while pulver- 
 ising it. The second class, represented by the 
 spring-tooth harrow, lift the soil while pulverising 
 it. The third class, represented by the Acme 
 harrow, slice the soil and lift and turn it some- 
 what. The fourth class, represented by the cut- 
 away, roll over and cut the soil. There are 
 
^ 1-, 
 
52. A HOME-MADE SI'IKE-TOOTH HARROW, IN TWO SECTIONS 
 
 This type of harrow is unexcelled for putting on the finishing touches in fitting land. It 
 is not efficient on a stony or soddy soil 
 
 53. A SULKY HARROW 
 
 The middle teeth can be removed so that the implement will straddle a row of plants. 
 then becomes a cultivator 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 145 
 
 numerous variations of and gradations between 
 these four types. 
 
 Some soils are benefited most by a type of har- 
 row which may be almost valueless for other soils 
 near-by; hence we have farmers who would not 
 use any other harrow than a cutaway and spike- 
 tooth, because these especially suit the soil on their 
 farms. They even dispute with neighbours who 
 have a different kind of soil and wdio think nothing 
 is equal to a spading harrow and an Acme. More- 
 over, they may be growing a different kind of a crop, 
 which may mean that a different preparation of the 
 soil is needed. The fact is there is no best harrow 
 any more than there is a best plow or best breed 
 of cows. The best harrow is the one that prepares 
 a particular soil for a particular crop most satis- 
 factorily; and soils and crops differ about as 
 much as the farmers that handle them. The 
 farmer should experiment with several types of 
 harrows and find the best for his purpose. 
 
 The Spike-tooth Harrow is a most efficient tool 
 under certain well-defined conditions. There 
 are more home-made spike- tooth harrows on Ameri- 
 can farms than any other tillage tool. Some of the 
 older home-made spike-tooth harrows are square, 
 but more commonly they are A-shaped, with teeth 
 set vertically on the side pieces only and a horse- 
 shoe nailed to the nose for a chain ring. These 
 harrows did imperfect w^ork as compared with the 
 spike-tooth harrows of the present time. 
 
 Recent improvements in this time-honoured tool 
 have greatly increased its usefulness. These are the 
 addition of many more teeth; providing that they 
 may be adjusted to run either vertical or slanted 
 backward at various degrees; and making the har- 
 row in several sections, which facilitates cleaning 
 
146 SOILS 
 
 the teeth of entangled weeds. The implement 
 is now made with a steel or iron frame, usually 
 rectangular, and should be provided with a shoe. 
 The more the teeth slant backward the more 
 shallow do they work jand the greater is the smooth- 
 ing effect of the tool. The teeth should be set 
 straight only when it is desired that they work 
 deeply and tear up the soil. 
 
 The size of the spike-tooth harrow varies from 
 a single six-foot section to the forty-foot wide 
 smoothing harrow of many sections that is used 
 on prairie grain fields. The latter are drawn by 
 four to six horses and cover thirty to forty acres a 
 day. The width of all harrows has increased in 
 recent years and is still increasing in obedience to 
 the same demand that has given us gang plows. 
 The wider a harrow is the steadier it runs. 
 
 Usefulness of the Spike-tooth Harrow — The 
 spike-tooth harrow is seldom used now to tear 
 up rough- plowed ground, as it was some years 
 ago before improved harrows were available. 
 The old time spike-tooth harrow had a few long, 
 heavy teeth which tore up sod quite effectively, 
 especially when weighted with rocks, or pro- 
 vided with a platform for the driver. At the 
 present time most spike- tooth harrows are of the 
 type called "smoothing harrows," having numerous 
 small and short teeth. When the teeth are so 
 short that the bar in which they are set scrapes the 
 ground when it is in use, the implement is often 
 called a "drag." This type of harrow is chiefly 
 valuable for one purpose — to put the finishing 
 touches on a piece of land that needs to be 
 made very mellow and very level for seeding. 
 It is usually preceded by a stronger and deeper- 
 working tool, as a disk or spring-tooth harrow. 
 
54. A .^IKlNc-lOoTH HARkuW 
 
 The depth at which it works is regulated by the levers. It is often made larger than this. 
 The same tool is used as an orchard cultivator 
 
 >rs3^'^ 
 
 CA 
 
 .4*, 
 
 
 55. THE WORK OF A SPRIXG-TOOTH HARROW 
 
 It is particularly serviceable for loosening a compact soil, as the teeth pull up, and is a 
 
 valuable tool on stony, cloddy, and soddy land. It is often desirable, 
 
 however, to level off the high ridges left by a spring-tooth harrow 
 
56. "SWEEPS" ATTACHED TO A PLOW-STOCK, FOR "LAYING BY" CORX 
 They cut olT Inrge weeds, but injure roots and leave the soil ridged 
 
 57. THE EFFECT OF USING THE ABOVE TOOL FOR CULTIVATING A 
 COTTON FIELD 
 
 Note thf high ridges from which much water evaporates, and the deep furrows which 
 favour the washing away of fine soil 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 147 
 
 A second occasion when a spike-tooth harrow 
 may be used to advantage is in tiUing a crop before 
 it has come up, or even afterwards. Land in corn 
 or potatoes, for example, may be run over a few 
 days after planting with a shallow-working spike- 
 tooth harrow with the teeth slanted backward; 
 this will kill the young weeds and check the escape 
 of moisture. This kind of tillage can be repeated 
 to advantage every few days until the plants are 
 two or three inches high, or until they are bruised 
 by passing between the teeth. 
 
 The spike-tooth harrow presses down into the 
 soil and compacts it more than most other har- 
 rows. It has something of the effect of a roller. 
 For this reason it is somewhat more useful on light, 
 sandy soils which need compacting, than upon 
 heavy soils, although its compacting effect is not 
 sufficiently injurious to warrant its being discard- 
 ed for finishing and smoothing the heavier soils. 
 
 S'pring-tooth Harrow. — The curved spring teeth 
 of this popular tool enable it to clear obstructions 
 easily; for this reason it is especially valuable on 
 stony, rooty or stumpy land. The teeth can be 
 set by a lever to run at various depths; this also 
 affects the quality of the work done. The spring- 
 tooth harrow leaves the soil in ridges of consider- 
 able height, which is a disadvantage in many cases, 
 as it causes the soil to lose more water from the 
 greater surface exposed to evaporation. This 
 objection may be overcome by following it with a 
 smoothing harrow. A section of smoothing har- 
 row is frequently attached behind the spring- 
 tooth harrow, or a joist or plank, say 2 inches by 6 
 inches, or a heavy iron pipe may drag behind it. 
 Any one of these devices is quite successful in 
 levelling the ridges left by the broad teeth. 
 
148 SOILS 
 
 The spring-tooth harrow is a good implement 
 for rough work, and especially for stony ground. 
 It is very popular for orchard tillage, partly be- 
 cause the teeth spring over the roots with little 
 damage to them. It. is not so serviceable when sod, 
 green manure, or a large quantity of strawy manure 
 has been plowed under, as the teeth are likely to 
 dig out part of this material and leave it on the 
 surface. 
 
 On rough land the spring-tooth harrow is jerky 
 and hard upon the horses' shoulders. The draft 
 of a spring-tooth harrow set moderately deep is 
 about equal to the draft in plowing, but it is easier 
 for a team to plow all day than to pull a spring- 
 tooth harrow all day, because the plow runs more 
 evenly. The jerkiness of the common type of 
 this harrow — in which all the weight rests upon the 
 teeth — is largely overcome in a more recent form, 
 which is mounted on wheels. All the weight of 
 this implement rests upon the wheels, thus allow- 
 ing the teeth to pull up and loosen the soil, and re- 
 lieving somewhat the unevenness in draft. Even 
 the common type of spring-tooth harrow, however, 
 leaves the soil lighter than most other harrows 
 because of the upward pull of the teeth. It is this 
 advantage, as well as durability and the ease with 
 which obstructions are cleared, that makes the 
 spring-tooth harrow so popular. It can be bought 
 by sections in various sizes; the wider it is, within 
 reasonable limits, the cheaper will the harrowing 
 be done. 
 
 Acme Harrow. — This is the most noted repre- 
 sentative of a type of implements known as the 
 coulter harrows, so called because they have teeth 
 that have been twisted, somewhat resembling a 
 plow coulter. The teeth first cut the soil, 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 149 
 
 then raise, turn and pulverise it, doing the work of 
 a plow on a small scale. It has been stated 
 that the plow makes the best mulch to prevent the 
 escape of soil water. The great efficiency of the 
 Acme and similar harrows rests upon their appli- 
 cation of the cutting, raising and pulverising action 
 of a plow. In the judgment of many people the 
 Acme harrow will give satisfaction over a wider 
 range of conditions than any other type. It will 
 work from one to four inches deep, as is desired. 
 Following the plow it breaks up the furrows as 
 well as any other tool unless the land is rocky or 
 the sod tough, in which case a disk or spring-tooth 
 harrow is better. It leaves the soil nearly as level 
 and mellow as a smoothing harrow. 
 
 Rolling Harrows. — Harrows of this class have one 
 or more revolving shafts to which are attached 
 a number of disks, which are either entire, 
 as in the common disk harrow, or notched, 
 as in the spading and cutaway harrows. These 
 harrows work deeper than harrows of any other 
 class. They are especially valuable for working- 
 heavy soil, tough sod and intractable land of any 
 sort. Two things decrease their value for estab- 
 lishing a soil mulch — they leave the soil in rather 
 high ridges, which evaporate much moisture; and, 
 if not adjusted properly, the disks do not stir all the 
 surface, but leave a triangle or cone of unstirred 
 soil. The ridges may be levelled by dragging a 
 section of a smoothing harrow or a heavy joist be- 
 hind, but the draft on harrows of this type is heavy 
 enough without this additional burden; it is some- 
 what greater than a plow, in most soils. 
 
 Usually the disk, cutaway and spading harrows 
 should be used only to do the rough work of fitting 
 
150 SOILS 
 
 the land; to tear it and brinpj it up to the point 
 where an Acme or smoothing harrow can be used 
 to advantage. Tliey are sometimes used as a sub- 
 stitute for the plow, when deep tillage is not 
 necessary or is not i)rac'tical)le; as to tear up the 
 sod in an old orchard that it is proposed to culti- 
 vate, or to fit land for fall wheat after a crop of 
 bejins has been harvested. Some Western farmers 
 fit the land in spring for the cereals, using one of 
 these harrows wliich can stir the ground 5 inches 
 deep. 
 
 The great trouble with any one of these rolling 
 harrows, in the hands of a careless workman, 
 is that the disks will be so set that they j)low 
 out wide, deep groves, leaving untouched ridges 
 between them, which are lightly covered with loose 
 soil. In order to completely stir ilic soil and establish 
 an efficient mulch tlie disks should be set so that 
 they will enter the soil at a wide angle. Rolling 
 harrows are made in two sections or gangs and 
 the gangs throw dirt in opposite directions, 
 usually from the centre outward, l^his makes 
 it necessary to overhip in order to keep the ground 
 level, but a better way is to level it with a 
 smoothing harrow. 
 
 The comj)arative merits of the three leading 
 rolling harrows — the disk, cutaway and spading — 
 is the subject of much needless dispute. Some 
 farmers are partisans for one and some for another, 
 according to the way it strikes their fancy or the 
 way it works on their soils. In general they handle 
 the soil in about the same way. Probably the 
 disk harrow is used more than the other two at the 
 present time, partly because it is less likely to 
 break. The Meeker harrow, which is used by 
 many market gardeners and truck farmers, is 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 151 
 
 essentially the same as the disk harrow, except that 
 it has many very small disks permanently fixed 
 in a rectangular frame, instead of a few large ones. 
 It leaves the soil about as smooth as an iron rake 
 and is used solely for preparing a very level seed- 
 bed. 
 
 WHEN SOIL IS READY TO HARROW 
 
 In harrowing, as well as in plowing, there is a 
 good deal in catching the soil at the right time. 
 If the land is inclined to be wet and the upturned 
 furrows have a glazed appearance it is well to let 
 them dry before harrowing. Several hours, or 
 even several days, may be needed to bring them to 
 that stage of dryness when the soil will crumble 
 nicely. No other consideration should influence 
 one to harrow before this. It is better to lose some 
 of the water in this soil by evaporation than to run 
 any risk of injuring its texture. On the other 
 hand, if the soil turns over mellow and ready to be 
 harrowed at once the time to catch it is right then, 
 before it becomes dry on top. A delay of a single 
 day in harrowing a plowed field may mean that half 
 an inch or more of the precious water in it has 
 been lost. After the furrows have dried out con- 
 siderably they may become hard and cloddy and 
 will be pulverised with greater difiiculty. 
 
 The soil should be moist, not wet or dry, 
 in order to do the most effective harrowing. 
 Some of the lighter soils dry out very quickly 
 in the furrow, even in an hour or two. If 
 it can be done without too much inconven- 
 ience it is best to harrow these soils within a 
 few hours after they are plowed — certainly the 
 same day. When but one team is plowing on a 
 
152 SOILS 
 
 light soil it will pay to take it off the plow and hitch 
 it to the harrow early enough to make a mellow 
 seed bed of the furrow-slices before nightfall. This 
 is much better than to defer harrowing until the 
 plowing is finished. The subsoil is compacted in 
 narrowing; this starts capillary action and water 
 is drawn from the soil below, and would escape 
 were it not for the mulch of fine soil left on the 
 surface by the harrow. The compacting effect on 
 the subsoil by harrowing is a benefit on most soils. 
 
 LEADING TYPES OF CULTIVATORS 
 
 As the term is commonly used, a cultivator is 
 any toothed implement that is used to stir the soil 
 after it has been fitted, chiefly for the purpose of 
 killing weeds and preventing the loss of soil water. 
 Many harrows are used as cultivators under certain 
 conditions; as when a spring- tooth harrow is used 
 to preserve the soil mulch in an orchard, or when a 
 spike-tooth harrow is used to run over the potato 
 field when the sprouts are still small enough to 
 slip between the teeth without injury. When 
 narrowed down to its most distinctive usage a 
 cultivator is a toothed implement drawn by one 
 horse and used for inter-tillage, or for preserving 
 the mulch between rows of plants. Most of these 
 kinds of cultivators, however, are only small 
 harrows with handles attached, and they stir the 
 soil in about the same way as the harrows that have 
 been described. All kinds of cultivators are some- 
 times called " horse hoes," but this name seems to be 
 especially fitted for the broad-tooth coulter 
 cultivators. 
 
 The following classes of cultivators include most 
 of those in common use, but there is an almost 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 153 
 
 endless variation in the details of construction in 
 each class. 
 
 Shovel-tooth or Coulter Cultivators. — Probably 
 more of the cultivators used in this country belong 
 to this class than to any other. The teeth of dif- 
 ferent cultivators vary greatly in shape and size; 
 nearly all enter the ground at an angle and are 
 rounded on the front side. Many coulter culti- 
 vators work up the soil like a plow, lifting, turning 
 and pulverising it to some extent. The soil is 
 loosened to a depth of two to five inches, depending 
 upon the style of cultivator and upon the adjust- 
 ment of the lever with which many coulter culti- 
 vators are provided. The surface of the soil is 
 left either quite level or in rather high ridges, de- 
 pending upon the width of the teeth. The wider 
 they are the rougher they leave the soil. 
 
 Cultivators with about five broad teeth work the 
 ground deeply and are especially valuable for loosen- 
 ing heavy or compact soil ; but for the purpose of 
 killing weeds or preserving a mulch, a cultivator 
 with more and narrower teeth is much better. 
 There are too many broad-toothed, deep-working 
 cultivators used and too few narrow-toothed 
 shallow-working tools. Each kind is most useful 
 for a certain definite purpose ; the one for loosening 
 a hard soil, as after planting or after a beating rain; 
 the other for preserving the shallow mulch that is 
 the most useful and economical kind of tillage 
 during the summer. Various attachments accom- 
 pany coulter cultivators, such as wings for hilling 
 or ridging, and rolling disks to cut off strawberry 
 runners. 
 
 Spike-tooth Cultivators. — Implements of this 
 class have become very popular in recent years, 
 and deservedly so. The spike-tooth cultivator is 
 
154 SOILS 
 
 simply a spike-tooth harrow, shaped like an A, 
 with handles attached. It may be worked shallow 
 and leave the surface very level; for this reason 
 it is considered one of the best tools for preserving 
 the soil mulch after it has been made by deeper 
 Working tools. The teeth may be straight on one 
 end and bent forward on the other and it should 
 be easy to reverse the ends. The bent end works 
 deeper. Most makes are also provided with a 
 lever to regulate the depth at which the teeth 
 work. The spike-tooth cultivator is not a good 
 implement for killing weeds except when they are 
 less than half an inch high. It is preeminently 
 a tool for making a mulch. If weeds get a start 
 the broader teeth of the coulter cultivator will up- 
 root them much better. 
 
 The advantage of using a spike-tooth harrow as 
 a cultivator for stirring the entire surface of the 
 soil, where corn, potatoes, peas, beets and many 
 other crops have been planted, has already been 
 alluded to. Many people are afraid to use this 
 harrow for this purpose, thinking it will pull up the 
 crop as well as the weeds. But little if any injury 
 to the crop results from this harrowing, chiefly 
 because the seeds of the crop have been planted 
 deeply and the soil firmed around them; while 
 the weed seeds are mostly on or near the surface; 
 hence young weeds have a much slighter hold upon 
 the soil than the crop. The harrow may be used 
 for cultivating these crops until they are four 
 to six inches high; it is the most economical culti- 
 vating that can be given. 
 
 Sfring-tooth Cultivators, usually with five teeth, 
 are occasionally used. Like spring-tooth harrows, 
 they work deeply, loosening the soil for four or five 
 inches if necessary. For this reason they are quite 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 155 
 
 serviceable on the heavier soils. But the superior 
 value of shallow cultivation has been demonstrated 
 so conclusively that it is doubtful if the spring- 
 tooth cultivator has any advantages over the more 
 common coulter cultivator and spike-tooth culti- 
 vator, except for the specific purpose of loosening a 
 hard soil. It is not as efiicient a weed killer as the 
 coulter type of tool. 
 
 Sulky Cultivators. — Probably 90 per cent, of the 
 cultivators used in the United States are walking 
 coulter or spike-tooth tools, or some gradation be- 
 tween the two. Sulky or riding cultivators are 
 used principally in the "corn belt" of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley and are seen occasionally in the East. 
 In most of them the teeth are in two gangs with a 
 space between for the row of corn or other plants. 
 Two horses are used, one walking on one side of 
 the row and the other on the opposite side, the 
 cultivator wheels straddling the row and the teeth 
 working on both sides of it. Sulky cultivators 
 nearly all have coulter teeth, but a few have spike 
 teeth, spring teeth or even disks. The coulter 
 teeth are preferable in most cases. Disks are apt 
 to work too deep close to the rows. Disk culti- 
 vators are excellent, however, for chopping up and 
 destroying large weeds, if the crop gets very foul. 
 Several different sets of shovels are usually pro- 
 vided, including extra shovels which may be 
 attached so as to run where the row space is left, 
 thus making a sulky harrow which stirs soil for its 
 full width and is used to prepare the soil for 
 planting. 
 
 The chief advantages of a sulky cultivator 
 are that it covers more ground than a walking 
 implement and saves the strength of the farmer. 
 But it does not do as good work, as a rule, since it 
 
156 SOILS 
 
 is impossible to guide it so carefully. It always 
 damages the young plants more than a walking 
 cultivator, even when the very serviceable plant 
 guard attachment is used on each side of the row to 
 prevent dirt from being thrown against the young 
 plants. Moreover, a sulky cultivator is consider- 
 ably harder to draw than a walking cultivator. 
 
 Weeders. — The essential principle of all the 
 several kinds of weeders is one or more rows of 
 long, flexible teeth which stir the ground a good 
 deal like the teeth of a horse rake; not being 
 curved at the lower end, they do not stir it deeply. 
 The teeth are either round or flat. The more 
 common weeders stir a section of soil from six to 
 nine feet wide; there are also adjustable weeders 
 in two sections which stir from two and one-half 
 to seven and one-half feet of soil. 
 
 Weeders are useful for three purposes — to kill 
 very young weeds; to preserve a shallow mulch 
 after the soil has been loosened by a deeper working 
 tool; and to cover broadcasted seed. They are 
 used chiefly for stirring the entire surface of the 
 ground that has been planted to row crops, as corn, 
 potatoes, parsnips and market-garden crops in 
 general, doing the same work as the smoothing 
 harrow, but not stirring the soil so deeply. The 
 teeth tear up and kill tiny weeds just appearing on 
 the surface, but since the crop plants are anchored 
 firmly in the soil by deeper roots they readily pass 
 between the flexible teeth without injury. 
 
 A weeder is not effective unless it is used very 
 frequently, or often enough to prevent any weeds 
 from getting sufficiently large to resist the teeth. 
 It cannot be used successfully on stony soil. In 
 some sections, and especially in market gardens, 
 weeders are used very extensively; some truckers 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 157 
 
 do most of their tillage with them up to the time 
 when the plants get too large to pass between the 
 long teeth without bruising. Since the weeder 
 stirs the soil no more than an inch and a half to 
 two inches deep, it should be supplemented with 
 the cultivator whenever the soil gets hard. This 
 is especially true on the heavier soils, which are 
 apt to get caked beneath the very shallow mulch 
 made by the weeder. The weeder is a special 
 purpose tool, as compared with the coulter culti- 
 vator, which is a general purpose tool. It is most 
 useful in growing crops under intensive culture 
 and on soils of the best texture. 
 
 CULTIVATING TO KILL WEEDS 
 
 How often to cultivate depends upon the nature 
 of the soil, the kind of crop, the dryness of the 
 season, the prevalence of weeds, etc. It is a local 
 and personal problem. This much is certain; 
 one should cultivate often enough to keep down 
 weeds, at least during the early part of the season. 
 This advice would appear to be superfluous were 
 it not that so many farmers do not keep down 
 weeds. 
 
 Weeds injure the plants and reduce the yield 
 in several ways. They crowd and shade the 
 plants, thus keeping part of the life-giving sunshine 
 away from them, making them spindling, like 
 forest pines which are drawn up to a great height 
 in their desperate struggle with each other to get 
 light. They steal food from the plants. Every 
 young corn plant that is being choked above ground 
 by the tops of weeds is also being jostled below by 
 
158 SOILS 
 
 their roots. These are in every inch of soil 
 that the corn roots have penetrated, disputing with 
 them for its richness. There are many figures on 
 the amount of plant foods removed from the soil 
 by various crops, but how about the amount of 
 plant food taken out of the soil by a big crop of 
 weeds in a potato field .^ It is true that the 
 weeds are plowed under eventually, so that the 
 plant food they use is not lost to the soil; but it is 
 lost to that particular crop, anyhow, and the crop 
 would have been bigger if the plants could have 
 had the use of all the surface richness that the 
 shallow-feeding weeds have gobbled up. I like 
 to see a farmer stop his cultivator, even on his way 
 to dinner, to pull up a particularly lusty and 
 arrogant weed. He knows it is robbing him. The 
 insidious drain that weeds make upon the most 
 available fertility of our fields is not appreciated 
 half as much as it ought to be. 
 
 Weeds Steal Water. — Weeds rob the plants of 
 water as well as of food. They use as much and 
 sometimes more water than cultivated plants in 
 proportion to their size and weight. It is in this 
 way that they inflict the greatest injury to crops. 
 The plant food they use is restored to the land, and 
 perhaps the crop of another year may use it, but 
 the water they use is lost; most of it passes off 
 into the air through their leaves. There are 
 figures on how much soil water is used in growing 
 a crop of corn or potatoes; how much water is 
 used in growing a big crop of weeds between the 
 corn or potatoes ? Perhaps not so much, but 
 certainly nearly as much. Where soil moisture is 
 as important as it is in most parts of the country the 
 
5S. THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF DEEP-WORKING COULTER-TOOTH 
 CULTIVATOR 
 
 It is excellent for breaking a crust and loosening a hard soil, but a shallow-working tool 
 with narrower teeth is better for making a mulch 
 
 ii-i_l:^, -^' -^.r^ -«i 
 
 59. YOUNG CORN IN NEED OF A CULTIVATION 
 
 This crust, formed by a beating rain, is evaporating water. It should be pulverised 
 
 into a mulch 
 
tilt. A tlH.llNAroK rilAT IS KI':A1.1,V a I'l.OW 
 
 I'sually it is unwise lo "plow out" i oni in lliis way. unless llie soil Kf's very li:iri 
 I'low (leeplv in spring, li( the land tlmrouKlily, and eullivule slialldw llnri'aller 
 
 (il. CUI-rUATlNC. Al' A DISADVAN TACK 
 
 The rows ol torn dial cross tliis steen North Camlina hill nuisl ho i iillivaleil skilfully to 
 prevent wjishiiiK. Note that rows are nearly level 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 159 
 
 farmer can ill aft'ord to spare water, even to grow 
 weeds that will enrich his soil when plowed under. 
 He had better grow plants to plow under in late 
 fall, after the crop has ceased to need much water. 
 
 This advice is unnecessary for the majority of 
 farmers, who hate a weed and understand now 
 much it works against their interests. But some 
 farmers appear to have gotten so accustomed to 
 having weeds in their fields that they have come to 
 view them with greater leniency, even with toler- 
 ation. Weeds, like the poor, are always with us; 
 we are liable to grow indifferent to both. 
 
 Cultivation is the greatest weed-killing device 
 yet known, at least for crops that permit of inter- 
 tillage. Some people are always looking for some 
 new or patent way of getting rid of weeds with 
 little labour, but no good substitute for cultivation 
 has yet been found. In making the earth yield 
 her increase nothing can take the place of stirring 
 the soil. Most weeds are annuals; these are 
 shallow rooted and are easily uptorn by the 
 cultivator teeth. Some, however, are perennials 
 and deeper rooted. These may require special 
 treatment, such as rotation of crops. 
 
 THE BEST TIME TO KILL WEEDS 
 
 In cultivating to kill weeds it makes a difference 
 what stage they are in. The vulnerable stages of 
 most weeds are immediately after they have 
 sprouted, and when they are in flower. Some 
 perennial weeds, especially pasture weeds, may be 
 killed best when in flower; but the sprouting 
 stage is the time to attack most weeds on cultivated 
 
160 SOILS 
 
 land. Weed seeds are mostly in the first inch or 
 two of soil; a very shallow cultivation will expose 
 the sprouting seeds and young weeds to the merci- 
 less sun. Many of the finer-seeded kinds are 
 buried so deeply by a deep-working cultivator that 
 they never come up again, especially if a coulter 
 cultivator is used. It is easy to kill weeds in this 
 way, but it is difficult to kill them after they are so 
 large that cultivator teeth do not uproot them, and 
 cultivating must be supplemented by hoeing and 
 hand-pulling. 
 
 There is no better illustration of the old adage 
 *'a stitch in time saves nine" than in the killing of 
 weeds. It pays to be forehanded in cultivating 
 more than any other work on the farm. The time 
 to start the cultivator is when the ground is covered 
 with tiny weeds, just appearing above the surface, 
 whether it has been six days or sixteen days since 
 the last tillage. A delay of three or four days, or 
 until the young weeds get their roots established 
 two or three inches deep, means that many of them 
 will not be uprooted by the cultivator. That is 
 the beginning of a foul field. The profit in growing 
 ordinary farm crops depends largely upon the 
 farmer's ability to do as much of the work as pos- 
 sible with horse labour, which is cheap, and as 
 little as possible with manual labour, which is 
 dear. Many farmers have demonstrated that it is 
 easier and cheaper to kill weeds with the culti- 
 vator than to let many of them grow large and 
 then be obliged to hoe and pull them. More culti- 
 vations are necessary, but less hoeings. 
 
 When Weeds Get a Start. — Weeds are most apt 
 to get a start during the interval between the time 
 that the crop is planted and when it is up. The 
 season may be cold and backward, and ten days 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 161 
 
 or two weeks may intervene. At the end of this 
 time ground which was mellow and weedless when 
 planted is covered with a dense mat of small weeds. 
 Most of these can be worked out with a cultivator, 
 but some of them are already rooted so firmly 
 that the cultivator teeth do not uproot them. 
 From this beginning may be traced the growth of 
 many a weedy field. In recent years farmers and 
 gardeners have come to appreciate more fully the 
 advantages of harrowing the soil once or twice 
 before the crop is up. Weeders are also used; 
 in small home gardens an iron rake answers 
 very well. In this way the crop starts off clean 
 instead of foul. Where freedom from weeds is as 
 important as it is in growing onions the rows are 
 sometimes marked by sowing a few radish seeds 
 with the onions; these sprout long before the 
 onions and show where the scuffle hoe can go be- 
 fore the onions are up. 
 
 When the crop is "laid by," or after the last 
 cultivation, is another dangerous time for the prop- 
 agation of weeds. The cultivation of many crops 
 is stopped in early or mid-summer, either because 
 the tops are so large that it would injure them to 
 crowd between the rows with a cultivator, as for 
 potatoes; or because it benefits the plant to grow 
 more slowly during the latter part of the season, as 
 for fruits. This period of relaxation on the 
 part of the farmer becomes the busy season of some 
 weeds. They crowd in beneath the crop and get 
 so firmly established that many of them are on hand 
 to bother the farmer after the next spring plowing. 
 If perennial weeds are allowed to make leaves at 
 any time during the summer or fall they are likely 
 to appear again next spring. There are two ways 
 of handling this difficulty: one is to keep the weeds 
 
162 SOILS 
 
 cut out with a hoe during the latter part of the 
 season; the other is to sow some catch crop at the 
 time of the last cultivation, to catch and use the 
 leaching plant food and water, to keep the soil 
 from washing and to crowd out weeds. Both are 
 worth being considered by the man who wishes 
 to keep his farm clean. 
 
 Weed Collectors. — There are other ways of 
 helping to keep down weeds besides cultivation. 
 One of the most important is to change the crop, 
 which is discussed fully under rotation of crops in 
 Chapter XI. Another is to keep fence rows, 
 corners, pastures and all waste places about the 
 farm clean. The fence row around the field is 
 often full of the very weeds that the farmer is 
 fighting by cultivation. Never allow bad weeds to 
 go to seed in these places; mow them frequently. 
 A much better plan, however, is to dispense with 
 the fence, and other weed-catching obstructions, as 
 much as possible. Fences and walls are unsightly 
 and they are a nuisance unless they serve the 
 necessary purpose of keeping out stock. 
 
 There are many more fences in this country 
 than there is any need of, especially in the 
 older Eastern States. Riding over certain parts 
 of New England, one would think that the 
 farmers of a generation or two ago put in most 
 of their spare time building stone walls, so 
 checker-boarded is the country with them. Of 
 course the stones had to be picked off the land, but 
 surely there was a cheaper way of disposing of them 
 than by laying them up into walls five feet high 
 and three feet thick, around every two or three acres 
 of the farm ; to say nothing of the amount of land 
 thus covered and made useless. It is good to see 
 the present reaction from fence and wall building 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 163 
 
 No more of them are being built now than are 
 needed to confine stock, and portable fences are 
 being used more and more. This adds much to 
 the sightliness and convenience of the farm and 
 much, also, to its freedom from weeds. 
 
 The Prevalence of Weeds in Sown Crops. — ■ 
 Weeds are most apt to overrun a place when 
 crops are grown that permit of no cultivation. 
 Witness for example, the devastation of the Canada 
 thistle, Russian thistle, devil's paint brush, etc., in 
 the grain fields of the Mississippi Valley. Pro- 
 fessor I. P. Roberts says, "It is believed that the 
 time is not far distant when wheat, oats, barley, 
 and indeed all grains that are now broadcasted or 
 drilled, will receive inter-cultural tillage similar to 
 that now given to maize (corn), and this will not be 
 by hand, as in some portions of Europe, but by 
 horse-hoe tillage." This time is a long way off 
 in America, where tillable land is abundant and 
 cheap, but undoubtedly the drift is in that direction 
 — fewer plants per acre, more tillage, larger yields. 
 When the cereals, now more grievously affected 
 with weeds than hoed crops, are brought under 
 this system of culture, they will be relieved from 
 weeds by the magic that lies in cultivator teeth. 
 Over three centuries ago quaint Thomas Tusser 
 expressed one of the most important facts in the 
 agriculture of his times, and of ours, in the couplet : 
 
 "Good tilth brings seeds, 
 III tilture, weeds." 
 
 CULTIVATION TO SAVE WATER 
 
 In the humid sections of our country, if the season 
 is fairly wet one does not need to worry much 
 about cultivating to save water early in the season. 
 
164 SOILS 
 
 If he cultivates as often as the weeds poke them- 
 selves above ground, which they do with astonish- 
 ing alacrity and in countless numbers after each 
 tillage, he will have established the best kind of a 
 water-saving mulch. This is especially true in a 
 wet May, and most especially true in a muggy, 
 thundery July, when "pusley" starts up from the 
 ground and grows a foot long in a single night, so 
 it seems to our disheartened eyes. But there are 
 times when cultivation is necessary and profitable, 
 when we have few if any weeds to spur us to the 
 exertion. This is apt to be the case during a sum- 
 mer drought when the soil is dried out several 
 inches deep and the weed seeds in the surface soil 
 cannot get moisture enough even to germinate. 
 There are few if any sections of the country where 
 it is not necessary at some time, during an average 
 season, to cultivate for the explicit and sole purpose 
 of preventing the loss of soil water. One season, 
 however, may be so wet that the cultivation that 
 prevents weediness is all that is necessary; the 
 next season may be so dry that the cry of the crop 
 is continuous and loud for more water, rather 
 than for less weeds. 
 
 Sigris of the Need of Cultivation to Save Water. — 
 It is not difficult to tell when it will pay to cultivate, 
 even when there are not enough weeds to justify it 
 on that score. One has only to examine the sur- 
 face soil. If it is hard, baked, cracked, or even if 
 it has only a thin crust, there is work to be done. 
 Soil water passes off rapidly into the air only so 
 long as the surface soil is compact. If this is 
 loosened the water cannot creep readily from 
 grain to grain, and so is held below the layer of 
 loose soil. 
 
 The first aim of the cultivator, then, especially 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 165 
 
 when his plants are trying to weather a dry 
 season should always be to keep a few inches of 
 loose soil on top of the ground. When it gets 
 compacted again, as it always does after a while, 
 loosen it again, weeds or no weeds. Eventually the 
 loosened soil falls back into place and becomes com- 
 pacted again by its own weight; but one slight rain 
 will make more of a crust over it than two weeks 
 of settling. That is why it is more difficult to pre- 
 serve a soil mulch in humid regions than in the 
 semi-arid sections of the West. Where there is 
 no rain whatever during three or four months 
 of the growing season there is not much diflS- 
 culty in making and keeping a most efficient 
 dust mulch. In the East, where the cultivation 
 of one day may lose half its value because of 
 a slight shower the following night, it is a more 
 tedious job. However, the Western man needs a 
 better mulch — he has much less water to use and 
 has to guard it jealously. 
 
 How Often to Cultivate. — There can be no rule 
 as to the frequency of cultivation for saving water 
 except this: cultivate often enough to keep the 
 surface soil at least fairly mellow and free from 
 crust. To do this may take eight cultivations one 
 year and twelve the next year, on the same field. 
 An adjoining field, with soil having a greater ca- 
 pacity to hold water, may give equal results from 
 half as much tillage. 
 
 The reliable guides are the way the crops grow 
 and the condition of the soil. When the corn 
 leaves begin to curl in the heat of the day, when the 
 lower leaves of the peas begin to shrivel and droop, 
 when the potatoes look dispirited and the sugar 
 beets droopy, the time has come for some energetic 
 work. If the ground is hard, loosen it deeply with 
 
166 SOILS 
 
 a shovel-tooth cultivator and smooth it off with 
 a spike- tooth cultivator afterward. Repeat this 
 with the latter tool often enough to keep a mulch 
 over the roots of the plants that will preserve 
 the coolness and water that have been lost to them 
 before. The results of a few extra cultivations in 
 a dry season, as seen in the corn bin or cotton 
 basket, are sufficient to convert any man to the 
 wisdom of mulch-tillage, even when weed-tillage 
 is not needed. 
 
 HOW DEEP TO CULTIVATE 
 
 Within ten or fifteen years there has been a very 
 decided movement in favour of shallow cultivation. 
 Experiments have shown quite conclusively that 
 there is as much value, so far as preventing the 
 escape of water is concerned, in two or three inches 
 of loose, surface soil as in four or five inches. This 
 pre-supposes, of course, that the tillage of prepara- 
 tion — plowing and harrowing — has been thorough 
 and timely so that the soil is loosened deeply and 
 pulverised completely. The result has been that 
 many of the old-fashioned, deep- working, hard- 
 pulling and root-cutting cultivators have been 
 relegated to the junk heap, and the shallow- working 
 coulter and spike-tooth cultivators occupy their 
 place in the tool shed. We do not hear so much 
 about "plowing out" crops as formerly — they are 
 cultivated. There are still many unwieldy, plow- 
 like cultivators in use, especially in the cotton belt, 
 but they are fast disappearing. 
 
 If the soil has been thoroughly loosened and 
 pulverised before the crop is planted there is no 
 need of stirring it more than three inches deep, 
 at the most, after that. Aside from the energy 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 167 
 
 lost in increased draft, deep cultivation is wasteful 
 of soil water, because it brings to the surface a 
 large amount of moist soil which soon becomes 
 dry. The moisture in this soil might better have 
 been left below where it could have been used by 
 plants. Moreover, a deep- working cultivator 
 leaves the soil in ridges, thus exposing more sur- 
 face for evaporation; for some water is lost from 
 the soil even when it is covered with the very best 
 mulch. Furthermore, the valleys made by deep 
 cultivation are the beginning of erosion. 
 
 Deep cultivation may cut many of the feeding 
 roots of the crop. The roots of plants naturally 
 seek the richest part of the soil. The soil near 
 the surface usually contains the most plant food, 
 because so much soluble plant food has been left 
 there by the evaporation of soil water, and be- 
 cause the surface soil contains more humus, more 
 germ life, more air and more of everything that 
 makes for fertility. 
 
 In all ordinary soils the largest proportion of 
 feeding roots is found immediately below the range 
 of cultivator teeth, provided that part of the soil 
 is in good texture. In a warm climate plants root 
 deeper than in a cool climate. Deep cultivation 
 during the growing season cuts off innumerable 
 rootlets and root hairs that are foraging in the 
 richest places they can find. To "plow out" a 
 corn field four or five inches deep, in July, is to 
 practise root pruning of a severe character. Some 
 farm crops do not seem to be injured appreciably 
 by this kind of root pruning, but none are benefited 
 by it, and some are injured. Deep tillage may 
 be given the crop early in the season, if necessary, 
 but shallow tillage after it begins to shoot. When- 
 ever the soil becomes hard, as after a beating rain. 
 
168 SOILS 
 
 a deep cultivation may be needed. Crops that 
 root deeply, as fruit trees, can be tilled more deeply 
 than crops that are shallow-rooted. The aim 
 should be to keep the soil water from getting above 
 that part of the soil in which the roots feed most. 
 The safest and best general practice, according 
 to present information, is to fit the land deeply and 
 thoroughly before planting, and to cultivate not 
 over three inches deep thereafter, and sometimes 
 less. A loose, dry mulch three inches deep is as 
 valuable a water-saver and weed-preventer as one 
 five inches deep. However, when a soil becomes 
 compact beneath the surface, as clayey soils are 
 very apt to from the tramping above, it is certainly 
 wise to stir it deeply. 
 
 THE ADVANTAGE OF LEVEL CULTURE 
 
 In earlier years nearly all crops were hilled or 
 ridged when cultivated. Now there is a strong 
 preference for level culture whenever practicable. 
 This preference is based on two facts; that level 
 culture is obviously easier and cheaper; and that 
 less water is lost since it exposes the minimum 
 amount of soil surface to the air for evaporation. 
 How much more surface is exposed when the 
 soil is left like this A than when it is left like 
 this — ? 
 
 Probably the chief reason why the farmers and 
 gardeners of a generation ago hilled their corn, pota- 
 toes, and beans, ridged their cotton and planted their 
 onions, carrots, and parsnips in raised beds, more 
 than at present, is because farm soils were not then 
 as well drained as they are now, there being 
 comparatively little under-drainage at that time. 
 There are but two occasions for ridging land: 
 
HARROWING, CULTIVATING 169 
 
 when the soil is poorly drained, and when the crop 
 needs banking to secure a special result, as celery 
 to blanch the stalks, or potatoes to protect the 
 tubers that crowd out of the ground from being 
 sun-scalded. If potatoes are planted deeply enough, 
 however, all the tubers will form below the surface 
 and hilling is unnecessary. 
 
 In the Southern States it is often thought neces- 
 sary to use two long narrow blades or "sweeps" 
 which cut large weeds just below the surface and 
 ridge the soil somewhat. In the same section a 
 cultivator with one broad blade, quite similar to a 
 plow, is used to throw enough soil over the large 
 weeds at the base of the corn or cotton plants to 
 smother them. This leaves the plants on rather 
 high ridges. It is extremely doubtful if the practice 
 is wise except, perhaps, on the heavier and wetter 
 soils. 
 
 If corn, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, melons, 
 okra, peppers, cotton, and other heat-loving plants 
 are grown upon land that is inclined to be some- 
 what cold and wet it may pay to hill or ridge them ; 
 but there is abundant evidence that on soils that are 
 even fairly well drained this Dractice is a disad- 
 vantage. Very wet soils, especially creek bottom 
 land and meadow muck, are often cultivated in 
 ridges, beds, or hills with excellent results. In all 
 cases the ridges should be no higher than is nec- 
 essary to accomplish the purpose for which they are 
 made. Not only should hilling and ridging be 
 dispensed with on soils that are rather deficient in 
 moisture, but also the surface should be left as 
 level as possible, by using a shallow-working, narrow- 
 tooth cultivator. In a wet season it may pay to use 
 a deep-working, ridge-forming cultivator, on a soil 
 that is normally so dry that level culture is best for 
 
170 SOILS 
 
 it. Likewise it may be wise to use a ridge-making 
 cultivator in early spring on some soils, to warm 
 and dry them, and replace this with a shallow- 
 working cultivator after the crop is well started and 
 the temperature of the soil is higher. 
 
 PREVENTING LOSS OF WATER FROM SOD 
 
 How to prevent the loss of soil water in sod land 
 is a more difficult problem, but something can 
 be done. A dressing of manure not only en- 
 riches the soil but also acts as a mulch to it, 
 preventing much water from escaping from the 
 bare places between the plants. The gist of the 
 whole philosophy of treating sod land, so as to get 
 full benefit from the water in it, is to have no bare 
 or unshaded places. If the grass plants stand so 
 thickly that all the surface is shaded, most of the 
 water lost from the soil passes off into the air through 
 the plants, much to our profit. But if the meadow 
 is getting worn out, and needs reseeding, a large 
 part of the soil water is lost by evaporation from 
 the bare places between the tufts of grass. Weeds, 
 daisies, dock, thistles and the like may take pos- 
 session of these bare places that appear in the sod 
 ground when the grass roots begm to get weak; 
 then the loss of water is greater. In handling sod 
 land so as to get the most value from the water 
 in it, endeavour to force most of this water 
 through the grass plants, by keeping the turf 
 dense and clean through occasional plowing and 
 reseeding, and by top-dressing. It is quite possible 
 to have a sod too thick, the result being that many 
 weak grass stalks of poor quality are produced, 
 but turf that is too thick is not nearly as common as 
 turf that is too thin. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ROLLING, PLANKING, HOEING 
 
 FARMERS have long noticed that grain 
 sprouts quickest wherever the horses' hoofs 
 have trod. Gardeners have observed the 
 benefits of walking above newly planted vegetable 
 seeds. They have noticed, also, that the soil on 
 the bottom of the hoof track or foot print is more 
 moist than adjacent soil. The conclusion has 
 been that compacting the surface soil makes it 
 more moist; this view is held by many farmers. 
 Rolling, which had its origin in these observations, 
 is practised by many with the idea that it increases 
 the amount of moisture in the soil. 
 
 ROLLING TO ASSIST GERMINATION 
 
 The chief object of rolling on many soils is to 
 increase the amount of water supplied to the ger- 
 minating seeds, but rolling does not actually in- 
 crease the total amount of w^ater in the soil; it 
 diminishes it. Rolling compacts the surface soil, 
 bringing the particles closer together so that film 
 water passes upward more readily and is lost by 
 evaporation. But while passing upward much of 
 it comes into contact with the seeds and is absorbed 
 by them; thus the seeds are supplied with more 
 moisture and germinate quicker and better, even 
 though it is at the expense of a loss of water to the 
 soil. Since so much of the success of a crop 
 
 171 
 
172 SOILS 
 
 depends upon quiek germination, we can afford, 
 on some soils and in some seasons, to sacrifice 
 a good deal of water for the sake of gaining this 
 imf)ortant resnlt. 
 
 The soil at the .bottom of the hoof-mark or foot- 
 print is more moist than the surrountling soil be- 
 cause it is more compact and losing more water by 
 evaporation, having no mulch above it. '^I'he soil 
 in a field that has been rolled is more moist on top 
 than if it had not been rolled, but the soil below the 
 compacted portion, from five to twenty inches 
 deep, is nuich dryer than it would have been had 
 the surface been left loose. In other words, the 
 upjicr five or more inclies of soil have been made 
 more moist, by rolling, at the expense of the soil 
 beneath. Within twenty-four hours iifter rolling this 
 difference can be noticed. Part of the loss of mois- 
 ture from rolled soil is due to the fact that the surface 
 is left very level and smooth, so that it offers less 
 obstruction to the wind. The velocity at which the 
 wind passes over rolled ground may be nearly 
 twice as great as on rough, unrolled ground. This 
 means that nuich more moisture is sucked from the 
 soil by the wind. 
 
 When ItolliiKj to Assist Germination is Practicable. 
 — The farmer must decide whether the gain from 
 rollinjr, in better germination, is "greater than 
 the loss, in the reduction of the total amount 
 of water available for the growth of the crop. 
 That depends upon the rainfall and upon the 
 moisture-holding capacity of the soil. Rolling 
 for tlie purpose of assisting germination is of 
 greatest value on the lighter, looser and coarse- 
 grained soils, especially the sands and sandy 
 loams. These are so open that the air may circu- 
 late through the surface soil quite freely, drying it 
 
ROLLING, l^LANKING, AND HOEING 173 
 
 and stealing water that the seeds need. They 
 are so loose and eoarse-grained that the seeds are 
 not sufficiently in contact with the soil to absorb 
 enough water from it. Rolling very light soils is 
 not only an aid to germination, but may also in- 
 crease their caj)acity to hold water, providing they 
 are covered with a mulch afterward. It is rarely 
 necessary or practicable to roll clay soils for the 
 purpose of su[)plying more moisture to assist ger- 
 mination, but they are often rolled to accomplish 
 other results. 
 
 Making a Mulch after Rolling. — Most of the 
 rolling now done is on land that has been seeded 
 to grain or grass, and it is done immediately after 
 the seed has been harrowed in. In a majority 
 of cases the surface is left compact, as it comes from 
 the roller, and remains so through the season. This 
 is a waste of water. A way to secure all the })enefit 
 of rolling and avoid all the disadvantages is to 
 make a shallow mulch on the surface after rolling. 
 Rolling com[)acts from five to twenty-four inches 
 of soil; if the upper inch or two are loosened into 
 a mulch, the water drawn up from below as a 
 result is })re vented from escaping and most of the 
 seeds get the benefit of it as well. This means that 
 whenever the loss of water by rolling is a detri- 
 ment, as on light dry soils, the roller should be 
 followed by a very shallow-working harrow, as a 
 spike-tooth harrow with the teeth slanting back- 
 ward, or a weeder. 
 
 In some parts of the country a brush drag is used 
 for this purpose. This is usually made of six or 
 eight small white birch trees, twelve to eighteen 
 feet long. The butt ends of these are fastened 
 into a 2 X 4 inch end piece, at such a distance 
 apart that the trees lie side by side and cover 
 
174 SOILS 
 
 an area of ground about eight to ten feet wide. 
 When dragged over a newly seeded and rolled 
 field the tough twiggy branches stir the surface 
 soil thoroughly to the depth of one to two 
 inches, making a very effective shallow mulch 
 after a heavy rolling. It is better to defer making 
 the mulch for twenty-four hours after rolling, by 
 which time the moisture will have come to the 
 surface. 
 
 Other Illustrations of the Principle of Rolling. — 
 The practice of making a mulch after rolling sowed 
 land is not common. Most farmers who roll their 
 seeding leave it so. When rainfall is liberal and 
 the soil is fairly heavy and retentive, so that the 
 saving of water is not a first consideration, this is 
 probably the best plan. But if the summer rain- 
 fall is insufficient and the soil quite open, it will 
 usually pay to harrow or brush afterward. On the 
 other hand, the practice of making a mulch after 
 rolling, or otherwise compacting land that is to be 
 put into hoed crops, is necessarily very common. 
 In fitting sandy soils it is well to roll them before 
 the last narrowing. 
 
 In garden operations there are numerous and 
 forceful illustrations of the value of establishing a 
 mulch above compacted soil. When I was little 
 more than half as high as a hoe handle, and 
 helped my father plant corn, I used to wonder why 
 he patted down the earth above the kernels and then 
 scattered a hoeful of soil loosely on top of this. 
 The gardener who makes a round melon hill, 
 patted smooth on top and covered with loose soil, 
 and who walks on his row of beets and then covers 
 his tracks; the fruit grower who stamps the earth 
 around the roots of the fruit tree he is planting but 
 leaves it loose on top; the florist who presses his 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 175 
 
 cineraria or petunia seeds into the soil with a board 
 — all are illustrating, on a small scale, the phil- 
 osophy of rolling. 
 
 OTHER BENEFITS OF ROLLING 
 
 The chief purpose of rolling, in ordinary farm 
 practice, is to increase the supply of moisture for 
 the seeds, but it may serve other useful purposes, 
 or it may be used for these alone and not for mois- 
 ture. Rolling to crush lumps is a profitable and 
 common practice on soils which become cloddy. 
 Great care must be taken, however, not to roll these 
 soils when they arc wet, as they are then cemented 
 into a hard crust by heavy rolling. There is a time 
 between wetness and dryness when the clods 
 crush easily; this is the time for rolling. The 
 seeds are brought into close contact with the soil 
 by rolling, while they might lie dry and unre- 
 sponsive among the clods. Rolling heavy soils in 
 spring after seeding is beneficial if the season is 
 dry, but injurious if the season is wet. 
 
 The benefits from crushing clods lie not only in 
 the improvement of the soil conditions as affecting 
 germination, but also in the liberation of the plant 
 food that has been locked up in the lumps. Rol- 
 ling heavy soils, when the chief object is to crush 
 clods, is always attended with more or less un- 
 certainty as regards its influence on the moisture 
 of the soil; so it is usually preferable in such cases 
 to break the lumps with a planker or clod-crusher 
 instead of running the risks of rolling. An in- 
 cidental benefit of rolling, on some soils, is that it 
 presses all small stones on the surface into the 
 
 f round, so that they will not interfere with 
 arvesting. 
 
176 SOILS 
 
 Rolling May Warm the Soil. — Rolling has a 
 marked effect upon the temperature of the soil. 
 It makes it warmer if the weather is clear and 
 warm, but colder if the weather is cloudy and cold. 
 King recorded an average difference of nearly three 
 degrees between the rolled and the unrolled soil 
 of the same field at a depth of three inches, the 
 rolled soil being warmer. The soil becomes 
 colder during cold weather and warmer during 
 warm weather than if it were rolled, since on the 
 unrolled field there is more surface exposed to the 
 air. The more firmly a soil is packed on the sur- 
 face the better does it conduct heat; so that during 
 the night and during cold rainy weather the rolled 
 land is colder at the surface than the unrolled land. 
 
 Incidental Benefits of Rolling. — Incidental bene- 
 fits of rolling in some cases are that it puts the soil 
 into such a condition that other tools can handle 
 it more effectively; it leaves the surface in better 
 shape for marking; it smooths the soil so that 
 small seeds may be distributed over it more evenly. 
 Fall-sown grass, clover and grain are often rolled 
 in very early spring to lessen the likelihood of 
 injury from heaving by freezing and thawing and 
 to make the surface smoother for mowing. These, 
 however, are insignificant as compared with rolling 
 for moisture and for crushing lumps. 
 
 From the foregoing statements it is evident that 
 rolling may be beneficial or detrimental, according 
 to the soil and the season; it is a practice that 
 must be used with discretion. In general, it 
 may be said that rolling accomplishes two very 
 useful purposes; it increases the water-holding 
 capacity of light soils and aids the germination of 
 seeds in them; and it crushes the lumps of cloddy 
 soils. The tendency is to restrict the use of the 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 177 
 
 roller to the first purpose on light soils, where firm- 
 ing the soil is the chief result sought; and to use the 
 planker for the latter purpose on heavy soils, 
 where fining the soil is the end desired. More 
 rolling is done on spring sown grain after the seed 
 is harrowed in than for any other purpose. If the 
 season is dry this gives excellent results; if it is 
 wet and the soil is somewhat clayey the texture of 
 the soil may be injured and a crust formed. If a 
 cloddy clay soil is rolled after having been plowed 
 when it is too wet the clods are likely to be pushed 
 into the ground instead of being pulverised. In 
 rolling, as in plowing, everything depends upon 
 "catching the soil at the right time." 
 
 THE KINDS OF ROLLERS 
 
 When the main reason for rolling is to compact 
 the soil, the roller should be as heavy as is ex- 
 pedient. The larger it is in diameter the heavier 
 it should be. It is well to have a roller of large 
 diameter for it pulls easier in proportion to its 
 weight. For ordinary purposes a roller should weigh 
 at least 1,500 lbs. Wooden rollers, which are 
 usually made in one, two or three sections, are 
 cheap and quite effective, although many of them 
 are light. Their rolling surface soon becomes 
 rough, thus increasing the draft. Iron or steel 
 rollers, which are usually in more than two sections, 
 last longer, do better work and pull easier. The 
 more sections a roller has the less it furrows the 
 ground in turning around. Some iron rollers are 
 made with teeth or with corrugated surfaces or 
 blades; these are claimed to be more effective in 
 breaking lumps, but they often clog badly, thus in- 
 creasing the draft and decreasing the effectiveness. 
 
178 SOILS 
 
 PLANKING * 
 
 Closely allied to the roller in its effect upon the 
 soil is the tool variously known as a planker, clod- 
 crusher, smoother and sometimes as a drag, boat 
 float or plank harrow. The terms '*drag," "float," 
 and "boat," however, are more properly applied 
 to the tool known as a "stone boat" in the East, 
 which is about 2x5 feet, smooth on the bottom, not 
 corrugated, and which is used, not for mellowing 
 the soil but for hauling stones from the field, plows 
 and harrows to the field and similar work. The 
 planker is usually home-made and therefore is not 
 uniform in construction. A few cultivators have 
 planker or clod-crushing attachments. 
 
 Nearly all home-made plankers are made of two 
 hardwood planks about 2x8 inches and 6 to 8 feet 
 long. Notches about two inches deep and eight 
 inches apart are made in each of these bed pieces 
 and into these are nailed or bolted 2-inch planks 
 about six feet long, each plank overlapping the 
 one next to it, like clapboards. Or several planks 
 may be merely overlapped and bolted together. 
 Some prefer to have a space of several inches be- 
 tween the planks. This is pulled broadside and 
 exerts a powerful pulverising and smoothing in- 
 fluence on the surface, especially if weighted with 
 a driver or stone ballast. 
 
 The planker has very little compacting effect, as 
 compared with the roller, because its much lighter 
 weight is distributed over many square feet of sur- 
 face; while all the weight of the roller rests upon 
 the narrow line where its curved surface touches 
 the soil. The planker is distinctly a clod-crushing 
 and levelling implement. In this respect it resem- 
 bles the harrows and is very properly called a 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 179 
 
 plank harrow. The planker is now used where 
 the roller was formerly — to crush the lumps on 
 heavy loams and clay soils that do not need com- 
 pacting. On tenacious soils it is a common 
 practice to use the disk harrow after plowing, fol- 
 lowed by the planker, the Acme or spike-tooth 
 harrow and then the planker again, alternating 
 harrowing and planking the soil until it is brought 
 into the right condition. The last turn should be 
 with the planker, as it leaves the surface mellow 
 and smooth, so that fine seeds may be sown or the 
 land marked out for planting. 
 
 The planker breaks up many of the small lumps 
 that slip through harrow teeth and presses others 
 into the ground where they can be torn out and 
 broken to pieces by the subsequent harrowing. 
 The planker is one of the most useful tools that any 
 farmer can have, especially if the soil is somewhat 
 heavy. It is never used to compact the soil around 
 the seeds, as a roller, but is always used like a 
 harrow — as a pulveriser and leveller after plowing. 
 It is superior for this purpose to the roller; it 
 should be used in place of the roller in all cases but 
 two; upon light soils which need compacting and 
 upon seeding. 
 
 HOEING 
 
 In primitive agriculture the plow and the hoe 
 were about the only tillage tools used. Of late 
 years the hoe has been used less and less as an 
 implement of tillage. It has been forced aside by 
 the increasing necessity for doing as much of the 
 work on the farm as possible with horse power. 
 The harrow, the cultivator and the weeder now do 
 much of the work that was formerly done with the 
 
180 
 
 SOILS 
 
 lioc and (In il iiiiicli iK^lliM'. It is ii()ti(-(-al>l(' tluit 
 when* lumd labour is <lica|), as in parts ol" [\\v South, 
 a iiiikIi lar;j^«'r j)ro|>oi tioii ol llic I'ariii tilK-t^c is (lone 
 with th<' hoc ihaii where lahour is dear, as it is in 
 most parts of (he North and West. A uc^ro and 
 a hoe is one ol" the typical scenes ol" I he Sontii. 
 It is likely that Ihe hoe will IxHoine ol" slill less 
 importance in larmin^, us we learn better ways of 
 circnmvenlii\«;" ihe w»'eds helore lli<\y are bi^jj 
 and as wc are lorccil lo pirfect other means 
 of jj^rowin^ crops wilh as Iillle hand labour as 
 possd)le. 
 
 Aside from its use as an aid to j)laiilin^, which 
 is constantly lessened by the increasing use of planl- 
 in<j^ machines, Ihe hoe will always be useful for two 
 purposes; lo kill lar^c weeds thai ha\'e cs(a|)ed Ihe 
 <*ultivalor and lo shr Ihe soil close lo Ihe plants 
 when' Ihe cullivalor leelh caimot work wilhout 
 daii«;er ol" injurMi^ Ihe planls. The hoe is a very 
 poor tool for making a mulch; it stirs the ground 
 (h'cplv m SOUK' plax'cs, li^hlly m others anil usuallv 
 parls ol" Ihe surLn'c are h'lt wholly undislurbed, or 
 arc rais<Ml slii;hlly by Ihe passing of Ihe l)lade be- 
 neath Ihem. Il <loes not lil'l, crumble and invert 
 Ihe s<»il, as do cullivalor Icilh, unless Ihe soil is very 
 mellow and dry. As an impleiUiMit lor conserving 
 moisture, llu>rel"ore, Ihe hoe should be used only 
 where a cullival<)r «aimol be used; thai is, close 
 to the planls. 
 
 Uoc'nuj lo Kill U'c('(ls. I*\»r killing; lar^e weeds 
 the hoe has no e<|ual, but this is an expensive way 
 of killiuii; Ihem. Most ol' them can be kilUil when 
 very small by I'nMpient shallow cullivalion. There 
 aw various slyles of <ullivalor h'clh and allach- 
 menls lo cultivators Ihal are desiirned to skim be- 
 low Ihe surface and cut oil" laro-e weeds. These 
 
R()LI>IN(;, PLANKINC;, AND IIOKINCi IHl 
 
 wings, sw('e[)s :iii<i olhcr special vvccd-killino- dc- 
 vi('(^s slioiild he ;i pjirt of every I'arin e(|iii|)ineiit; 
 if used in lime lliey should reduce the area tiiat 
 needs hoeing to the f)arts adjacent to the rows. 
 Here is where tlie hoc; rrnist Ik; used, es|)ecijilly if 
 it is found desirahle to ri<lge the rows. With soni<; 
 croj)S the weeds that start between th<; plants can 
 be killed when very small by using the; s|)ik<'- 
 tooth harrow or weeder over the entire siirface. 
 But af I.er tin; phmts are too large for this it is a strug- 
 gle to keep down the weeds in tlu; rows. 'I'hey 
 g(;t a start clos(t to the [>la,nts and gradually (;n- 
 eroaeh upon tin; cultivated area. It is then time 
 to "cut out" th(; rows; and it is likely the work- 
 man will ha,v<' to pull sonn; of them by hand, so 
 closely an; their roots and stems entwined with 
 the croj). 
 
 (j(H)d (vnd Poor I /oc/i/ny/. The easiest and most 
 ra[>i(l way to ho<; is to barely skim tlu; ground 
 with the blade at a very sliglit angle to tlie sur- 
 Ui('A% scarcely disturbing the soil, but cutting off 
 the weeds. 'J'he hardest and slowest way to hoe 
 is to strike the blade into the ground at a sliarp 
 anghi, lifting and turning two or three inclxts of 
 soil. TIk; forrrKT is preferable on the light(;r and 
 looser soils, the latter on the heavier soils and 
 (^specially wh(;n the ground about tlxr plants has 
 become (;om|)acted by rains or tram[)if)g. Some 
 men use the; hoe as they would a pi(;k; it do(;s little 
 good in tfiis way so far as conserving moisture is 
 con(;(;rncd. As a geru^ral rule, hoeing, like culti- 
 vating, should be deeper in spring than insunini(;r, 
 an<l for the sann; reasons. 
 
 It is as much an art to hoe well as to cultivate 
 well, and sometimes just as much depends upon it. 
 Not one man in ten g(;ts as rrujch out of a noe as 
 
182 SOILS 
 
 there is in it. It is not enough to hoe merely to 
 kill weeds, it should also save soil water and secure 
 all the other benefits of tillage. This means that 
 the soil should be stirred around the plants to a 
 nearly uniform depth, not merely stabbed deeply 
 in places and a thin layer of loose soil scattered over 
 the unstirred soil between. It also means that the 
 surface should be left nearly level, not in hog- 
 troughs. Many farmers who are careful enough 
 with their cultivating are slovenly with their hoeing. 
 Market gardeners, however, have learned that it 
 pays to put as thorough a man at work with the 
 hoe as with the cultivator, 
 
 Styles of Blades. — The blade of the hoe used in 
 general farming does not vary much in size and 
 shape. The essential thing is to keep it sharp and 
 bright, which it will not be if hung up in the apple 
 tree all winter. The business hoe makes frequent 
 visits to the grindstone. As a general rule the blade 
 on a new hoe is too broad to work handily; when 
 it gets worn down an inch or two, it cuts the 
 soil easier and better. Hoe blades having rounded 
 teeth on the cutting edge are preferred by some. 
 Some gardeners have many hoes of different sizes 
 and shapes, some of them with blades only an inch 
 wide for picking out weeds between vegetables; 
 or with the handle inserted between two blades of 
 different widths. Others are shaped like a narrow 
 triangle; or heart-shape, with the lower end 
 notched; or with the blade reduced to the merest 
 hook, so that a stray weed can be tweaked from 
 the ground with a twist of the wrist. The handles 
 of some of these aristocratic hoes are knobbed on 
 the end and variously curved. This is too gingerly 
 work for most of us. The old-style hoe blade, 
 about three and one-half inches by six inches, 
 

 3^ 
 
 w 
 
 > 
 
 Q 
 -< 
 
 W ~ ° 
 
 -s 3 
 
 
 1).— 
 
03. A CLODDY SOIL THAT WOULD BE BEKEFITED BY ROLLING 
 
 If the himps are crushed, the soil fits tighter around the seeds, and there is more feeding 
 surface for the roots ■ 
 
 64. A FOUR-SECTION IRON ROLLER WEIGHTED 
 The more sections a roller has the less it cuts into the ground in turning 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 183 
 
 answers every purpose when used with timehness 
 and thoroughness. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS HAND TOOLS 
 
 There is an almost endless variety of hand tillage 
 tools designed to be used when the rows are too 
 close together to admit of horse tillage or for work- 
 ing close to the plants. These are of far greater 
 relative importance in gardening, especially in 
 market gardening, than in general farming, be- 
 cause gardening is usually conducted imder more 
 intensive culture than general farming. Wheel 
 hoes, hand cultivators, scuffle hoes, hand weeders 
 and the like are indispensable in commercial or 
 home gardens, but rarely needful on farms where 
 staple crops are grown, because these must be 
 grown with as little hand-labour as possible in order 
 to make them pay. Moreover, the hand tools can 
 be used to best advantage only on soil that is 
 exceedingly mellow and free from stones — a con- 
 dition that many farms cannot meet. In short, 
 they are tools for intensive culture; hence they are 
 of greater value to the gardener, who is forced to 
 locate very near his market on valuable land, and 
 who must adopt intensive culture in order to make 
 the business pay, than for the farmer who grows 
 staple crops, and who can locate further from the 
 market on cheaper land where such intensive 
 methods are not needed. 
 
 It is noticeable that even in gardening operations 
 the tendency is more and more to dispense with 
 hand tools. Crops that were formerly planted in 
 rows twelve or fifteen inches apart, so that tillage 
 had to be done by hand, are now frequently planted 
 in rows twenty-eight or thirty inches apart so that 
 
184 SOILS 
 
 the cultivator may run between them. Some 
 horses have a mathematical eye and will keep their 
 feet between rows two feet apart without leading; 
 and the spike- tooth cultivator can be narrowed to 
 work between these rows, thus saving much wheel 
 hoeing and hand hoeing. It is harder and much 
 slower work to push a wheel or scuffle hoe than to 
 follow a cultivator. There are conditions, however, 
 when close planting may be desirable, as in the 
 home garden or in market gardens close to towns, 
 or for certain crops that thrive best when the 
 plants partially shade each other, as onions and root 
 crops. 
 
 Hand Cultivators. — Nearly all hand-tillage tools 
 beside hoes may be classified as hand cultivators, 
 scuffle hoes or scarifiers, and hand weeders. Hand 
 cultivators, erroneously called wheel-hoes, are of a 
 great variety of patterns, but all attempt to do the 
 work of a cultivator on a small scale. The larger 
 the wheel and the wider the tire the easier it over- 
 rides obstacles. Those with two wheels are 
 steadier, and also useful for straddling the row and 
 cultivating on both sides. Several styles of inter- 
 changeable teeth are usually sent with each tool, 
 including spike teeth, coulter teeth, hillers or 
 ridging sweeps and a large furrowing shovel. A. 
 hand cultivator does excellent work in mellow soil; 
 it is one of the most serviceable of gardening tools. 
 Many prefer it to the scuffle hoe for tilling onions, 
 carrots, radishes, lettuce and other closely planted 
 crops. 
 
 Scuffle Hoes.— These are of service chiefly 
 between rows planted less than fifteen inches 
 apart, as onions, carrots and the like. They 
 are made in various styles, but all have a single 
 blade which is pushed with a jerky motion along 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 185 
 
 the ground, cutting from one-half inch to one 
 inch below the surface. The blade varies from 
 half an inch to four inches in diameter and is 
 rectangular, crescent or looped. The style most 
 commonly used is attached to a long straight handle. 
 A better style for some purposes is attached behind 
 a wheel, thus becoming in reality a wheel hoe. 
 The handle style is better after the tops of the 
 plants begin to lean toward the middle of the row. 
 
 The scuffle hoe, like the common hoe, is a poor 
 tool for making a mulch, but a most excellent tool 
 for killing weeds. It barely skims the ground, 
 cutting off weeds just below the surface and run- 
 ning very close to the row; but the soil is not in- 
 verted or loosened much. Very often it is simply 
 sliced. An excellent plan for tilling close planted 
 crops is to alternate the hand cultivator and the 
 scuffle hoe. They complement one another; the 
 former makes a mulch, but some of the larger 
 weeds may slip through its teeth; the latter cuts 
 off the weeds, but is a poor mulch-making tool. 
 
 In addition to these larger hand tools there are 
 many kinds of hand weeders for even finer work. 
 Some are patterned after the original hand weeder, 
 — the outspread fingers. Others are scuffle hoes 
 with a small blade and short handle. Where it is 
 necessary to do much hand weeding close to the 
 plants, and it sometimes is in market gardening, 
 these little tillage tools will save the fingers and 
 facilitate the work. 
 
 SELECTING FARM TOOLS 
 
 Before leaving the subject of tillage tools, a word 
 about the selection and care of farm tools in general 
 may not be amiss. The first cost of farm tools is 
 
186 SOILS 
 
 high and they lose from 5 to 25 per cent, of their 
 valuation every year, even with the best of care. 
 They are a very expensive part of the farm equip- 
 ment, more expensive in proportion to their utility 
 than almost any other item in farm management. 
 It is business policy to get along with just as few 
 tools as possible. Many American farmers have 
 too many. Some men seem to have a sort of 
 mania for collecting everything new or unique in 
 the way of tools. They lie around beneath the 
 apple trees, back of the woodshed and beneath the 
 eaves of the overcrowded tool shed, rapidly falling 
 into disuse, then into rustiness and finally into 
 rottenness. It is an expensive pastime. 
 
 Every tool that is not used represents just so 
 much capital, not tied up, but wasted. I know a 
 farmer who has over twenty-five kinds of plows and 
 harrows, yet he uses but six or seven in the work of 
 his farm and finds these sufficient. He has at 
 least $600 tied up in tools that he rarely uses and 
 could get along without just as well. This is not 
 business. The first cost of the few tools that are 
 absolutely necessary is large enough and their 
 depreciation rapid enough, without adding the 
 weight of tools that are not needed. It is all right 
 to try new tools if it can be afforded, but most 
 people had better stick to the few tools that they 
 have found necessary for satisfactory results. 
 
 A Variety of Tools Needed.— These remarks 
 about the common and needless waste on American 
 farms because of a superfluity of tools are not 
 meant to deny that a considerable variety of tools 
 are needed on most farms. A good farmer, like 
 a good mechanic, has a tool for every purpose, the 
 best one to accomplish a certain specific result in 
 handling the soil or crop, not one that is fairly 
 
i;: \ IHKEE-SECTION IRON ROLLER 
 
 Iron rollers are more efficient and more lasting than wooden rollers and do not clog as 
 much. They should weigh not less than i,ooo lbs. 
 
 66. A HOME-MADE, THREE-SECTION WOODEN. ROLLER 
 Note the device for keeping it clean. Wooden rollers quickly wear out 
 
•!-:'3 
 
 W 2 3 
 
 
ROLLING, PLANKING, AND HOEING 187 
 
 good for several purposes. He is not satisfied to 
 use a spike-tooth harrow after the plow when a 
 heavy disk harrow is needed to chop up the sod. 
 He does not like to get along with a walking plow, 
 however excellent work it may do, if a sulky plow 
 will do the work as well, and easier and cheaper. 
 To get each part of the farm work done in the best 
 possible manner and at the least cost is the point 
 that should decide the question of what kind of 
 tools and how many. Five might do the work after 
 a fashion; but if ten would do it enough better, 
 quicker, easier and cheaper to more than pay for 
 the cost of the other five it is economy and profit 
 to have them. One-plow-one-harrow-one-culti- 
 vator farmers are the kind that say "farming 
 don't pay." 
 
 Just how many tools it will pay to buy is, there- 
 fore, a problem for each farmer to decide. He 
 should not stint himself on those that are really 
 necessary; a few bushels more corn per acre, the 
 result of fitting the land better with a good tool, 
 will pay for it in a single season. He should be 
 careful not to indulge himself in tool getting, with- 
 out sufficient justification for the outlay, however 
 pleasurable that is to the man who loves to handle 
 soil. First of all he will need to consider the kind 
 of soil to be handled. Certain tools do better 
 work on heavy soils than on light soils ; if the farm 
 has several types of soils, as is most likely in north- 
 ern United States, it may pay to keep tools for each. 
 The crops to be grown will also determine to a 
 large extent the types and number of tools needed. 
 Finally the size of the farm or the area of the crop 
 will determine whether it will pay to buy a certain 
 useful tool to do a certain amount of work. This 
 must be the deciding point. Often it would be 
 
188 SOILS 
 
 extremely useful to have a certain tool, but the 
 amount of work that it would be called upon to do 
 is so small that it would not pay for itself. 
 
 Tools represent so much capital and have such a 
 vital relation to the productivity and economical 
 management of the farm that the problem of what 
 kinds to get and how many deserves more attention 
 from farmers than is usually given it. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 
 
 NO OTHER farm practice has added to the 
 value of agricultural lands in the eastern 
 part of the United States more than under- 
 drainage. Excess of water in the soil is as fatal 
 to most farm crops as deficiency. A soil must 
 be able to rid itself of surplus water before 
 it can be cropped and it often happens that this is 
 the only defect of many soils that are otherwise 
 very valuable for farming. Fortunately it is 
 usually quite practicable to remedy this defect by 
 drainage. 
 
 A Problem of the Eastern States. — Drainage is, 
 for the most part, a problem of the states east of 
 the Mississippi. Probably it would pay to under- 
 drain from 20 to 30 per cent, of the farm land in this 
 region. On the prairie lands of the central West 
 under-drainage is practised more than in any other 
 part of the country, and it has added immeasurably 
 to the wealth of that section. West of the Mis- 
 souri and Mississippi in general, and in the regions 
 of scanty rainfall in particular, the drainage of lands 
 is often necessary, especially on alkali soils, and is 
 frequently used ; but it is insignificant when compared 
 with the need of drainage in the humid regions 
 of the East. What irrigation is to the West, drainage 
 is to the East, although both are needed more or 
 less each side of the great rivers. Until quite 
 recently drainage has received the most attention 
 in this country; now irrigation has come to the 
 
 189 
 
190 SOILS 
 
 fore and claims, and receives, its due. A large 
 share of the unprecedented progress in x\merican 
 agriculture during the past twenty-five years is due 
 to the more general use of these two coordinate 
 farm practices, each of which has the same general 
 purpose in view — to give the crop an adequate 
 and equable supply of moisture. 
 
 The surplus water in a soil, which it is purposed 
 to remove by drainage, all comes from rainfall; 
 but rarely is it only that which falls upon the soil 
 itself. The water may flow upon it as surface 
 drainage from higher land, or it may come from 
 below, being rain that has fallen upon higher land, 
 sunk into the soil, followed a ledge of rock or layer 
 of impervious soil, and finally found its way to the 
 surface of the lower land as a spring, oozing from 
 a hillside or bubbling up from the subsoil. Quite 
 often level land which is not surrounded by higher 
 land, and which contains only the water that falls 
 upon it, is benefited by drainage because the soil 
 is shallow. In such cases the most beneficial 
 result of drainage may be, not to remove excess 
 water, but to increase the amount of moisture that 
 the soil can hold — a seeming paradox that is 
 explained farther on. 
 
 WHEN DRAINAGE IS NEEDED 
 
 Two kinds of soils need draining; those that 
 have too much water, and those that are too shal- 
 low. The signs of poor drainage are obvious. 
 Swamps, marshes, meadows and all other low land 
 on which water stands for any considerable time 
 may be drained, provided there is fall enough to 
 secure an outlet. These low lands may be those 
 which collect surface drainage, or seepage from 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 191 
 
 nearby higher land: or they may be lands that 
 are regularly flooded by fresh water or by tides. 
 Farm land which dries out slowly in spring, mak- 
 ing the working and growing season shorter, or on 
 which water stands for a long time after heavy 
 rains, needs to be drained. If water oozes into 
 the plow furrow the soil is too wet for good farming. 
 
 The kind of plants that take possession of a 
 field, before it is broken up or after it has been 
 laid down in sod, or after it has been neglected for 
 a year or more, are usually a reliable index to its 
 need of drainage. If bog and water-loving plants 
 become established here and there, especially 
 sedges, rushes and mosses, the soil is too wet. 
 Certain spots in the field, usually the lowest places, 
 will indicate their need of drainage in this way, 
 although most of the field is all right. 
 
 All of these surface indications, however, should 
 be supplemented or verified by an examination of 
 the water table. Dig a hole in the field from four 
 to six feet deep. If water stands in this hole within 
 three feet of the surface or less, during most of the 
 growing season, it is quite certain that the roots of 
 cultivated plants do not find enough room, air and 
 warmth in that soil to produce the largest crops. 
 The growth of the crops themselves supplies evi- 
 dence. On poorly drained soils the plants start 
 slowly, look sickly and stunted, and never make 
 the profitable growth of neighbouring plants on 
 well-drained soil. Both yield and quality are re- 
 duced. Within the boundaries of one field there 
 are often both well-drained and poorly drained 
 places. The contrast in the growth of plants 
 under these two conditions is usually sufficiently 
 marked to impress the farmer with the need and 
 profit of draining the land. 
 
192 SOILS 
 
 Under-draining to Deepen Shallow Soils. — There 
 is another class of soils — those that are shallow — that 
 are improved by being drained, but these are not 
 too wet except for short periods. First, there are 
 the soils that have a hardpan close to the surface, 
 perhaps within one to three feet. This hardpan 
 may be a stratum of rock, but more often it is a 
 layer of stiff and impervious clay. The rock hard- 
 pan cannot be improved, but the clay hardpan 
 can. Water cannot readily penetrate it. It is 
 like the bottom of a shallow pan; when a heavy 
 rain comes, the pan soon fills and overflows, making 
 surface water. This can escape by surface drainage 
 or by evaporation. But such a soil quickly 
 dries out and suffers in a drought, because it 
 has so little depth. What is needed is to deepen 
 the soil — to lower the bottom of the pan — so that 
 it will hold more water. 
 
 There are two important ways of deepening a 
 shallow soil. If the hardpan is close to the surface, 
 stirring the surface with a subsoil plow helps, since 
 it loosens the soil deeper than the plow, thus en- 
 abling it to hold more water. But the loosened 
 soil becomes compacted again in a few years; at 
 best the results of subsoiling are only temporary. 
 Under-drainage is permanent subsoiling; it takes 
 away the water that has cemented the subsoil, and 
 permits the air to enter it, thus promoting all the 
 fining, loosening and mellowing influences of 
 weatliering. The value of under-drainage for deep- 
 ening a soil is witnessed on thousands of Eastern 
 farms. 
 
 Draining to Improve Texture. — Still another 
 type of soils — those poor in texture — is often greatly 
 benefited by being drained. These are mostly 
 the clayey soils that get hard, lumpy, and 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 193 
 
 unmanageable when dry, and sticky when wet. 
 They are not what would be called wet soils, 
 neither are they shallow, but they are not mellow 
 and they run to extremes, either very dry or very 
 wet. It is impossible to work them early in spring. 
 Heavy rains put them in such a condition that 
 they cannot be cultivated for several days after the 
 crops begin to need tilling. The surface bakes 
 and cracks. Such soils are improved by plowing 
 under a green-manuring crop, by under-drainage, 
 or by both. In many cases the addition of humus 
 is sufficient to bring the soil into good heart; in 
 extreme cases under-drainage must be called to the 
 aid of humus. 
 
 Land drainage is not chiefly concerned, as many 
 suppose, with carrying off surplus water from very 
 wet soils. Drainage adds far more to the value 
 of farm soils, and to the profits in cropping them, 
 by improving soils that are shallow, or in bad tex- 
 ture, or but slightly wet, than by removing excess 
 water from very wet soils. Many thousands of 
 acres of swamps, meadows and marshes have been 
 brought under profitable husbandry by drainage; 
 but the combined area of these is very small com- 
 pared with the hundreds of thousands of acres of 
 farm lands that are not excessively wet, but that 
 have been greatly improved by the same means. 
 Drainage, and especially under-drainage, is of 
 greatest service upon land already under cul- 
 tivation, but which is not yielding maximum crops 
 because of inequalities in the water supply. Far- 
 mers should make a critical examination of 
 each field in this respect, regardless of the 
 length of time that it has been cultivated. 
 Deficiencies may exist that never have been 
 suspected. 
 
194 SOILS 
 
 LAND WITH GOOD NATURAL DRAINAGE 
 
 The foregoing remarks should not obscure the 
 fact that in some cases it may be more practi- 
 cable to buy land that has good natural drainage 
 than to drain wet land. All farm soils need drain- 
 ing; but fortunately most soils are well-drained 
 naturally. There is a great area of American farm 
 soils that have almost perfect natural drainage, 
 and a still greater area of soils that are drained 
 quite satisfactorily. These are mostly sandy or 
 loamy soils, or soils rich in humus; and especially 
 soils that have an open subsoil which is sandy, or 
 gravelly or of about the same nature as the surface 
 soil. Water passes through some of these soils 
 so readily that they can be worked a few hours 
 after a heavy rain. The bulb fields near 
 Puget Sound, Washington, have a soil so open 
 that men can work in it within an hour after a 
 rainfall of over one inch; yet it is very retentive 
 and moist at all times. The causes of this very 
 equable condition are the large amount of humus 
 that the surface soil contains, and the subsoil of 
 fine, sandy loam. 
 
 One of the first points to look after when buying 
 farm land, then, is its drainage, for Nature can 
 drain land much cheaper than man. Dig several 
 holes, five or six feet deep, to see what kind of 
 subsoil lies beneath the surface that looks so 
 promising. The value of a soil for cropping de- 
 pends almost as much upon the former as upon 
 the latter. The "lay of the land" is also impor- 
 tant. Sloping land is not necessarily well-drained 
 land. A slope may provide good drainage, and 
 it may not. It carries off much excess water as 
 surface drainage, to be sure, but we wish the soil 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 195 
 
 drained for at least four feet below the surface. 
 Some of the most poorly drained farm soils are 
 on slopes. They are usually clayey and may 
 have springs oozing from them. In other words, 
 a slope is an aid to good drainage, but the 
 nature of the soil and its elevation with refer- 
 ence to surrounding land are far more important 
 factors. 
 
 WHEN IT WILL PAY TO DRAIN LAND 
 
 Not all land that would be greatly benefited by 
 being drained will it pay to drain. It is a question of 
 economics as well as of securing maximum pro- 
 ductiveness. It might be more practicable, for 
 example, to put a certain field of hard and rather 
 wet soil into grass, which usually grows fairly well 
 under these conditions, or at least better than most 
 other farm crops, than to go to the expense of 
 draining it for corn, cotton or rye. The more 
 exacting the crop, as regards an equable supply 
 of moisture, the more likely is it that it will pay 
 to drain the land. Likewise the higher the value 
 of land, and the more intense the culture, the 
 greater are the arguments for drainage. 
 
 Again, it might pay to drain land used for 
 special crops which have a high value per acre, as 
 market-garden crops, when it would not pay to 
 drain this land if it were planted to staple crops, 
 which have a lower value per acre. Furthermore, 
 it might not pay to drain a certain field if the far- 
 mer has plenty of other land which is better drained, 
 and land is cheap. Much also depends upon the 
 kind of soil, and the difference between its present 
 value and its value after being drained. The same 
 system of drainage may add $10 per acre to the 
 
196 SOILS 
 
 value of a poor soil, and $100 per acre to the value 
 of rich soil. 
 
 These, and other points in farm economics, 
 should decide the practicability of draining land, 
 after the need for draining it has been clearly 
 proved. There is much farm land now producing 
 indifferent crops, and the owners do not even sus- 
 pect that its mediocrity is due to poor drainage. 
 The first cost of draining land is large and the 
 returns from the outlay are not immediate; they 
 are distributed over many years. It may be 
 several years before the drains have paid for them- 
 selves. This fact is responsible for much of the 
 hesitancy among farmers about undertaking an 
 improvement that they readily admit is needed. 
 They hate to "bury their money," or to put into 
 the soil and out of sight an improvement the 
 operation of which they cannot watch. The same 
 argument, however, might be raised against the 
 use of a fertiliser; the operation of neither can be 
 watched, but the effects of both are readily seen. 
 There is a deepening interest in farm drainage 
 as land increases in value and as it becomes 
 correspondingly necessary to make plants comfort- 
 able, so that they may be grown at the lowest 
 possible cost of production. 
 
 EFFECT OF DRAINING ON THE SOIL 
 
 The direct benefits of draining land have al- 
 ready been pointed out in the chapters on the nature 
 of the soil and on soil water. The most important 
 result is that it makes the soil warmer. A wet 
 soil is cold, chiefly because the water in it is con- 
 stantly evaporating, and evaporation is a cooling 
 process. To illustrate this: If the bulb of one 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 197 
 
 thermometer is covered with wet musHn, and the 
 bulb of another similar thermometer is left im- 
 covered, the wet thermometer may register as 
 much as 15 degrees cooler when both are swung 
 in dry air. This is due to the cooling effect of the 
 evaporation of the water. Moreover, water is a 
 poor conductor of heat; wet soils warm in the sun 
 slowly, because the water they contain holds 
 down the temperature. There is usually a 
 difference of 5 to 10 degrees between drained and 
 undrained soil in the same field. In fact, the 
 temperature of a soil in summer is veiy largely 
 determined by the amount of water it contains; 
 the wetter it is the colder it is. Warmth is one of 
 the chief essentials for the germination and growth 
 of farm crops ; it is the coldness of a poorly drained 
 soil, more than the mere excess of water it con- 
 tains, that is responsible for most of the unsatis- 
 factory growth of crops upon it. 
 
 Draining a soil allows the air to enter it more 
 freely. If all the spaces between the soil grains 
 are filled with water air cannot enter. Air is one 
 of the most important agencies that help to make 
 a soil productive. It changes the rock particles 
 of the soil into plant food and is essential to the 
 decay of plants in the soil, making humus. Seeds 
 must have air or they will not germinate. The 
 soil bacteria that make fertility cannot thrive 
 without air; the more thoroughly and the more 
 deeply a soil can be aerated the richer it should be, 
 and the better should plants grow upon it. The 
 depth to which air penetrates the soil increases 
 when the water-table is lowered by drainage, 
 hence a larger feeding area is presented to the roots. 
 
 Draining a Soil Makes it More Moist. — Al- 
 though it may seem a paradox, draining a soil may 
 
198 SOILS 
 
 make it more moist at the times when moisture is 
 needed most. This is a feature of drainage that 
 many people find hard to understand, yet the 
 explanation is very simple. Drainage lowers the 
 water-table, thus increasing the volume of soil 
 above it in which the roots of plants can feed, for 
 they can use only film water. The larger the area 
 of soil above the water-table, the more film water 
 there is for the plants to use. They root deeper 
 and so are farther away from the dry surface soil. 
 Furthermore, a soil is more mellow after being 
 drained than before, so it can absorb and hold 
 more water as film moisture, and its ability to 
 draw up water from the water-table is increased. 
 Under-drainage simply carries off free or standing 
 water, thus leaving more room for the film water 
 that plants use. Hence it is that a drained soil is 
 dryer in a wet time and more moist in a dry time 
 than before it was drained. 
 
 In humid regions under-drainage may be equiva- 
 lent to irrigation as a means of supplying water to 
 the crop. The farmer who drains his land owns 
 more soil than he did before ; for until the water- 
 table was lowered he had the use only of the soil 
 above it, the only part in which the roots of his 
 plants can feed. If he lowers the water-table 
 two feet he adds a layer of soil two feet thick to 
 his property. He has two feet more of soil in 
 which the roots of his plants may find nourishment. 
 This is the cheapest way of increasing the size of 
 the farm. 
 
 After a soil has been drained the roots of plants 
 penetrate it deeper, earthworms burrow deeper 
 in it, air follows these channels and the ventilation 
 of the soil is still further improved. A system of 
 tile drainage is itself very effective in aerating the 
 
68. COivN "DROiVXEDOUT" 
 
 The aggregate loss of crops by poor drainage is enormous. Much of this 
 loss can be prevented 
 
 #'T«'!i««rcsr»'. , jsvrr.- ■ ' 
 
 69. MEADOW ON WHICH WATER HAS BEEN STANDING 
 The land now has no value for cropping. It could be drained at a slight expense 
 

 
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 70. A SOIL WELL DRAINED NATURALLY BY A GRAVELLY SUBSOIL 
 Examine the subsoil when purchasing land 
 
 71. SURFACE DRAINAGE BY "PLOWING INTO LANDS" 
 
 The dead furrows in this meadow are lo paces apart. They lead the water into a shallow 
 ditch on the side of the field 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 199 
 
 soil. Most of the time the tiles carry air, as well 
 as water. When the surface air is much warmer 
 than the soil air, as on a warm day in early spring, 
 a system of tile drains may supply a slight bottom 
 heat, or at least be the means of equalising tem- 
 perature. Thus a good system of under-drainage 
 aerates the soil both from above and from below. 
 
 Practical Results from Draining Land. — The 
 practical result of the better aeration and increased 
 warmth secured by draining land is that the soil 
 becomes richer and more productive. Not only 
 does more plant food in the soil itself become 
 available, but also the manures or fertilisers that 
 may be applied are more effective, since they too 
 must first be treated with Nature's chemicals before 
 the plants can use them. The beneficial bacteria 
 of the soil, which thrive only in warmth and mois- 
 ture — not wetness — are encouraged to multiply. 
 The season is lengthened at both ends; the soil 
 can be worked earlier and later, so crops have the 
 use of it longer. 
 
 If a poorly drained field is sloping there may be a 
 considerable loss of fertility by surface washing. 
 After this field is drained, rains sink into the soil 
 more readily, as it is looser and dryer, and so a large 
 part of the surface washing is checked. The cost of 
 growing a crop is reduced, especially in preparing 
 the seed bed, for a mellow, well-drained soil is easier 
 to handle and can be brought into the right shape 
 quicker than cloddy, poorly drained soil. Seeds 
 germinate better, because the soil is warm and dry 
 instead of cold and wet. 
 
 The quality as well as the yield of the crop 
 is often improved. This is particularly true 
 of grass or hay; that which grows in well- 
 drained meadows or pastures is of much higher 
 
200 SOILS 
 
 value for feeding than that which grows in wet 
 land, not only because the better grasses thrive 
 in the well-drained soil, but also because they 
 actually contain more nutriment. These and 
 other benefits of draining wet, shallow or hard 
 soils may be crystallised into one sentence; drain- 
 ing increases the producing capacity of such soils 
 and enables the man who tills them to put 
 his crops upon the market at a lower cost of 
 production. 
 
 WHAT KIND OF DRAINS TO USE 
 
 Soils are drained in two ways, by surface drains 
 or by under-drains. Which method should be 
 followed is mainly a matter of expediency and of 
 thoroughness. Surface drainage is secured chiefly 
 by means of open ditches. The objections to open 
 ditches as comj)ared with under-drains are numer- 
 ous and forceful. They cost more than tile drains, 
 both to make and to maintain. INIore soil must 
 be moved for surface drains than for under-drains 
 in order to make the ditch of the needed capacity 
 and to give the banks sufficient slope so that they 
 will not wash. Ditches need frequent repairing 
 and cleaning out, the sides cave in, they become 
 choked with plants, many of which may be noxious 
 weeds, and the soil washes in. 
 
 Ditches take up much valuable space and hinder 
 the use of teams. In order to thoroughly drain 
 a wet field the ditches would need to be so close 
 and so large that they would occupy one-fifth to 
 one-sixth of the area. This is too much to lose 
 if under-drains will do just as well. Furthermore, 
 the loss of water from open ditches by evaporation 
 is very great. It amounts to from 40 to 50 inches 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 201 
 
 of water a year, in the Eastern States, and much 
 more than that in the arid regions. 
 
 These objections are sufficiently forceful to 
 make drainage by open ditches entirely impracti- 
 cable when tile drains can be used. There are 
 many sections of the country, notably in the South, 
 where it is dangerous to provide any kind of sur- 
 face drainage, because the soil washes so badly. 
 All kinds of surface drains everywhere carry 
 away more fertility than w^ould be lost through 
 under-drains. In most cases it is better that 
 excess water should pass through a soil instead 
 of over it. 
 
 WHEN DITCHES ARE PRACTICABLE 
 
 There are, however, conditions under which 
 surface drainage is not only useful, but is about the 
 only kind of drainage that is at all practicable. In 
 peaty or muck })ogs, fresh and salt water marshes, 
 cranberry bogs and the like, the open ditch is the 
 only feasible method of drainage, at least for the 
 larger drains. In these cases the main object is 
 to carry off the flood or surface water; the water- 
 table is not lowered to the depth that is necessary 
 for most farm crops. Whenever it is wished to 
 lower the water-table of such lands to four feet 
 and to plant them with the common farm crops, it 
 is usually necessary to supplement ditching with 
 tile drainage. 
 
 Tile drains cannot be laid in marshes in which 
 the peat is not well rotted until they have been 
 partially drained by open ditches. When a peat 
 soil is drained it shrinks; if tile drains had been 
 laid the tile would soon be found too near the sur- 
 face. In such cases it is preferable to first put in 
 
202 SOILS 
 
 open ditches to dry out the marsh until the shrink- 
 age has occurred. Get a crop started upon the 
 marsh as soon as possible, as it hastens decay. 
 Later these ditches may be deepened and tile 
 drains laid in the bottoms of them. 
 
 According to King, another occasion when open 
 ditches are feasible is in draining very level land 
 underlaid by a very fine clay. These places are 
 usually found where a lake once existed. Water 
 moves through the fine clay so slowly that tile drains 
 would not be effective unless laid so close that the 
 expense would be prohibitive. Such soils should 
 be plowed into lands from twenty to thirty feet 
 wide with the dead-furrows emptying into shallow 
 ditches. 
 
 Ditches are also useful to provide an outlet for 
 under-drains, and to catch surface drainage on 
 slopes, or at the foot of slopes. In other words, 
 ditching is useful mainly for taking care of surface 
 water, and for removing the excess of water in the 
 first foot or two of soil. Deep and thorough 
 drainage, such as most farm crops demand, can 
 usually be best secured by under-drainage. 
 
 HOW TO DIG A DRAINAGE DITCH 
 
 The depth, width and grade of a ditch depends 
 chiefly upon the amount of water to be removed, 
 the lay of the land and the nature of the soil. In 
 marsh lands the ditch may usually be cut to a 
 depth of four or six feet, and with almost vertical 
 sides. Peat or muck soil is not liable to wash or 
 cave in, being more or less fibrous, especially if 
 the water-table is not lowered sufficiently to dry 
 out the soil so deep that it will shrink and crumble 
 the banks. Ditches in an upland soil, however, 
 
72. DRAINING WET LAND WITH AX OI'F.X DITCH 
 
 Ditching is much inferior to tile draining, where the latter is expeclienl, being more 
 
 expensive in the long run and not as lasting. But only ditches arc 
 
 practicable on some marsh land. The sides of 
 
 this ditch are too steep 
 
 AX OPEN DITCH WITH GRASSED SIDES OX AX I \N^ -I 
 
 THEY DO NOT WASH 
 All ditches take up much room. They become foul with weeds and 
 must be cleaned out 
 
74. LAYING A TILE DRAIN 
 
 The di'ch is four feet deep. The line of tiles is given a fall of one to four inches in 
 loo feet. The joints are titled together carefully 
 
 75. A TILE THAT HAS BEEN CLOGGED BY TREE ROOTS 
 
 The whole drain may be obstructed in this way. Lay sewer pipe when the drain passes 
 near trees, and cement the joints 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 203 
 
 must have sloping banks. If the soil is a tenacious 
 clay a slope of 15° to 20° may be suflScient to hold 
 the banks. More often a slope of 45° is barely 
 enough to prevent caving in, which means much 
 extra work. The greater the fall of the ditch, the 
 flatter should be the banks. 
 
 In many cases, especially for wet meadows, the 
 best kind of ditch is merely a broad hollow, about 
 one or two feet deep and six or eight feet wide. 
 These places may be grassed over, if in a meadow ; 
 if the land is used for tilled crops and the ditch 
 serves as a water carrier only in winter and early 
 spring, it may be planted. All kinds of farm 
 machmes can pass over such a ditch; it is the 
 most serviceable kind whenever it will drain the 
 land sufficiently. On nearly all comparatively 
 flat land, and especially on western prairie land, 
 there are many shallow natural water-courses, 
 variously called "runs," "draws" and "sloughs." 
 The heavy spring rains turn these into drainage 
 channels. If necessary shallow ditches, ten or 
 twelve feet wide and two feet deep, may be scooped 
 out in these draws with plow and scraper and the 
 bottom and sides seeded to grass. 
 
 The Grade. — The grade of an open ditch must 
 be low. A fall of five or six inches in a hundred 
 feet is usually about all that an ordinary soil will 
 stand without washing, especially if the banks have 
 not enough slope. If it is necessary to make 
 curves in a ditch, they should be very gradual, 
 particularly if the fall is greater than it ought to be, 
 for when the ditch runs full the water will tend to 
 eat into the outer bank, as it does in streams. 
 When an average ditch is running full after a 
 freshet a fall of two inches in a hundred feet makes 
 a current of about four miles an hour. This 
 
204 SOILS 
 
 current quickly undermines steep banks unless 
 the soil is very fibrous or clayey. It is usually 
 best to grass over open ditches ; some sort of herb- 
 age will soon cover the banks anyhow, but grass 
 roots are more valuable as soil binders. 
 
 The distance apart of open ditches is governed 
 entirely by the nature of the land. In marsh land 
 the small laterals, which may be about three feet 
 deep and three feet wide on the bottom, are fre- 
 quently placed from 40 to 100 feet apart, and 
 empty into larger main ditches, which are five or 
 six feet deep and equally wide on the bottom. 
 In some cases it is better to dig larger ditches from 
 150 to 200 feet apart. 
 
 PLOWING INTO LANDS 
 
 This simple and very common device for surface 
 drainage has already been mentioned in Chapter V. 
 It is useful solely for removing the excess of free 
 water, especially that which stands upon the sur- 
 face. Plowing a field into lands makes very 
 shallow open ditches. It is quite common to 
 leave dead-furrows about fifteen or twenty feet 
 apart, thus throwing the soil into slightly 
 raised beds or lands. The dead-furrows should 
 usually lead to open ditches on the side of the 
 field. This dries out the soil and warms it 
 earlier in spring. 
 
 If the soil is liable to remain wet late into the 
 spring, and especially if it is a heavy clay, the dead- 
 furrows may be in the same place for several years, 
 thus deepening the hollows and elevating the lands. 
 On average soils, however, the dead-furrows should 
 be made in different places each year. According 
 to Roberts, lands five or six paces wide do not 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 205 
 
 drain off the surface water of nearly level fields as 
 effectively as lands twenty to twenty-five paces 
 wide, "because not enough water is carried into 
 any one of the dead-furrows to produce a current 
 sufficient to overcome the obstruction offered by 
 clods and friction." Surface drainage by dead- 
 furrows is most practicable on very fine clay soils, 
 through which water passes so slowly that it would 
 be almost useless to lay tile drains beneath them. 
 Sometimes the dead-furrows may be joined by 
 cross furrows, so as to convey the water away along 
 a natural depression. 
 
 THE ACTION OF UNDER-DRAINS 
 
 In most cases under-drains are more efficient 
 and more practicable than surface drains. Under- 
 drains may be of stone, boards, brush, or other 
 materials, but tile drains made of baked clay are 
 now used almost universally. Drain tiles have 
 come into common use within fifty years. There 
 are now many thousands of tile factories at work in 
 the United States. Any clay that will make good 
 bricks is suitable for making tiles. Few parts of 
 the country where tiles are most needed, especially 
 east of the Mississippi, are without facilities for 
 making drain tiles. 
 
 The philosophy of under-drainage is simple. 
 An open passage is made through the soil below 
 the water-table; that is, below the point at which 
 water fills all the spaces between the soil particles. 
 It is like boring a hole into a water tank two feet 
 below the point where the water stands in the tank, 
 and inserting therein a pipe. The water is lowered 
 to the level of the bottom of the pipe. Lines of 
 3-inch tiles are run through the subterranean 
 
206 SOILS 
 
 lake; tney lower its surface to the level of the bot- 
 tom of the tile at the points where each line of tile 
 runs. But the level of the water-table rises higher 
 between the lines of tile, as water cannot move as 
 freely through the .soil as it does in the open. Thus 
 the surface of the water-table of a tile-drained 
 field is something like a series of crescents, the lines 
 of tiles being at the lowest points. 
 
 The height to which the water-table rises be- 
 tween the lines of the tiles depends upon the 
 distance apart of the drains and the character 
 of the soil. The farther apart they are, the 
 higher the water rises between them. The more 
 sandy or porous the soil, the more nearly does 
 the water-table come to the level of the drains 
 over all the field. Thus, if under-drains are placed 
 four feet deep in a sandy soil, and a similar distance 
 in a clayey soil, the water-table of the former 
 might be lowered to an average level for the 
 field of three and one-half feet and the latter to 
 two and one-half feet. 
 
 It must be clearly understood that under-drains 
 carry off only free water, never film water. Fur- 
 thermore, they remove no water from a soil unless 
 the water-table is above them. Water does not 
 run into them, it is squeezed in. For instance, if 
 a line of tile drains is placed four feet deep in a soil 
 in which the water-table is four feet six inches be- 
 low the surface in summer, none of this water 
 will get into the tiles until the water-table has 
 been raised to four feet, or over, as it might be 
 early in spring after heavy rains. 
 
 Water enters tile drains through the joints and 
 also through the walls of the tiles. It is not 
 necessary, as many suppose, to leave a crevice be- 
 tween the tiles for the entrance of water. No 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 207 
 
 matter how tight a joint is made, water will pass in 
 freely. In laying tile, therefore, the object should 
 be to make as tight a joint as possible, so that dirt 
 will not enter and clog the tiles. 
 
 PLANNING THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM 
 
 The attempt to drain a piece of land, no matter 
 how small, should be preceded by careful planning. 
 The direction of the drains, the distance between 
 them and the grade should be plotted on paper. 
 The aim should be to lay out the system so as to 
 secure suflScient fall and give adequate drainage 
 with the least digging and the least amount of tile. 
 To this end it is necessary to make few outlets and 
 junctions and not to lay two lines of tiles so close 
 together that they both drain an area that could be 
 drained by one line. 
 
 On small areas having a noticeable fall, the 
 drains may be located by eye and the planning may 
 be done without the aid of a surveyor; but much 
 land that requires draining is quite flat and it is 
 extremely difficult to give the drains the right grade 
 without the assistance of an instrument. It does 
 not pay to go to the expense of buying tile and dig- 
 ging ditches only to make a botch of the job by 
 trying to save the cost of the services of a competent 
 drainage engineer. Nine times out of ten the work 
 of laving out the drainage system on a large area 
 should be entrusted to a surveyor. 
 
 The owner of the field should, however, con- 
 tribute his knowledge of local conditions. He 
 should know, for instance, the source of the 
 water it is expected the drain will remove — whether 
 it comes from overflow, springs or otherwise — so 
 that the drains may be laid to cut off the supply 
 
208 SOILS 
 
 with the least amount of digging. He should know 
 the wet spots in the field and if the outlet of the 
 drainage system is to be on the bank of a stream, he 
 should know the high- water mark of the stream. 
 Only the man who tills the field and observes the 
 condition of the soil at all times of the year 
 can locate a drainage system upon it most eco- 
 nomically. 
 
 It may be cheaper and better to have a large 
 job done entirely by a drainage engineer. He has 
 a force of men who are familiar with all the ins and 
 outs of the business, and can dig a ditch, lay tile and 
 finish the work much quicker than men who are 
 unused to the business. It is especially important 
 that the man who lays the tile should be skilled, 
 or if not skilled at least very careful. Cheap help 
 for this work is poor economy. 
 
 In planning a system of under-drainage the 
 various points should be considered in the following 
 order: First, select the best outlet. Second, lo- 
 cate the position of the main or mains. Third, 
 ascertain the difference of level between the out- 
 let and the highest point in the main, and de- 
 termine the grade. Fourth, locate each of the 
 laterals. Fifth, find the difference in level 
 between the highest point in each lateral and 
 the point where it joins the main, and de- 
 termine the fall. Under all circumstances work 
 from the outlet or outlets back to the furthermost 
 laterals. 
 
 Make an exact plan of the system on paper, 
 drawn to a scale. A man usually thinks he can 
 remember just where the drains are located, but 
 in a surprisingly short time all traces of them on the 
 surface are obliterated and recourse must be had 
 to a map. Failure to make a map may cause 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 209 
 
 much inconvenience and useless digging when the 
 drains need attention later. 
 
 THE OUTLET 
 
 The first point to look after is the outlet; the 
 water must be carried off after it is collected by 
 the tiles. More than one drainage system has 
 given poor service solely because a suitable outlet 
 was not provided. The channel into which the 
 drainage system discharges may be a natural water 
 course, as a river, creek, brook, or rill, or it may be 
 an open ditch constructed for the purpose. If a 
 natural water course, it is very essential that the 
 outlet of the drain be at least several feet above 
 the highest point at which the water in the stream 
 has been known to stand. This precaution is 
 necessary to prevent the stream water from backing 
 up and filling the lower end of the drainage system, 
 which not only prevents the drainage water from 
 escaping, but also allows the stagnant water to 
 deposit sediment on the bottom of the tiles and 
 choke them. All the water in a tile drainage 
 system should be in motion all the time. 
 
 The outlet is the most vulnerable part of a 
 drainage system; it is the only part that comes to 
 the surface. Hence it will pay to deepen and 
 straighten the course of the stream at that point, 
 if necessary, in order to make it doubly sure that 
 the drainage water will meet no obstruction in 
 passing from the outlet. For the same reason it 
 is usually best to have as few outlets as possible; 
 to collect the water from many or several lines 
 or systems of drains into one main with a single 
 outlet. Sometimes, however, it is cheaper to have 
 several outlets, one for each system, instead of 
 
210 SOILS 
 
 uniting all into one main. The cases are rare 
 when it is best to let each line of tile have an in- 
 dependent outlet. 
 
 The outlet should be kept clear of weeds and 
 soil, guarded from the tramping of animals and 
 protected from injury by frost. In the Northern 
 States it is not safe to run the ordinary soft tile 
 to the surface. The last ten feet, at least, 
 should be of more durable material, as a box drain 
 made of 2-incli plank; or, better yet, the last ten 
 feet may be of glazed sewer tile. Cast iron sewer 
 tiles are sometimes used. It is well to face the 
 bank at the outlet with brick or stone. There 
 should be a wire screen over the outlet to prevent 
 the entrance of small animals. Examine the 
 outlet at least twice a year to see that it is free. 
 
 THE GRADE OF TILE DRAINS 
 
 The amount of fall or grade that under-drains 
 should have depends upon the contour of the land, 
 the length of the drains and the character of the 
 soil. The first thing to do is to locate the outlet 
 above all possible danger from obstruction by back- 
 water. The height above the outlet of the highest 
 point of land that is to be drained must next be 
 determined. For example, there may be a dif- 
 ference of seven feet between the outlet and the 
 upper end of the main, and the distance is 1,200 
 feet. This means that the main may have a fall of 
 five inches per hundred feet, which is about right. 
 The main drain must follow the lowest land from 
 the outlet to the head of the drainage system, and 
 be given as much fall as possible, within a reason- 
 able limit, so that the lateral drains will have 
 suflScient fall. The fields that are most likely to 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 211 
 
 need draining are apt to be rather flat and there 
 may be considerable diflSculty in deciding off-hand 
 where the lowest land is, and along what line be- 
 tween the outlet and the upper part of the field the 
 greatest fall may be secured. In doubtful cases 
 a level should settle the question. 
 
 Having established the outlet and located the 
 main drain on the lowest land, next locate the lat- 
 erals, or collecting drains. The fall of the entire 
 system must now be considered. In general it 
 should be from 5 to 8 inches in 100 feet. If this 
 grade can be secured there should be no difficulty 
 in laying a system that will work perfectly. But 
 very often 2 or 3 inches in 100 feet, or even less, is 
 as much fall as can be had. Excellent drainage 
 systems are now in operation that have a fall of 
 2 inches in 100 feet, and there are occasional ex- 
 amples of farm drainage systems that work with a 
 fall of even |-inch in 100 feet. But these can be 
 constructed only with the aid of a skilled engineer. 
 In farm drainage a fall of at least three inches 
 should be sought ; if one must content himself with 
 less grade he should employ a surveyor and give 
 greater attention to the laying of the tiles. 
 
 On the other hand, too much fall in a drainage 
 system is equally undesirable. A fall of 12 inches 
 in 100 feet is considered about the limit of safety. 
 A greater grade would carry the water so fast that 
 there would be danger of loosening the tiles. This 
 is especially true on lighter soils, which frequently 
 have tile drains washed from them after a very 
 heavy rain. If any of the tiles are loosened suffi- 
 ciently to admit soil the whole system may be 
 ruined eventually. 
 
 If possible it is best to have all the drains laid at 
 a uniform grade, from the upper end of the system 
 
212 SOILS 
 
 to the outlet. If It Is necessary to change the grade 
 it should preferably be from a less fall to a greater, 
 say from 3 inches to 4 inches in 100 feet; if the 
 grade is reduced there is greater likelihood that the 
 sediment in the water will settle in the lower part of 
 the system. To avoid this, if a reduction in grade is 
 necessary, put a "silt basin" at the point where the 
 change is made. This is made by sinking an 
 8-inch, 10-inch, or 12-inch tile below the level of the 
 ditch, and notching it on one side for the drainage 
 water to flow in, with a lower notch on the opposite 
 side for the first tile of the new grade. Tlie soil 
 dropped in here should be cleaned out occasionally. 
 Carry the silt basin to the surface with glazed 
 sewer tile ; or, if the line of tiles is large, dig a larger 
 basin and brick up the sides. Silt basins should 
 be covered all the time with iron, stone, or plank to 
 avoid accidents and freezing. Silt basins are really 
 small wells; they enable the farmer to see if his 
 drains are working properly, as well as collect silt. 
 They may be placed at the junction of the sub- 
 mains and the mains, even if there is no change in 
 grade, so as to give an opportunity to examine the 
 working of the drains. 
 
 DEVICES FOR ESTABLISHING GRADE 
 
 The most important part of under-drainage is 
 the grade. If the grade is insuflScient the water 
 stagnates and the tiles become filled with soil. If 
 any part of the system, even a few feet of it, is 
 below grade the whole system suffers. Hence 
 the necessity of securing the services of a skilled 
 drainage engineer if a large area is to be drained. 
 The use of a surveyor's level is not indispensable 
 to good draining, but is extremely helpful. If a 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 213 
 
 small area is to be drained, and the land is not 
 very flat satisfactory work may be done by a care- 
 ful man without a level. 
 
 A Home-made Level. — There are many simple 
 devices for establishing a grade. King recom- 
 mends a "water level," which is easily made at 
 home. It is made of a piece of f-inch gas 
 pipe, four feet long, with a T exactly in the 
 center and an elbow at each end. A piece of 
 pipe about six feet long is inserted in the T 
 and sharpened at the lower end, making the 
 standard which is thrust into the ground. A 
 short piece of glass tube, |-inch in diameter, is 
 cemented into each L and the top of each tube is 
 fitted with a cork. Each tube should project 
 exactly the same distance above the L. Fill the 
 gas pipe with water, coloured with ink or bluing, 
 until it just shows in both of the glass tubes when 
 the pipe is exactly horizontal. When using this 
 improvised level, stick the standard firmly into 
 the ground, remove the corks and adjust it until the 
 water shows that the horizontal pipe is perfectly 
 level. Then step off four or five feet and sight 
 across the top of the two tubes. If used carefully, 
 this instrument does quite accurate work for short 
 distances. 
 
 There are many ways of using this and other 
 kinds of levels. The simplest way, for drainage 
 work that is not complicated, is to first set the level 
 some 50 or more feet from the outlet. Sight back 
 to the outlet, set the measuring rod on the ground 
 and note the height at which the level sight strikes 
 the rod. It may be 4 feet 6 inches, for example. 
 With the instrument in the same position find 
 the height at which the sight strikes a rod , set about 
 50 feet in the opposite direction, along the line which 
 
214 SOILS 
 
 it is supposed the drain will run; say at 5 feet. 
 The difference between the back-sight and the 
 fore-sight is thus six inches, showing that the 
 land has a fall of 6 inches in 100 feet, or in the dis- 
 tance between the two points at which the rod 
 stood. The instrument may now be moved 
 forward and similar measurements taken for the 
 remainder of the main and for the laterals. 
 The fall that the entire system can have is thus 
 determined. 
 
 The next thing to do is to stake out the 
 drains. Beginning at the outlet drive into the 
 ground a stout peg 8 or 10 inches long until it is 
 flush with the surface. Drive similar pegs 50 
 feet apart along the line where the ditch will 
 come and about 12 inches to one side of the 
 centre of the ditch. About a foot from these 
 "grade pegs" drive "finders," stakes which project 
 a foot above the ground and guide one to the 
 grade pegs. 
 
 The work of determining the grade and depth of 
 the ditch may now be begun, using the level as 
 indicated above and taking the height of the top of 
 each grade peg by placing the rod upon it. Thus, 
 if it has been determined that the drain may have 
 a fall of 4 inches in 100 feet, at which grade it will 
 be 3 feet 6 inches deep at the outlet, if the next 
 grade peg is four inches higher than that at the 
 outlet it shows that the bottom of the ditch at that 
 point should be 3 feet and 8 inches below the level 
 of the grade peg. Measurements are taken all 
 along the line in the same way and the depth which 
 the ditch should be at each fifty-foot point is re- 
 corded in a book, and on each of the finder stakes. 
 When laying the tile a cord is stretched along 
 the tops of the grade stakes and the depth for laying 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 215 
 
 is determined with the aid of a measuring rod, 
 which has an arm at a right angle and long enough 
 to reach to the line. 
 
 A Sighting Method. — Brooks recommends a 
 simpler and scarcely less accurate device for secur- 
 ing the right grade. Drive two stakes at the outlet, 
 one on each side of the position of the ditch, 
 so that when firm their tops are a little over six 
 feet above the level of the drain at the outlet. Thus 
 if the outlet must be 3 feet 8 inches deep the tops of 
 the stakes will be a little over 2 feet 4 inches above 
 the level of the ground. Nail a light, narrow board 
 from stake to stake so that the top of it will be level 
 and exactly six feet above the bottom of the drain. 
 Go to the upper end of the drain and place a similar 
 grade board just 6 feet above the bottom of the 
 ditch there; if the drain is 300 feet long, and a 
 grade of 3 inches in 100 feet can be secured, this 
 grade board will be nailed 9 inches above the sur- 
 face. 
 
 At intervals of 50 feet on the line of the 
 drain set similar pairs of stakes. The height at 
 which to nail the grade boards on these is deter- 
 mined by sighting from the lower to the upper 
 grade boards, or vice versa. Dig the ditch nearly 
 to the desired depth. Now stretch a stout cord 
 very tightly from the top of the grade board at the 
 outlet to the top of the grade board at the upper 
 end of the drain, and midway between the stakes, 
 where the centre of the drain should be. Brace 
 the upper and lower grade boards to prevent the 
 line from sagging. When the ditch is completed 
 the bottom at all points should be exactly six feet 
 below the cord. 
 
 The success of this device depends upon the 
 accuracy with which the sighting is done and the 
 
216 SOILS 
 
 grade boards nailed, upon a taut cord, and care- 
 ful measuring to the cord. The latter operation 
 is done with a rod and great care should be taken 
 to hold it exactly vertical. A spirit level will aid in 
 this. See that the cord does not stretch during 
 changes in the weather. When carefully executed 
 this simple method of grading gives very satis- 
 factory results. 
 
 There are many other home-made devices for 
 establishing grades, as the walking level, and those 
 in which a spirit level is used. When the field 
 has a noticeable slope a careful workman can make 
 a fairly accurate grade by simply watching the 
 flow of water in the ditch. But it is not best to 
 depend upon the eye alone, except, perhaps, for 
 very small fields which have a pronounced slope. 
 
 THE NUMBER AND DIRECTION OF DRAINS 
 
 This is determined by the contour of the land and 
 the character of the soil. If a more or less con- 
 tinuous depression runs through the field, some- 
 where near the middle, the drains would probably 
 have but one outlet, with one main following the 
 depression, and with laterals running obliquely 
 from it to the surrounding higher land, unless 
 something could be gained by a short cut. If 
 there were two depressions there might be two 
 mains, which would unite to make one outlet. If 
 the whole field slopes slightly in one direction, say 
 toward an open ditch, the water in which never 
 rises above the point at which the outlet of the 
 drains would be, mains might be dispensed with 
 altogether and the field drained by parallel lines of 
 small tile running from the upper end of the field 
 to the ditch, each having an independent outlet. 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 217 
 
 The mains should make sweeping curves, 
 not abrupt ones. The laterals also may join the 
 mains at any angle, depending entirely upon the 
 grade. If the main is m a marked depression it 
 may be necessary to run the laterals nearly parallel 
 with it for some distance, so as not to make their 
 fall too great, making a long acute angle; but 
 if the main is in a very slight depression 
 the laterals may be almost or quite at right 
 angles to it. In any case they should be 
 given a slight curve before they join the main, 
 so that the water may be carried into the main 
 with the current, not across it. 
 
 When draining land that has a marked slope the 
 lines of the tile may be run up and down the slope, 
 across it, or obliquely. If there are springs on 
 the slope these will be cut off most effectively 
 by cross-slope drainage, otherwise it makes little 
 difference which method is chosen except for the 
 difference in fall. Most drainage^ engineers prefer 
 to run the drain obliquely down the slope when- 
 ever it is expedient. 
 
 There are thus many systems of laying out tile 
 drains, each of which has merits under certain 
 conditions. The contour of the land, the character 
 of the soil and the position of the outlet usually 
 decide this question. In fact, it is often necessary 
 to put in a combination of several systems on one 
 field, because of the variation in contour. In 
 planning any system of tile drains the aim should 
 be to use 3-inch tiles in preference to larger 
 sizes, wherever they can do the work, for the 
 larger size of tiles add greatly to the expense of 
 the system. Every field is a new problem; no 
 one can tell how the drains ought to run without 
 studying the field. 
 
218 SOILS 
 
 DISTANCE BETWEEN UNDER-DRAINS 
 
 This depends chiefly upon the nature of the 
 subsoil and the depth of the drains. The ease 
 with which water can pass through the subsoil to 
 the drains would naturally have much influence in 
 determining the distance apart of the laterals. 
 Water will pass to the drains through a sandy sub- 
 soil from ten to one hundred times more rapidly 
 than through a stiff clay subsoil. The coarser the 
 subsoil and the freer it is from hard-pan the more 
 readily does water move to the drains and the 
 farther apart they may be placed. In other words, 
 the more open the subsoil is the farther apart 
 should the drains be, for the excess water in such 
 soils quickly drains off. The movement of water 
 in compact subsoils is very slow. 
 
 The depth of drains should be considered in 
 deciding their distance apart; the deeper they are 
 the lower do they make the water-table. Under- 
 drains do not lower the water-table of the entire 
 field to their own level. At the point where the 
 drains are placed it is lowered to that level, but 
 midway between two lines of drains it may be 
 several inches or even several feet higher, depend- 
 ing upon the openness of the soil and the ease with 
 which water passes through it laterally. The 
 water-table of an undrained field is a series of 
 curves or crescents, the lower ends of each curve 
 being on a level with the bottom of the drains. So 
 the deeper drains are placed the farther apart they 
 may be without danger of the water-table coming 
 too near the surface, midway between the lines of 
 drains. 
 
 The common distances apart for laying tile 
 drains are 20 to 30 feet on deep, very compact clays; 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 219 
 
 40 to 70 feet on average loams with a rather open 
 subsoil, and 100 and even 200 feet on very open 
 soils. A safe distance for average loam soils in 
 the Eastern and Central States is 40 to 50 feet, if 
 the depth is not less than 3| feet; and 25 to 40 feet 
 on heavy clay soils. Many fields naay be ex- 
 cellently drained with some lines of tile 40 feet and 
 some 100 feet apart, according to the nature of the 
 soil in different parts. 
 
 DEPTH OF UNDER-DRAINS 
 
 The deeper the drains are placed, within reason- 
 able limits, the better they work. But beyond a 
 certain depth the expense of moving soil increases 
 faster than the advantage gained in the way of 
 better drainage. In certain soils it may cost about 
 twice as much to dig a ditch four feet deep as it 
 does one three feet deep. For ordinary farm crops 
 the depth to which the ground water should be 
 lowered need not be over four feet, and frequently 
 less. If the land is too wet only in the early 
 part of the season, and it is desired merely to 
 lower the water-table sufficiently to dry out the 
 land quickly in early spring, drains placed two 
 and one-half or three feet deep will usually 
 answer the purpose. 
 
 It may happen that the only available outlet is 
 so high that it is necessary to place the drains at less 
 depth than what is considered best, so as to secure 
 sufficient fall for the entire system. Again, if the 
 field has a sandy or gravelly subsoil some four or 
 five feet below the surface, it would be unwise 
 to place the drains so deep that the water-table 
 would be lowered into the sand or gravel, because 
 this coarse soil has poor capillary power and the soil 
 
220 SOILS 
 
 above it would be but poorly supplied with film 
 water after the water-table is lowered into it. In 
 the Northern States it is absolutely necessary to 
 lay tiles below the frost line anyway, for they are 
 easily heaved and cracked by frost. This means 
 a depth of two to three feet, and even four 
 feet in the northern prairie states. In the 
 Red River Valley of Minnesota and the 
 Dakotas the ground freezes six feet deep, 
 and there is much doubt as to whether tile 
 drains are practicable there. It is not prac- 
 ticable to try to place drains so deep that the 
 roots of ordinary crops will not enter them, for 
 these roots commonly run from five to ten feet 
 deep. 
 
 The best depth for drains on average soils is 
 three and one-half to four feet. There are few 
 cases where lateral drains should be five feet, or 
 over, but mains are frequently laid at that depth. 
 It is rarely expedient to lay deep drains in stiff soils ; 
 shallow drains are much better, for water moves 
 slowly through heavy soils. Land that is to be 
 permanently in grass may have the drains laid 
 more shallow, not only because the grass will 
 prevent the ground from freezing so deep, but also 
 because grass thrives when the water-table is 
 nearer the surface than is best for most tilled crops. 
 Under-drains in such lands are often laid two and 
 one-half to three feet deep with excellent results, 
 especially if the soil is not very heavy. Thirty 
 inches is about the minimum depth, under any 
 circumstances, at which it is practicable to lay 
 drains. When laying drains in peaty land 
 make allowance for the settling and shrinking 
 of the soil from the decay of the vegetable 
 matter. 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 221 
 
 KINDS OF TILES 
 
 At least eight styles of tile have been used since 
 the beginning of tile drainage, but at the present 
 time practically all farm under-drainage is done 
 with round tiles. Sole and double-sole tiles, which 
 are flat on one, two, or four sides, are heavier and 
 can be joined together only in two ways; whereas a 
 round tile can be joined to its neighbour at any point. 
 Six or eight-sided tiles with a round bore are quite 
 popular in the West and have all the merits of 
 round tiles, except that collars cannot be used with 
 them, which is unnecessary in most cases. How- 
 ever, they have no advantage over ordinary round 
 tile and it is doubtful if they can be laid as rapidly. 
 
 There are a number of special forms of tiles for 
 certain uses. "Elbows" or L's are made in all 
 sizes, either with a slight curve or a curve of 45 
 degrees. They are used principally for the mains. 
 At the point where a lateral empties into the main, 
 or a sub-main into the main, "junction pieces," 
 or branch tiles, are necessary. These may be Y's 
 or T's, the Y's usually being preferred. The use of a 
 Y is almost indispensable at junctions, in order to 
 prevent an accumulation of soil and displacement 
 of the tiles at that point. "Collars" are tile rings 
 two or three inches long, which are slipped over the 
 outside of the tiles to cover the joint. They pre- 
 vent soil from washing in and hold the tiles in place ; 
 but they cost so much and the incovenience of 
 applying them is so great that they are impracticable 
 except where there is great danger of tiles being 
 displaced, as where the fall is sharp and the 
 soil rather light. "Enlarging tiles," which taper, 
 are useful at the point where the drain changes 
 from one size to a larger size, as from a 3-inch 
 
222 SOILS 
 
 to a 4-inch, making the joint much more perfect 
 than if the 3-inch tile were butted against the 
 larger one. 
 
 When buying tiles it is important to stipulate 
 that all be perfect. Some lots of tiles contain 
 many that are not fit to be used in a drainage 
 system; one poor tile may undo the work of many 
 good ones. Good drainage tiles do not crumble 
 and when struck on iron have a ringing, metallic 
 sound, not a dull, wooden sound, showing that they 
 have been well burnt. Tiles that are badly warped 
 or chipped at the ends are worse than useless. 
 They should be smooth inside and cut square on 
 the ends. Glazed tiles are more durable than 
 unglazed, but there is little difference in efficiency. 
 
 SIZE OF TILES 
 
 A system of tile drainage should have sufficient 
 capacity to carry off the excess water of the heaviest 
 rains that fall, inside of twenty-four to forty-eight 
 hours. The time when under-drains are most 
 taxed is in early spring when the soil is already 
 saturated. The greater the fall of the system the 
 smaller the tiles may be, because water is carried 
 off more rapidly. Formerly 1- and l|-inch tiles 
 were quite commonly used for lateral drains; now 
 2-inch tiles are the smallest used, for it costs but 
 little more to make them than the smaller sizes. 
 They are easier to lay to grade and safer. Two- 
 inch tiles are still used in the Eastern States, but 
 not so much as formerly, being largely replaced by 
 the 3-inch size. 
 
 The sizes of mains and sub-mains are capable 
 of fairly accurate calculations, as their capacity 
 varies with the square of their diameters. 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 223 
 
 Wheeler makes the following estimate of the 
 relative capacity of different sizes of tiles : 
 
 A Sj-in. tile will carry 1^ times as much water as a 2-ln. tile 
 " 3 " " " " 2J " " 
 " 4 " " " " 5 " " 
 
 " 5 *' " " " 5^ " " 
 
 " 6 " " " " 12J " " 
 
 An 8 " " " " 25 " " 
 
 Chamberlain gives these rules for estimating the 
 size of mains: When the fall is not more than 3 
 inches in 100 feet the diameter of the tiles should be 
 squared and the result divided by 4. Thus a 
 3-inch main will drain 2^ acres; a 4-inch main, 
 4 acres; a 5-inch main, 6| acres; and so on. When 
 the fall is greater than 3 inches, square the diameter 
 and divide by 3. In this case a 3-inch main will 
 drain 3 acres; a 4-inch main, 5 J acres; a 5-inch 
 main, 8 J acres ; a 6-inch main, 12 acres, etc. These 
 rules have been found to be quite reliable on 
 ordinary soils. 
 
 On heavy soils the different sizes will drain 
 more than the area given, as water moves through 
 them more slowly. Elliott says, "For drains 
 not more than 500 feet long a 2-inch tile will 
 drain 2 acres. Lines more than 500 feet long 
 should not be laid of 2-inch tiles. A 3-inch tile will 
 drain 5 acres and should not be of greater length 
 than 1,000 feet. A 4-inch tile will drain 12 acres; 
 a 5-inch tile, 20; a 6-inch, 40; and a 7-inch tile, 60 
 acres." The capacity of tiles is thus seen to vary 
 widely in the judgment of experts. The size of 
 the main increases as it proceeds toward the 
 outlet and receives the drainage of the larger 
 area. 
 
224 SOILS 
 
 DIGGING THE DITCH 
 
 The largest expense of establishing a system of 
 under-drainage is in moving the soil. Many steam 
 and horse-power machines have been invented for 
 doing this work, but most of it is still done by hand. 
 Most of the machines require more power than can 
 ordinarily be furnished conveniently; but some, 
 that are designed merely to loosen the surface, are 
 very serviceable. If a large area is to be drained 
 it will be economy to hire men who have had expe- 
 rience in the business, when they can be had. 
 
 In order that no more soil may be moved than is 
 absolutely necessary, it is customary to stretch a 
 stout line 4 or 5 inches back from where one side 
 of the ditch should be and cut true to the line. The 
 width of the ditch on the surface need not exceed 20 
 inches, even for large mains, and 12 or 15 inches is 
 ample for lateral drains. Beginners always dig 
 ditches wider than is necessary. The ditches 
 should taper downward evenly, being but 4 or 5 
 inches wide on the bottom, if 3-inch tiles are to be 
 laid. In case the drains are laid more than 4 feet 
 deep it may be necessary to make them a few inches 
 wider. 
 
 The surface soil may be partly moved with a 
 plow if it is not very heavy or very stony. After 
 the line is stretched a very deep furrow is turned 
 with an ordinary plow, which may then be followed 
 by a trenching plow, or another furrow may be 
 turned with a landside plow. Part of the soil is 
 thus moved out, and part is so loosened that it is 
 handled easier. The trench is then finished with 
 a spade. Many, however, prefer to open the 
 entire ditch with a spade. An ordinary spade 
 answers the purpose for a small job, but a ditching 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 225 
 
 spade, which has a narrow, curved blade about 18 
 inches long, is preferable. 
 
 The soil should be placed on the edge of the ditch, 
 not thrown away from it. Both surface and subsoil 
 are placed upon the same side of the ditch, and usu- 
 ally it is not necessary to keep them separate. In 
 some cases it may be cheaper to have the ditch dug 
 by contract, except grading the bottom to receive the 
 tiles, which should be done by an experienced and 
 careful hand. If quicksand is encountered the sides 
 of the ditch will need to be supported with boards, 
 braced by sticks between them. Besides the spade, 
 a tile hoe is a convenient but not indispensable 
 tool. It is used for cleaning out and grading the 
 bottom of the ditch. It comes in various sizes, 
 according to the size of the tiles laid, and makes a 
 half-round groove into which the tiles fit snugly. 
 
 Ditching should be begun at the outlet and the 
 main should be laid back to the first lateral. This 
 junction is then made and two or three tiles of the 
 lateral are laid before the main is laid further. 
 
 LAYING TILES 
 
 It is well to begin laying the tiles as soon as a 
 strip of ditch is graded, for if a storm arises 
 enough water may run into the bottom of the 
 ditch to spoil the grade. Usually it is best to begin 
 laying the tiles at the lower end of the system. 
 They are first placed in a line along the edge of 
 the ditch. The man who lays the tiles may stand 
 in the ditch or he may stand on the edge of it and 
 handle the tiles with tile hooks, with which they 
 may be turned and twisted until the joints are 
 satisfactory. Professional tile layers often do 
 very rapid and satisfactory work without getting 
 
226 SOILS 
 
 into the ditch; inexperienced men had better lay 
 the tiles by hand. 
 
 The joints should be as close as possible; here is 
 the place for extreme care. There is no danger 
 that water will not enter the tiles freely enough, 
 even with the closest joints, but there is always 
 danger that soil will wash into the tiles. All tiles 
 have a slight curve; turn them in the bottom of 
 the ditch until they fit against each other snugly. 
 If junction or branch tiles are not used at the 
 junction of the laterals with the main, the former 
 may be let into the latter through a hole cut into 
 the main with a small pick or short, pointed hammer; 
 but the two should be joined very neatly and the 
 joint packed with clay. A better way is to pick a 
 hole in the top of the main, another near the end of 
 the last tile of the lateral, and place the two open- 
 ings together after plugging the end of the lateral 
 with a stone and clay. Some drainage experts 
 think it pays to put cloth, paper, sod, and 
 other coarse materials over the joints before 
 filling in the soil: others find this is not 
 necessary. 
 
 FILLING THE DITCH 
 
 In filling the ditch be especially careful not to 
 displace the tiles and to get the soil packed tightly 
 about them, so that there may be no chance for a 
 water channel outside the tiles. Usually it is best 
 to cover the tiles four to eight inches deep as fast 
 as they are laid, using the soil last thrown out, if 
 it is clay. This is done by a man in the ditch 
 following the man who lays the tiles, while a third 
 man on the bank shovels in soil, being careful not 
 to throw in large stones. This is tramped around 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 227 
 
 and over the tiles, care being taken not to move 
 them out of line. 
 
 The remainder of the ditch is filled very rapidly 
 in any way that is handiest. An ordinary scoop 
 scraper may be used if the team is hitched to it by 
 a long chain and works on the opposite side of the 
 ditch. Sometimes the ditch may be filled most 
 economically entirely by hand. A wooden scraper 
 shaped like a snow plow drawn backward is some- 
 times serviceable for filling a ditch when the soil is 
 mellow. A road scraper is very serviceable for 
 finishing the filling after the ditch is nearly closed. 
 It is well to tramp the soil several times in the 
 process of filling. Leave the soil around the ditch 
 rounded, for it will settle. It is not absolutely 
 necessary to fill in the subsoil first and the surface 
 soil last, but this should be done as far as is 
 convenient. 
 
 OBSTRUCTIONS IN TILE DRAINS 
 
 If the grade is too flat to carry off the water 
 before the sediment in it settles, or if any tiles are 
 displaced, the drains may soon become partially 
 filled with soil. This is especially likely to occur 
 when the subsoil is clay. The time of greatest 
 danger is the first two years; after that the soil 
 becomes compacted about the joints. It is some- 
 times necessary to dig up poorly laid tile drains 
 every three or four years and clean out the mud in 
 them. When the fall is sharp and uniform, and 
 the joints well made, there ought not to be any 
 trouble from this source. 
 
 The filling of tiles by the roots of trees is another 
 possible cause of trouble. These often enter the 
 joints and fill the interior of the tiles with a dense 
 
228 SOILS 
 
 wad of small roots, completely closing the bore. 
 Willows, elms, white maples and other water-loving 
 trees are the worst offenders. If possible, avoid 
 laying drains within thirty to sixty feet of trees, 
 according to the size of the trees. If a line of tiles 
 must run close to a tree use sewer pipe near 
 it and cement the joints. This is the great 
 difficulty in tile-draining orchard land. The 
 roots of other farm crops rarely clog a tile 
 drain. The obstruction of drains by animals, 
 as frogs, muskrats and rats, is prevented by 
 covering the outlet with wire netting or iron 
 grating. 
 
 When a drain is clogged the land near the ob- 
 struction gradually becomes wet, and but little 
 water flows from the outlet. A partial obstruction 
 may sometimes be removed by flushing, which 
 is done by closing the outlet of the drain until 
 the drain and the surrounding soil are filled 
 with water, then opening it. The comparative 
 level at which water stands in small deep 
 holes dug parallel to the suspected drain 
 will usually locate the exact point of an ob- 
 struction. 
 
 COST OF LAYING TILE DRAINS 
 
 This is from $12.00 to $60.00 per acre according 
 to the number of ditches opened, the nature of 
 the soil and the cost of tiles and labor. The more 
 the larger sizes of tiles are used the greater is the 
 expense. The expense of digging the ditch and lay- 
 ing the tiles should average about $3.00 to $4.00 per 
 100 feet for laterals, and more proportionately 
 for the mains. The cost of tiles varies greatly; 
 the list prices of the manufacturers are usually 
 
THE PLOW MAY BE USED TO FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF 
 SURFACE SOIL FOR DRAINS 
 Usually, however, the work is done entirely with a ditching spade 
 
 77. OUTLET OF A TILE DRAIN CLOGGED BY SOIL SO THAT 
 THE DRAIN DOES NOT WORK 
 
 It should be kept free of all obstructions, and is preferably bricked up. A wire screen 
 keeps out small animals that might obstnict the drain 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 229 
 
 subject to large discounts. On an average they 
 will cost: 
 
 2-inch tile $1.00 per 100 feet 
 
 ^ " 
 
 " 1.30 " " 
 
 3 " 
 
 1.50 " " 
 
 4 " 
 
 " 2.25 " " 
 
 5 " 
 
 " 3.75 " " 
 
 6 " 
 
 " 4.50 " " 
 
 7 " 
 
 " 6.80 " " 
 
 8 " 
 
 " 9.00 " " 
 
 The cost of tiles for mains is thus two or more 
 times as much as for laterals; hence the necessity 
 for making the main as direct and short as possible. 
 The expense of filling the ditch may be estimated 
 at from thirty to forty cents per hundred feet. 
 Professional drainage engineers usually figure on 
 a total cost of from $15.00 to $25.00 per acre when 
 a large field under average conditions is to be 
 drained. If an inexperienced man does the work 
 it is likely to cost much more than this. 
 
 OTHER KINDS OF UNDER-DRAINS 
 
 Before tile drains were perfected, various 
 other materials were used, chief of which were 
 stones, plank and brush. Very rarely are any 
 of these drains practicable now; tile drains are 
 usually cheaper and always more serviceable. 
 When flat stones are abundant a stone drain 
 may be feasible, but it costs as much to put in a 
 good stone drain as a tile drain. The large, flat 
 stones are laid so as to form a continuous channel. 
 If there are many stones on the surface these can 
 be thrown in above the drain. Stone drains are 
 very likely to clog with soil, as the joints are so 
 poor. 
 
230 SOILS 
 
 Box drains are made of three or four 2-inch 
 planks, with short pieces of laths between the 
 larger joints to provide an opening for the water 
 to enter the drain. They are cheaper than stone 
 drains, but quickly decay. On newly cleared 
 land, brush and pole drains are occasionally used, 
 especially if chestnut or cedar wood is abundant. 
 The brush is piled in the bottom of a ditch and 
 covered with soil. Pole drains are made by laying 
 three small logs so as to form a channel. Both 
 are crude and temporary at best, giving poor or 
 fair service for only a few years. "Mole drains," 
 made by drawing a conical piece of wood through 
 the soil by steam power at a depth of two or three 
 feet, have been known to do fairly good work for 
 several years in clay soils, but they cost nearly half 
 as much as tile drainage and are not permanent. 
 All these kinds of drains are most successful on 
 clay soils. After having gone to the expense of 
 digging a ditch it is far more practicable in most 
 cases to put in tile drains, which are durable and 
 eflBcient, instead of these uncertain substitutes. 
 
 DRAINING POT HOLES 
 
 A problem which many farmers would like to 
 have solved is how to drain low places which are 
 surrounded on all sides by land so high that it is 
 entirely inexpedient to cut through it for an outlet. 
 In many cases it will cost more to drain such places 
 than they will be worth afterwards, but sometimes 
 it will be worth while to try one of the following 
 methods: If the land is made wet almost entirely 
 by surface drainage, it may pay to dig a ditch 
 around it to intercept the surface water. If it is 
 found that there is a bed of sand or gravel within 
 
THE DRAINAGE OF FARM SOILS 231 
 
 ten or fifteen feet of the surface, as is sometimes 
 the case, it may be practicable to sink a well 
 through the surface soil that holds the water, which 
 is usually clay or silt, into the more open subsoil 
 below. This well may be filled with stones to 
 within three or four feet of the surface, and the 
 balance with sand or soil; or it may be stoned up 
 and used as an outlet for tile drains. If expedient, 
 this water may be pumped out by a windmill and 
 used for irrigating surrounding fields. Water- 
 loving trees, as willow, larch and white maple, 
 will do much to drain these places in summer when 
 in full leaf, but unfortunately they are of no help 
 in early spring when such lands are most likely 
 to be wet. 
 
 DRAINING LARGE SWAMPS AND MARSHES 
 
 Aside from its value for improving farm soils 
 already under cultivation, and for bringing into 
 service meadows and small swamps, examples of 
 soil drainage on a large scale are becoming more 
 and more numerous. Shaler estimates that there 
 are over 100,000 square miles of swamp land in the 
 Eastern Atlantic Coast States alone which can be 
 reclaimed and made into profitable farming land 
 by drainage. It is estimated by one authority 
 that there are 600,000,000 acres of swamp land in 
 the United States. Some of these lands, which 
 include salt marshes and large fresh-water swamps 
 and meadows, are already being reclaimed. When 
 drained they usually become exceedingly pro- 
 ductive, partly because they contain so much 
 humus, and partly because they are perfectly sub- 
 watered at all times of the year. The great area 
 of land wrested from the sea during half a century 
 
232 SOILS 
 
 by thrifty Holland, equalling the combined areas of 
 Rhode Island and Delaware, is an illustration 
 of what much of our salt marsh land may become 
 when diked and ditched. It is certain that during 
 the next half century immense drainage projects 
 for the reclamation of large swamp and marsh 
 areas in the East will be no less numerous than 
 the irrigation projects for the reclamation of 
 the arid lands of the West. The United States 
 Department of Agriculture has an OflSce of Irri- 
 gation and Drainage Investigations, employing 
 many experts, which has assisted in the draining 
 of over 300,000 acres of land during the past three 
 years. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 FARM IRRIGATION 
 
 IT is estimated that there are now about 250,000 
 square miles of irrigated land in the world. 
 This great area is receiving very large ad- 
 ditions every year. The principal countries where 
 irrigation is now practised are India, the United 
 States, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, 
 England, Scotland, in about the order named. 
 Irrigation is also followed to a lesser extent in 
 Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria- 
 Hungary, Argentina, Australia and many other 
 countries. India has 25,000,000 acres under ditch, 
 Egypt 6,000,000, Italy 3,700,000. Some of the 
 irrigation canals now used in India date from the 
 twelfth century. The British government is ex- 
 pending several hundred millions of dollars in 
 developing the Indian irrigation systems, besides 
 which there are not less than 400,000 private wells 
 used for irrigation, serving 2,000,000 acres. In 
 Italy the government controls all the streams in 
 order that they may be available for irrigation. 
 King states that irrigation canals are so numerous 
 in Egypt that not one-tenth of the water of the Nile 
 reaches the Mediterranean. 
 
 In this country irrigation is confined chiefly to 
 the arid and semi-arid (also called sub-humid) 
 sections. In 1902 the number of acres under 
 ditch was as follows: 
 
 233 
 
234 
 
 SOILS 
 
 AREAS IRRIGATED IN THE UNITED STATES, 1902 
 
 From Census Bulletin No. 16. 
 
 State 
 Arizona 
 California 
 Colorado 
 Idaho 
 Montana 
 Nevada . 
 New Mexico 
 Oregon 
 Utah . 
 Washington 
 Wyoming 
 
 Arid States 
 
 Area, Acres 
 247,250 
 
 1,708,720 
 
 1,754,761 
 713,595 
 
 1,140,694 
 570,001 
 254,945 
 439,981 
 713,621 
 154,962 
 773,111 
 
 Total 8,471,641 acres 
 
 Semi-arid States 
 
 State 
 Kansas 
 Nebraska 
 North Dakota 
 Oklahoma 
 South Dakota 
 Texas* . 
 
 Area, Acres 
 28,922 
 245,910 
 10,384 
 3,328 
 53,137 
 61,768 
 
 
 
 Total 403,449 acres 
 
 
 Rice States 
 
 
 State 
 
 
 Area, Acres 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 8,581 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 387,580 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 3,422 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 
 38,220 
 
 Texas . 
 
 
 168,396 
 
 *Exclusive of rice irrigation. 
 
 Total 606,199 acres 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 
 
 235 
 
 
 Humid States 
 
 
 
 State 
 
 Area, Acres 
 
 Alabama 
 
 95 
 
 Connecticut . 
 
 
 
 
 
 379 
 
 Florida 
 
 
 
 
 
 3,772 
 
 Maine . 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 
 
 283 
 
 Mississippi 
 New Jersey . 
 New York 
 
 
 
 
 
 114 
 
 48 
 
 159 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 
 
 906 
 
 15 
 
 
 Total 5,788 acres 
 
 
 
 Grand Total 
 
 9,487,077 acres 
 
 Under date of Oct. 23, 1906, Mr. Elwood Meade, 
 Chief of Irrigation and Drainage Investigations, 
 United States Department of Agriculture, writes: 
 *'I think these figures might be increased by 10 per 
 cent, to represent the present area. The increase 
 is very generally distributed, so that you would not 
 be far wrong to increase the area for each state 
 10 per cent." 
 
 The average size of irrigated farms in arid 
 America is 67 acres. Practically two-fiftlis of 
 the United States is arid. The dryest and 
 warmest state is Arizona. There is no sharp 
 line between arid and semi-arid conditions; in 
 dry seasons most of the plains west of the 
 Missouri are arid or semi-arid, while in wet 
 seasons the humid area encroaches upon this. 
 A belt of country which is neither arid nor humid 
 extends through North Dakota, western Nebraska 
 western Kansas, Oklahoma and central Texas. 
 This is called by some the sub-humid, by others 
 the semi-arid region. It comprises over 300,000,000 
 acres. In wet seasons it produces good crops 
 without irrigation. 
 
236 SOILS 
 
 In general, a country is said to be arid when 
 it has an average rainfall of less than twenty 
 inches. The arid region of North America 
 extends into Canada and Mexico. Only a small 
 portion of this, about 70,000,000 acres, is desert, 
 contrary to the common notion in the East. 
 Most of it supports more or less vegetation; 
 120,000,000 acres are lightly timbered and 
 470,000,000 acres are grazing land. 
 
 The number of acres of arid land in the United 
 States which it is possible and practicable to irri- 
 gate can be stated only approximately. Mr. Meade 
 writes: "A few years ago 75,000,000 acres was a 
 quite common estimate, but most of those familiar 
 with the arid West now make their estimates 
 smaller. There is at present a strong tendency to 
 use less water than was formerly used and as the 
 demand for agricultural products increases greater 
 expense in securing water can be borne. These 
 two influences would tend to increase the area 
 which can be irrigated with the existing water 
 supply under present practice, and any statement 
 as to the ultimate extent of land which can be 
 irrigated is little more than a guess." 
 
 OBJECTS OF IRRIGATION 
 
 The chief occasions for irrigation are an irregular 
 or an insufficient rainfall. The former is char- 
 acteristic of most all parts of the United States; 
 the latter is found mainly in western United States. 
 Most of the irrigation in this country is for the pur- 
 pose of remedying an actual deficiency in rainfall, 
 but much of it would be unnecessary if the rainfall 
 came at an opportune time. The time when 
 crops need water most is in summer and if it is not 
 

 
 
 
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 * ^ *— - 
 
 IRRIGATING OLIVES, FRESXO, CALIFORNIA, BY CHECK SYSTEM 
 Note construction of distributing ditch 
 
 81. THE INTAKE OF THE SUNXYSIDE CANAL, YAKIMA VALLEY, 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 Note the head-gate. These large canals are usually built by corporations 
 
 or partnerships of farmers 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 237 
 
 to be had at that time it profits nothing that the 
 soil is replenished with moisture in winter, unless 
 it can be husbanded by the methods of "dry farm- 
 
 Irrigation to Enrich the Land. — A secondary 
 object of irrigation, in some cases, is to carry to the 
 crops fertilising material dissolved in water. In 
 sewage irrigation this is the principal object; but 
 fields are often flooded with the water of rivers 
 chiefly for the purpose of enriching them with the 
 fine soil and plant food held by the water. Even 
 though the water of a stream may seem quite pure 
 and be very acceptable for drinking, it may contain 
 suflBcient plant food in solution, or in the mud it 
 carries, to make it worth while to distribute this 
 water on land solely for the sake of securing the 
 plant food it contains, which is mostly left in the 
 soil when the water evaporates or seeps down. 
 Many meadows in England and Scotland are 
 irrigated chiefly for the fertilising value of the 
 water. Occasionally, also, the fertilisers that are 
 to be applied to irrigated land are dissolved in the 
 water and distributed by it. 
 
 Another object is to correct " alkali." Occasion- 
 ally irrigation is practised to change the texture 
 of the soil, as, for example, to fill an open, 
 sandy soil with the sediment of a muddy stream. 
 But the chief and almost the only object of 
 irrigation in this country, as applied to farm- 
 ing, is to supply water, with the incidental benefit 
 of adding fertility. 
 
 HOW FAR THE NATURAL SUPPLY OF WATER WILL GO 
 
 How dry a region or a soil must be in order to 
 make irrigation necessary, or in other words, the 
 
238 SOILS 
 
 least amount of moisture that a soil must have in 
 order to grow a profitable crop, varies widely in 
 different parts of the country, and with different 
 soils in the same section. It depends upon the 
 minimum amount .of rainfall, the nature of the soil 
 and especially of the subsoil, the contour of the 
 land and the kind of crop. 
 
 The amount of water actually used in the 
 growth of the different crops is capable of fairly 
 accurate calculation. For example, it is estimated 
 that it requires at least four and one-half inches 
 of water per acre to produce fifteen bushels 
 of wheat, nine inches to produce thirty bushels, 
 and so on. These seem like small amounts, 
 but, as has been shown in Chapter IV, a large 
 proportion of the rainfall is lost, chiefly by sur- 
 face drainage, by evaporation and by leach- 
 ing, so that scarcely half of the water that falls 
 upon a soil may become available for crops. 
 Hence at least eight to twelve inches of rainfall are 
 needed to produce a profitable crop of wheat, 
 although the wheat uses less than half of it. 
 
 It is not enough, however, that the amount of 
 rainfall should come up to a certain standard. 
 If it does not fall at the right time, even larger 
 amounts of rainfall do not save a region from the 
 necessity for irrigation. Moreover, if the soil is 
 not retentive a rainfall considerably in excess of 
 the amount needed to produce a crop on a more 
 retentive soil will not avail. Most of the arid 
 area of the United States has a rainfall of about 
 ten or twelve inches, but there is a wide variation in 
 the time when most of this falls, and the ability 
 of the various soils to hold it. 
 
 There is a large area in the West where dry 
 farming, which is the profitable culture of crops 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 239 
 
 in an arid or semi-arid region without the aid of 
 irrigation, is notably and increasingly successful. 
 Dry farming is discussed in Chapter V. Thus the 
 farmer of the semi-arid Palouse region, in eastern 
 Washington and eastern Oregon, is able to grow 
 much larger crops of wheat than the farmer in other 
 regions having the same amount of rainfall, because 
 most of the rain falls in winter and early spring, and 
 is practically all absorbed by the soil as the weather 
 is cool and there is little evaporation; whereas, if 
 a large portion of it fell in summer the loss by 
 evaporation would be great. Then again, the soil 
 of this region — a deep basaltic ash — is remarkably 
 retentive of moisture, drying out very slowly and 
 giving up its moisture gradually to crops during 
 the almost cloudless summer. 
 
 This single illustration will emphasise sufficiently 
 the importance of these points in their relation to 
 irrigation; that the need of supplying more water 
 to a soil in order to make it produce profitable crops 
 depends not only upon the actual amount of rain, 
 but also upon the time when it falls, upon the reten- 
 tiveness of the soil, and upon the skill of the farmer 
 in making the fullest use of the natural supply of 
 water. Ten inches of rainfall in one section may 
 be equal to sixteen inches in another, so far as its 
 crop- producing capacity is concerned. 
 
 IRRIGATION IN HUMID REGIONS 
 
 In the United States irrigation is resorted to 
 chiefly as a means of correcting an absolute defi- 
 ciency of moisture. It is an arid and semi-arid 
 farming practice and is confined mainly to regions 
 having less than twenty inches of rainfall. But 
 there has been much interest in irrigation in the 
 
240 SOILS 
 
 humid sections of the country. Many small irri- 
 gation systems are in profitable operation in the 
 Eastern States, aside from the large areas of 
 rice and cranberries that are necessarily irrigated 
 by flooding. 
 
 The reason why it sometimes pays to irrigate, 
 even when the annual rainfall is forty to sixty 
 inches, is because of the frequency of serious 
 droughts during the growing season, especially 
 at the time when the crop is approaching maturity. 
 Over a large part of eastern United States pro- 
 tracted summer droughts are common, and often 
 reduce very seriously the yields of crops. It is 
 argued that if the crops could have a few irri- 
 gations at these critical times the gain in yield would 
 more than pay for the cost of establishing the 
 irrigation plant. This contention has been fully 
 established in many cases. The construction of 
 an irrigation plant in a humid region may be 
 reo-arded as an insurance against unfavourable 
 weather that may or may not come. There is 
 seldom a season when the rainfall in any part of 
 humid United States is so abundant and so evenly 
 distributed that one or more irrigations would not 
 materially increase the yield. The almost universal 
 watering of lawns and gardens from the hydrant 
 is irrigation on a small and expensive scale, yet 
 this usually pays. 
 
 The question, however, is not whether any 
 benefit would be derived from irrigation, but 
 whether the benefit is commensurate with the cost, 
 and whether nearly as good results could not be 
 secured, and much more cheaply, by better methods 
 of tilling the soil to husband rainfall. Irrigation 
 in a humid climate may easily become a cloak for 
 shiftless tillage. Undoubtedly there are many cases 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 241 
 
 when it will pay to irrigate in the East, especially 
 certain water-loving crops, as strawberries, celery, 
 raspberries, blackberries, grass, and garden vege- 
 tables. In the East, however, it is a question of 
 economics, not of necessity, as it is in many parts of 
 the West; the point is whether the increase m crops 
 will pay for the extra expense. That depends upon 
 the character of the soil, the value of the land, its 
 nearness to market, the ease with which water may 
 be secured and distributed, and many other business 
 details. To illustrate: It might pay to irrigate 
 grass land in Connecticut, which has about forty 
 to fifty inches of rainfall, if there is a stream from 
 which water can be easily diverted and cheaply 
 distributed ; but it might not pay to build an expen- 
 sive storage reservoir for this purpose. It might 
 pay to irrigate a market garden on high-priced land 
 close to the city, on which the value of the crops 
 may reach $300 to $700 per acre, when it would 
 not pay to irrigate the same crops grown on cheap 
 land. It must be remembered, also, that irrigation 
 can rarely be practised in the East as economically 
 as it can in the West, because there the land has 
 a fairly uniform surface as a rule, while Eastern 
 farms are much more frequently irregular in con- 
 tour and difficult to irrigate. Moreover, it is 
 easier to hire skilled irrigators in the West than in 
 the East. Most Eastern irrigation, aside from cran- 
 berry and rice, is on market-garden crops in the 
 suburbs of large cities near the Atlantic seaboard. 
 As a general proposition, then, irrigation in 
 humid sections is a matter of expediency; it may 
 pay or it may not, according to the conditions. It 
 IS an entirely different question here from what 
 it is in arid regions ; there irrigation is the only way 
 to make farming pay. One disadvantage of 
 
242 SOILS 
 
 irrigating land in a humid climate must not be 
 overlooked ; it is the danger of a heavy rain coming 
 after an irrigation, flooding or soaking the land. 
 This condition never arises in an arid country. 
 If the soil is heavy and tenacious this is a serious 
 objection; but if it is sandy or loamy, so that water 
 quickly drains from it, there is little danger of 
 injury and these are the Eastern soils that are 
 usually benefited most by irrigation. The cost 
 of building irrigation systems should usually be 
 less in a humid region than in an arid region, 
 because the supply of running water is larger and 
 more widely distributed, but the cost of applying 
 the water is usually greater. The diverting of 
 water from Eastern streams, however, is attended 
 with much uncertainty, because of riparian rights, 
 which are firmly adhered to in the humid East, 
 but usually set aside in the arid West. This fact 
 has discouraged many attempts to build irrigation 
 systems in the East. However, springs can be 
 utilised and most irrigation on a small scale in the 
 East is by pumping from springs and wells. 
 
 It seems likely that the advantages of irrigation 
 in the humid sections of our country have been 
 over-estimated. In a majority of cases better 
 preparation of the soil before planting, so that it 
 will hold more water, and more thorough tillage 
 of the soil after planting, so that little water will 
 be lost by evaporation, are likely to be a more 
 practicable solution of the drought question than 
 irrigation. In other words, the principles of dry 
 farming are likely to be as successful in mitigating 
 the effects of drought in humid sections as they are 
 in making the most of a scanty rainfall in semi- 
 arid sections. Better tillage, rather than more 
 water, is the key to the drought situation in the 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 243 
 
 East, except, perhaps, in the special cases noted 
 above. 
 
 SUPPLY OF WATER FOR IRRIGATION 
 
 The most common source of water for the large 
 irrigation systems is a river or smaller stream. It 
 is extremely fortunate that most of the arid sections 
 of our country are traversed by streams which have 
 their origin in highlands, where the rainfall is much 
 greater than in the plains, and so the streams are 
 never-failing. Some western streams, notably in 
 southern California, do not appear on the surface 
 except in freshets. They exist below the sur- 
 face, however, in a very real sense, as a well 
 defined body of water, seeping through the soil 
 in a definite channel. Such streams may be 
 dammed below the surface and used for irrigation ; 
 or wells may be sunk in or near the dry river bed and 
 the water pumped up. Innumerable wells have 
 been sunk in southern California for this purpose, 
 especially during the recent series of years of 
 extremely scanty rainfall, ending in 1900. 
 
 Occasionally lands are irrigated from a lake or 
 pond, but more frequently from a special storage 
 reservoir made by damming a stream. Some of 
 the most notable irrigation systems in the West are 
 supplied by masonry reservoirs built at a great 
 cost. It is a part of the Government's plan, under 
 the Reclamation Act, to build immense reservoirs 
 among the foothills for storing the water derived 
 from the rain and melting snow on the mountains. 
 Whether covering a few acres or many square 
 miles, these reservoirs are constructed at strategic 
 points, as in a natural depression, like a deep, 
 narrow valley or canon having only a narrow 
 
244 SOILS 
 
 opening at the lower end which would need to 
 be closed. 
 
 Irrigation Water from S'prings and Wells. — 
 Irrigation from springs and wells is of far greater 
 importance in India and in parts of Africa than in 
 the United States; most of our irrigation is done 
 from streams. In eastern United States, however, 
 it is frequently practicable to supplement the 
 deficient rainfall of certain seasons by supplying 
 water from a well or spring, provided the area to be 
 covered is not large. In India a single well waters, 
 on an average, from 3 to 5 acres of arid land. 
 Small springs yielding only two or three quarts per 
 second may be cleared out and should irrigate 
 several acres. It is usually necessary, however, 
 to provide a reservoir when the flow is so small. 
 This may be merely large enough to hold the flow 
 of twenty-four hours. A spring that runs two 
 quarts per second would discharge 43,200 gallons 
 in twenty-four hours, which could be held in a 
 reservoir forty feet square and three and one-half 
 feet deep. 
 
 Spring and well water is sometimes too cold to be 
 used for irrigation until it has been first warmed 
 in a reservoir, but this is not usually necessary ; and 
 since it contains far less plant food than stream 
 water, and is usually more difficult to secure, it 
 should not be used for irrigation when any other 
 can be had conveniently. Wells can be had in 
 most parts of the arid regions at a depth of 20 
 to 100 feet. The water is usually raised by a 
 windmill. Artesian wells — those in which the 
 water comes up and overflows the surface of the 
 ground — are sometimes available for irrigation, 
 notably in South Dakota. 
 
 Use of Hydrant Water for Irrigation. — The use 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 245 
 
 of hydrant water for irrigation is confined to market 
 and home gardens near cities and large towns, 
 especially in the Atlantic States. It can usually 
 be bought in quantity at twenty to thirty cents per 
 1,000 gallons, at which price it may sometimes be 
 practicable to use it for forcing a high development 
 of crops on high-priced and heavily taxed land. 
 The market gardeners around Boston, New York 
 and other Eastern cities quite frequently resort to 
 hydrant irrigation; but this method is entirely out 
 of the question for the general farmer living within 
 city lin[iits. 
 
 THE CONSTRUCTION OF SMALL EARTH RESERVOIRS 
 
 The construction of large irrigation canals and 
 reservoirs is a problem in engineering, not in 
 agriculture, and will not be considered here. 
 
 A large proportion of the small irrigation plants, 
 especially m the humid states, make use of an earth 
 wall, as a dam to a small stream at the mouth of a 
 valley, or across a gully to catch and hold surface 
 drainage, or as the sides of a reservoir built upon 
 level land and filled by a windmill, hydraulic ram 
 or steam or gasoline pump. Such a reservoir 
 should be placed high enough to water all the land, 
 but if it is filled by powder it should be as low as 
 possible so as to save the lift. Loosen the ground 
 with a plow where the walls are to stand and 
 saturate the soil with water. When it has dried 
 somewhat let the teams pass over it often. Repeat 
 the wetting and tramping as the wall arises. Al- 
 most any loam or clay soil will hold water if it is 
 puddled in this way. If the soil is fairly stiff and 
 the reservoir small this puddling may take the place 
 of the clay wall that is necessary for large reservoirs. 
 
246 SOILS 
 
 The bottom of the reservoir should then be har- 
 rowed, and, if necessary, covered with clay and 
 puddled. 
 
 The banks of small reservoirs should have a rise 
 of not more than one foot in two. The top of the 
 bank should be at least two and one-half feet wide. 
 For example, if a bank is five feet high it should 
 be about seventeen feet wide at the base. The 
 rim of it should be sodded or faced with stone to 
 prevent erosion by waves. A circular shape is 
 preferred because it requires the least number of 
 feet of wall to inclose a certain area, and seepage 
 is less. The outlet should be just above the 
 bottom and may be masonry, a plank sluiceway, 
 sewer pipe or wrought-iron pipe, according to the 
 size of the reservoir. It should be provided with 
 a gate. The loss of water by seepage from these 
 small reservoirs varies with the character of the 
 soil, but need not exceed eight inches a year and 
 is usually less. The loss by evaporation is usually 
 much greater, especially in very dry or windy 
 climates. It can be lessened only by planting 
 windbreaks. 
 
 PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION 
 
 Most of the irrigation in this country is done by 
 diverting water from streams or reservoirs by 
 gravity. In most cases this is the only kind of 
 irrigation that is at all practicable. But occasion- 
 ally it is necessary or expedient to raise water from 
 the supply to the main ditch or to the field. This 
 is done chiefly by windmills, engines, hydraulic 
 rams, water-wheels. Pumping water for irrigation 
 has become quite common in California, where 
 wells are sunk in or near the beds of underground 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 247 
 
 streams. There are over 200,000 acres in Cal- 
 ifornia irrigated from wells, the lift in many cases 
 being over 200 feet. 
 
 Windmills. — The most common source of power 
 for moving water is the windmill. When small 
 areas are to be irrigated, and it is not necessary to 
 raise the water over 25 feet, a windmill can often 
 be used to advantage. It is first necessary to be 
 assured of sufficient wind during the growing 
 season. Fortunately, the arid and semi-arid prai- 
 ries and valleys of the West are usually windy. 
 In the East, especially in a hilly country, it is some- 
 times necessary to secure an exposed site for the 
 windmill, as a tower 70 to 90 feet high, above hills, 
 trees and other obstructions. The windmill should 
 be able to utilise all the power in winds of from 8 
 to 30 miles an hour, according to the size of the 
 machinery. For the best service it should have 
 two pumps, one of smaller capacity than the other, 
 and should be so adjusted that each may be used 
 alone, or both together, according to the strength of 
 the wind. Small, rapid windmills, having wheels 
 8 to 12 feet in diameter are usually considered most 
 economical. According to the Office of Experi- 
 ment Stations a good windmill will irrigate from 
 ^ to 7 acres of land at a cost of .75 to $6 per acre. 
 But there are many crude, home-made windmills 
 that do fairly good work, costing from $5 to $25, 
 being made of old mowing machines, dry goods 
 boxes and bale wire. These have enabled many a 
 poor settler to get a start the first few years. 
 
 The water may be drawn from a well, stream, 
 pond or lake. In many parts of the arid region 
 water may be struck from 20 to 50 feet deep and 
 an unfailing well secured, from which water may 
 be raised for irrigation. But it is absolutely 
 
248 SOILS 
 
 necessary first to provide a reservoir; little can be 
 done with the small stream pumped direct from 
 the well. The storage reservoir or tank may be 
 of wood or other material, but usually the most 
 practicable method is to build one of earth as 
 already described. Sometimes two or more mills 
 are placed around a reservoir of this kind. 
 
 Steam and Gasoline Engines. — This power is 
 used chiefly by market gardeners in the East for 
 irrigating small areas, when the height to which 
 the water must be raised is not over 20 feet. There 
 are many makes and styles of engines adapted for 
 this purpose. Gasoline engines are commonly 
 used when coal and wood are very costly. A 
 2-horse-power gasoline engine should irrigate an 
 acre at a cost for fuel of about 50 cents a day. 
 The cost of pumping water by engines usually 
 exceeds the cost of maintaining ditches or the price 
 of water bought from a canal company. King 
 found that a 2| -horse-power gasoline engine could 
 pump sufficient water to cover an acre 12 inches 
 deep for $3.75 per acre, and that it could easily 
 irrigate 10 acres 12 inches deep without a reservoir. 
 The same authority determined that an 8-horse- 
 power portable engine, with soft coal at $4 per ton 
 and with a lift of 26 feet, could draw water through 
 110 feet of 6-inch suction pipe and discharge it 
 through varying lengths of the same pipe up to 
 1,200 feet at a fuel cost of 18.1 cents per inch of 
 water per acre, or $2.17 per acre for 12 inches. 
 The expense of pumping is rarely below $3 an 
 acre per season, and often twice or thrice that 
 amount. 
 
 Gasoline pumps range in capacity from 5,000 
 gallons per minute from a depth of 25 feet down to 
 300 gallons per minute. Centrifugal pumps run 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 249 
 
 by steam are quite commonly used up to 40-horse 
 power and sometimes larger. Most of the smaller 
 pumps are run by gasoline. These pumps draw- 
 water easily from a depth of 100 to 400 feet. This 
 method is practicable chiefly in the humid and sub- 
 humid regions and for small operations, but rarely 
 in an arid country and for large operations. Gaso- 
 line engines are often used to supplement wind 
 power, being used to run the pump on still days. 
 
 Water-wheels.— One of the oldest and still one 
 of the most useful means of carrying water to 
 thirsty land is by utilising the force of flowing 
 water. When a stream has sufiicient fall to de- 
 velop water power this is one of the cheapest and 
 most satisfactory methods of irrigating small 
 areas. There are thousands of water-wheels on 
 the edge of swift-flowing streams in the arid West, 
 and hundreds of thousands in Europe and Asia. 
 
 The undershot is one of the oldest and best of 
 water-wheels. This is a paddle wheel carrying 
 buckets on its rim, so that when the current turns 
 the wheel the buckets are filled, raised to the top 
 and emptied automatically into a wooden flume 
 which carries the water into the irrigation ditch. 
 These undershot wheels are of many patterns, and 
 may be as much as 35 feet in diameter. The largest 
 may supply nearly 120 acres with 2 inches of water 
 every ten days. 
 
 On the other hand, the water-wheel may be used 
 to drive a centrifugal pump which develops power 
 to lift other water out upon the land. This method 
 is especially useful when the stream has a high 
 bank along which canals could be built only at 
 great expense. The Wyoming Experiment Station 
 describes a wheel 10 feet in diameter and 14 feet 
 long, which is connected by a sprocket wheel and 
 
250 SOILS 
 
 chain to a 3§-inch centrifugal pump, which lifts 
 1,000 gallons per minute to a height of ten feet. 
 It irrigates 200 acres at the rate of 2| inches every 
 10 days, and costs $1,200. 
 
 Hydraulic Rams. — Large hydraulic rams are 
 often serviceable for irrigating small areas. They 
 are cheap and they work for many years with 
 practically no attention. A large modified ram 
 known as a siphon elevator, is said to be capable 
 of lifting 6 acre-inches under a head of 10 feet to 
 25 feet high in 24 hours, or enough to irrigate 24 
 acres 2| inches deep every ten days. This can be 
 used only when there is a reservoir, and costs about 
 $500. 
 
 In Europe and Asia various crude devices for 
 using horse, mule and man power are often used 
 to lift water for irrigation. These are for the most 
 part entirely unnecessary and impracticable in the 
 United States, being too slow and laborious; but 
 from these humble beginnings many prosperous 
 irrigated farms have been developed in the arid and 
 semi-arid regions of our own country. 
 
 DISTRIBUTING THE WATER 
 
 Water is diverted from the main canal into the 
 farm laterals, and from these into smaller supply 
 ditches, through a sluice-gate made of boards or 
 planks. These are of many styles, but the essen- 
 tial principle in most of them is a rectangular 
 flume or sluiceway with a wooden shutter, mortised 
 into the upper end, which can be raised and lowered 
 in its groove. In diverting water from a ditch the 
 covered sluiceway is carried through the bank 
 nearly on a level with the bottom of the ditch and 
 the gate is placed at the ditch end. The joints of 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 251 
 
 the grooves should be tight so that no water will 
 trickle through; sometimes they are faced with 
 rubber or leather. Besides many styles of these 
 home-made gates there are various manufactured 
 gates which are more complicated. 
 
 Distributing Ditches and Flumes. — Having 
 brought the water to the farm by ditch, flume or 
 pipe, it must now be distributed to different fields. 
 This is usually done by taking out from the main- 
 supply ditch smaller distributing ditches or laterals, 
 which should have a slight but uniform grade. 
 Generally it is best to run these main laterals direct 
 to the different fields, from the point where the 
 water is delivered, and to take from them small 
 laterals to all parts of the fields. The main lateral 
 or "head-ditch," is located on the border of the 
 fields, if the land is nearly level; or on the ridges, 
 without regard to field lines, if the land is rolling. 
 They are usually permanent. Laterals for flooding 
 should be 50 to 100 feet apart. Laterals for furrow 
 irrigation are farther apart, usually from 20 to 50 
 rods and run across the direction of the furrows, 
 so that water can be turned into each furrow at its 
 head. These small laterals may be permanent or 
 temporary. Distributing laterals should be run 
 nearly at right angles to the greatest slope of the 
 land. A fall of at least five feet per mile is com- 
 monly recommended and twenty-five to thirty feet 
 per mile is not uncommon. 
 
 Small laterals are quickly built with a mould- 
 board plow by turning up two parallel furrow- 
 slices with unbroken ground between them. The 
 bottom of the ditch should be on a level with the 
 surface outside, so that water will flow out of it 
 when the bank is cut. In other words the banks 
 must be made of soil that is mostly taken from 
 
252 SOILS 
 
 outside the ditch, so as not to lower its bottom. 
 Double mouldboard plows and special "lateral 
 plows" are also used. When it is necessary for a 
 distributing ditch to cross over a small depression 
 it must be built up by heaping firmly tramped soil 
 into a high pile, in the top of which the water 
 course is cut. 
 
 If the depression is deep it may be more 
 expedient to carry the water across it in a 
 wooden flume, built of two planks, like a V, or 
 square-bottomed. In arid regions ditches are 
 used almost exclusively for distributing water from 
 the main supply, being cheaply built and easy 
 to handle. 
 
 The loss of water from lateral ditches by seepage 
 is great, especially on open soils ; were they not so 
 cheap they would be impracticable. Pipes carry 
 the water to its destination with no seepage, with 
 no evaporation and with great celerity. Their 
 expense is against them for general use in arid 
 regions but in the Eastern States they are often 
 used to advantage in small operations, especially 
 in market gardening. Board flumes are perishable 
 and permit of evaporation, but they are cheap 
 and are usually the most practical means of dis- 
 tributing water if the ditch will not answer. The 
 best flume for carrying a small amount of water is 
 a V-shaped trough made of two boards nailed 
 together and bedded in the soil, with short cross 
 pieces under the end joints. If pipes are used they 
 had better be laid on the surface and removed in 
 the fall. 
 
 The use of cement-lined ditches for distribu- 
 ting water, in the arid regions and elsewhere, 
 is increasing. If the soil is stiff and the region is 
 not subject to hard frosts, cement or asphaltum 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 253 
 
 may be laid directly upon the bottoms ; but usually 
 it is safer to provide some foundation for the cement, 
 preferably flat stones. The advantages of a cement- 
 lined ditch over an ordinary one are that it pre- 
 vents seepage and washing and carries the water to 
 its destination quickly, so that little is lost by 
 evaporation. Such ditch linings are not safe 
 except in mild climates as they are likely to be 
 heaved by hard frosts. 
 
 Whatever the method of distributing the water 
 it should be carried along the highest part of the 
 field to be irrigated. From this head ditch the 
 water is applied to the land by gravity. 
 
 METHODS OF APPLYING WATER 
 
 The methods of securing, storing and distrib- 
 uting water are largely matters of engineering, 
 although they have a direct and vital relation to 
 successful agriculture on many American farms. 
 The point is now reached when the water must be 
 applied to the soil; here agriculture begins. The 
 problem of securing sufficient water to water the 
 farm economically is often very difficult, calling for 
 much ingenuity and engineering skill. But the 
 problem of applying this water to the land, so that 
 both soil and crops will receive the most benefit, is 
 much more complex. The engineer can help the 
 farmer bring water to the farm successfully and 
 economically, but the problem of how best to use 
 this water on the land each farmer must solve in his 
 own way. 
 
 The use of water, like the use of fertilisers and 
 manures, is not capable of being formulated into 
 definite rules applicable for all farms, or even for 
 any considerable number of farms ; chiefly because 
 
254 SOILS 
 
 the soils of few farms are exactly alike, or have been 
 cropped alike. Irrigation has been practised 
 for hundreds of centuries, yet there is no 
 generally accepted body of inforination on the best 
 way to use water. This must be left largely to the 
 judgment of the farmer. So there are good and 
 there are poor irrigators, according to ability to 
 judge correctly the nature of the soil and the needs 
 of the crop. One man is able to make an inch of 
 water go twice as far as another. Some souse 
 their crops and puddle their land; others know 
 how to let the soil dry out and sweeten until the 
 critical time comes when the crop would suffer if 
 water were not added. Like tillage, irrigation is a 
 matter of judgment, not of rule. 
 
 The principal methods of applying water are by 
 flooding, by furrows, and by sub-irrigation. The 
 method of applying water to the land is governed 
 by the kind of crop and the texture of the soil and of 
 the subsoil. If the soil is coarse-grained water will 
 sink down rapidly and much will be lost by seepage 
 if it is allowed to stay upon the soil long in the same 
 place, as in furrow irrigation. Coarse-grained 
 soils should be flooded, if expedient. 
 
 FLOODING 
 
 The simplest way to use water is to spread it 
 over the surface, as a river overflows its banks. 
 If the land is fairly level this is the cheapest 
 method of wetting a large field before it is plowed 
 for planting and also for watering land used con- 
 tinuously for grains, grasses, clovers and other 
 crops that are not tilled. But an almost perfectly 
 level field is rare; so, in the contour check system 
 of flooding, it is usually necessary to throw up low 
 
FARM IRRIGATION ^55 
 
 banks, or "levees." These are built at right 
 angles, forming square or rectangular blocks of 
 land of from J to 20 acres, depending upon the con- 
 tour, the head of water, the crop, and the height of the 
 banks. On land that has a marked slope a com- 
 mon size is 50 to 150 feet square, but sometimes 
 checks only 2 or 3 rods square are necessary. In 
 the San Joaquin Valley, California, 30,000 acres of 
 alfalfa in one block are irrigated by flooding. 
 The banks are 12 to 20 inches high, 12 to 18 feet 
 wide at the base and are plowed, harrowed and 
 harvested like the enclosed spaces. 
 
 When the field slopes considerably in but one 
 direction, the checks are made rectangular in- 
 stead of square with the long sides running 
 across the slope. This makes it possible to 
 include a larger area within the check. If the 
 slope is uneven the banks running across it will 
 naturally have to follow the contour. They are 
 from 10 to 20 inches hig-h and 4 to 15 feet wide at 
 the bottom, so that mowers and harvesters may be 
 driven over them easily. Thus they become 
 permanent features of the farm. The ridges may 
 be thrown up by hand with shovels, but usually 
 by plowing in back-furrows and using a scraper the 
 work can be done more economically. Each 
 check should include as large an area as possible of 
 approximately the same level. 
 
 Filling the Checks. — In flooding a field it is 
 customary first to turn the water into the highest 
 check and after this is saturated to open the bank 
 between it and the next lower check, and so on, all 
 the checks being flooded in succession from higher 
 to lower. Or the water may be taken down be- 
 tween the lines of checks and turned in on each 
 side, flooding the checks in pairs. Or all the upper 
 
^56 SOILS 
 
 checks may be irrigated at the same time, and the 
 water drawn oft' into the next lower checks sim- 
 ultaneously. Instead of cutting the bank there may 
 be ditches with head gates between all the checks. 
 Obviously the water stands deeper on the lower 
 side of a check than on the upper; the more the 
 slope the greater the dift'erence. Thus if a field 
 slopes 8 inches in 300 feet, in order to give the soil 
 on the upper part of a check 300 feet wide 2 inches 
 of water, the water would have to stand 10 inches 
 high at the lower bank. Build the banks at least 
 3 inches higher than the water will stand on them. 
 
 Wild Flooding. — Another system of flooding 
 Quite commonly practised in the West, is to cover 
 tlie field with a thin stream of running water; this 
 is sometimes called "wild flooding." It is practi- 
 cable only when the slope is quite moderate and 
 uniform. Deep furrows are plowed down the 
 slope 50 to 125 feet apart or following an easy 
 grade. A V-plow is used which throws the earth 
 both ways, making a ridge on either side that throws 
 the water outward. Water is diverted into these 
 furrows from the head ditch and each furrow is 
 dammed at a suitable distance merely by a piece of 
 canvas fastened to a 2 x 4, which is laid across the 
 furrow and the edge of the canvas held down with 
 soil. The water backs up in the furrows and over- 
 flows across the intervening spaces. W^hen the 
 soil is sufficiently wet the canvas dams are moved 
 farther down the furrows. A wooden or metal 
 "tappoon" is used for this purpose in California 
 and Arizona, being thrust down into the soil so that 
 it obstructs the furrow. The furrows may be tem- 
 porary, when tilled crops are grown ; or permanent, 
 when sod and grain crops are grown. All the 
 water will not soak into the ground; some will 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 257 
 
 flow into the depressions, from which it is directed 
 into the other furrows. The furrows are not 
 necessarily parallel; they follow the contour, 
 making really a series of checks not bounded by 
 levees. The canvas dam is often dispensed with. 
 
 In all systems of irrigating by flooding it is often 
 necessary and practicable to level off small in- 
 equalities before applying the water. There are 
 many styles of levels and scrapers, both home-made 
 and patented, which answer the purpose. One 
 built of two braced 2-inch planks, forming the 
 letter A, does very well if weighted and shod with 
 steel strips. 
 
 FURROW IRRIGATION 
 
 When the land has too steep a slope to be flooded 
 advantageously, and when crops are grown that 
 do not cover the ground and must be tilled, it is 
 usually best to irrigate by furrows. The furrow 
 system is also used very commonly on land that 
 could be flooded, and for sown crops as well as for 
 hoed crops. On steep land the furrows may be 
 permanent, either for a number of years or for one 
 season, but they hinder cultivation. Temporary 
 furrows are best in most cases. If the soil needs 
 watering before planting, however, it is customary 
 to irrigate bv flooding; until the soil is wet at least 
 four feet deep. The crop is then grown as long as 
 possible without irrigation by giving it thorough 
 tillage, for four feet of wet soil should contain six 
 to eight inches of water. 
 
 When irrigation becomes necessary take water 
 from the supply, which runs along the highest 
 point of the field. This may be a head ditch, or a 
 wooden or cement flume, with holes an inch or 
 
258 SOILS 
 
 more in diameter at the end of each furrow, plugged 
 when not in use. A wooden flume is commonly 
 made of soft redwood timber, 16 feet long and 
 8 inches wide, with collars 2x3 inches every 8 
 feet — one in the middle and one at the joint. In 
 garden irrigation on a small scale a wooden V- 
 shape flume may be placed at the head of the rows 
 and the water may be drawn through small holes 
 cut into the sides or top of the flume and furnished 
 with plugs. 
 
 Plowing Irrigation Furrows. — The furrow may 
 be plowed out with one of the many special irri- 
 gation plows, but a shallow-furrowmg plow will 
 answer. The furrows should run in such a way 
 that they follow the contour, so as to enable the 
 water to barely trickle down to the ends of the 
 furrows without washing. If the slope is quite 
 sharp the rows of plants and the irrigation furrows 
 must run diagonally across the slope from the head 
 ditch. Water is turned into several furrows at 
 once; when it has reached the ends of the furrows 
 it is shut off at the head ditch and more furrows are 
 filled. 
 
 The amount of water that the soil receives de- 
 pends very largely upon the grade of the furrows. 
 If it is slight, the water moves sluggishly and more 
 sinks into the soil before it reaches the end of the 
 furrow than if the furrow is sharp. Do not allow 
 enough water to enter the furrows to overflow 
 them. The water is distributed from the furrows 
 sidewise all through the soil by capillary action. 
 It creeps from particle to particle until it meets 
 the water spreading sidewise from the adjoining 
 furrow. 
 
 Distance Apart and Length of Furrows. — The 
 best distance apart for irrigation furrows depends 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 259 
 
 upon the nature of the soil and the demands of the 
 crop. The looser a soil is the closer they should 
 be. Water spreads slowly in heavy soils, but sandy 
 soils are leachy. They may be between every two 
 rows of potatoes, corn, sugar beets, or other row 
 crops, or between alternate rows; but in the latter 
 case the furrows for the next irrigation should 
 alternate with those of the previous watering. As 
 a rule the furrows should be from 4 to 6 feet apart. 
 Hilgard shows that water may be applied in wide 
 furrows much more efficiently than in shallow 
 furrows because there is less evaporation and the 
 surface is not wet as much. A few wide, deep 
 furrows are better than many narrow, shallow 
 furrows. The distance which it is possible to send 
 water along a furrow, and thoroughly wet all the 
 soil, depends upon the grade and the nature of the 
 soil. The more porous a soil is the shorter should 
 be the furrows. Water is commonly sent from 20 
 to 75 rods in furrow irrigation and sometimes over 
 100 rods. 
 
 After a field has been irrigated, and the surface 
 has dried, the furrows are levelled with the culti- 
 vator. This is set to work as soon as possible, 
 so as to break up the crust, which indicates the 
 rapid loss of water by evaporation. The surface 
 mulch on an irrigated soil should be much deeper 
 than on soils in humid regions ; four inches is barely 
 enough, and six inches is often necessary. 
 
 A modified form of furrow irrigation is some- 
 times practised on grain fields by rolling the field 
 after sowing with a "marker," which is simply a 
 roller having parallel ridges upon it so that it makes 
 shallow grooves or furrows on the surface. The 
 roller is run in the direction that will give the right 
 slope for applying water. Water is turned into 
 
260 SOILS 
 
 these small furrows as into larger furrows. 
 Grain fields are more commonly irrigated by wild 
 flooding. Furrow irrigation is used almost ex- 
 clusively for fruits and farm and garden crops that 
 require inter-tillage'. In many places it has sup- 
 planted flooding for watering grains and grasses. 
 It is the dominant system of irrigation in America 
 to-day. 
 
 SUB-IRRIGATION 
 
 The great loss of water by evaporation under 
 surface irrigation, and the inconvenience of having 
 the surface broken by ditches and furrows, has led 
 to many experiments in applying water below the 
 surface through tiles, perforated iron pipes or per- 
 forated cement pipes. Theoretically sub-irrigation 
 is vastly superior to surface watering; the surface 
 is undisturbed, the soil is not puddled as it some- 
 times is in surface watering, no water is lost and 
 it is all applied just where it is needed most — be- 
 neath the surface mulch of dry soil. But sub- 
 irrigation has been found impracticable in most 
 cases where it has been tried. The one great 
 difficulty with it is the cost, which is usually out of 
 all proportion to the benefits. It costs from $60 
 to $90 an acre to equip an average field for sub- 
 irrigation with drain tile if the lines of tiles are 
 placed from four to seven feet apart, as is usually 
 necessary. This outlay cannot be justified ex- 
 cept, perhaps, on high-priced land, and especially 
 land used for market gardening. 
 
 Another great difficulty with sub-irrigation, in 
 some cases, is in being unable to supply suffi- 
 cient water to wet the surface soil thoroughly, 
 owing to the poor water-moving power of some 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 261 
 
 soils. Some soils are so porous that if water 
 is applied to them eight or ten inches below 
 the surface, more of it will be lost to the crop by 
 downward leaching than would be lost by evapo- 
 ration if it were applied on the surface. 
 
 Three-inch drain tiles are, on the whole, most 
 useful for sub-irrigating. They are usually laid 
 from 5 to 24 inches below the surface and from 4 
 to 12 feet apart, according to the openness of the 
 soil. Rarely is all the soil wet economically when 
 the lines of tile are more than 6 feet apart. Usually 
 each joint is closed with cement, except one or two 
 inches on the under side. They are laid like tile 
 drains, and act as drains if the soil becomes too wet. 
 The fall should be very slight. Besides tile, gal- 
 vanised sheet-iron pipes, with an open seam, and 
 perforated iron pipes are sometimes used. On 
 many soils more water will be required for sub- 
 irrigating than for surface watering, even though 
 there is no loss by evaporation, owing to the slow- 
 ness with which it moves sidewise through the soil 
 and the rapidity with which it sinks down out of 
 reach of the roots. A very porous subsoil is un- 
 favourable for sub-irrigation. 
 
 But there is no use in discussing the pros and 
 cons of sub-watering because the expense of the 
 method is usually prohibitive. Sub-irrigation is 
 now rarely practised except in greenhouses and in 
 a few market gardens. Running water into the 
 upper end of the main of an ordinary tile drainage 
 system has been tried and with some degree of 
 success m rare instances. It is necessary in these 
 cases that the water-table should be nearly on a 
 level with the tiles. 
 
 Under sub-irrigation mention should be made of 
 the lands that are watered naturally beneath the 
 
262 SOILS 
 
 surface by underflow, or seepage from higher land. 
 Lands below large irrigation canals, and receiving 
 its seepage, are often sub-watered to such an extent 
 that they become marshy and unfit for cultivation 
 unless drained; in other cases they produce ex- 
 cellent crops without drainage or the need of any 
 surface irrigation. Of the same nature are certain 
 low lands that receive sub-watering from higher 
 land, either near-by or many miles away. The 
 springs and underground seepage from high lands 
 often follow certain strata of rocks and subsoil and 
 sooner or later come to the surface, watering the 
 land at that point uniformly and continuously 
 from below. 
 
 METHODS OF MEASURING WATER 
 
 The methods of measuring or apportioning 
 water are diverse. It is necessary that they be 
 accurate, especially when the water is purchased, 
 or when several farms are supplied from one ditch. 
 Usually, however, an irrigator receives water not 
 by measurement but by proportion; he is given a 
 certain proportion of the water in a ditch, as one- 
 fifth; and it is not measured by inches, but by 
 proportions of the whole. This is regulated very 
 simply by placing an upright partition or ''divisor" 
 in the flume or ditch, one-fifth of the way across, 
 so that one-fifth of the water flows into the sluice- 
 way and the remainder passes on. But the ve- 
 locity of the water in the ditch is greater near the 
 centre than on the edges, so that those that use the 
 smallest amount of water always get less than they 
 are really entitled to. To correct this the ditch 
 is often broadened above the measuring box so 
 so that it flows through very slowly. If the 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 263 
 
 volume of water is to be halved this is not 
 necessary. 
 
 Modules. — When a certain amount of water is 
 to be taken out of a ditch or flume, rather than a 
 certain proportion, *' modules" are used. There 
 are many forms of these, from the simple inch- 
 square hole cut in a plank to the complex weirs and 
 patented measuring boxes. No measuring device 
 now known is entirely satisfactory, because of the 
 rapid fluctuation in the height and velocity of water 
 in the ditch. King concludes "the most exact and 
 generally satisfactory way of apportioning water 
 among users that has yet been devised is that of 
 bisecting the stream until its volume has become 
 suitable for individual use, and then subdividing 
 by time under some system of rotation." 
 
 Units in Measuring Water. — The amount of 
 water used in irrigation is commonly stated in one 
 of two ways ; either the depth of standing water on 
 the surface, or the amount of water flowing through 
 an opening of a certain size during the irrigating 
 season. An "acre inch" is enough water to cover 
 one acre of land one inch deep, which is 27,150 
 gallons. It is gradually becoming the standard of 
 measurement in this country. A "miner's" inch 
 is the quantity of water that will flow through an 
 opening one inch square with a certain head, usual- 
 ly six inches, from the upper side of the opening. 
 This is about twelve gallons per minute. But 
 the amount of head varies by law in dift'erent states. 
 In California fifty miners' inches are equal to one 
 second foot, but in Colorado 38.4 miners' inches 
 equal a second foot. The "second foot" is the unit 
 when one cubic foot of water is discharged each 
 second. It will cover an acre about two feet deep 
 in 24 hours, or 23.8 acre inches, and is suflBcient to 
 
264 SOILS 
 
 irrigate from 70 to 100 acres of land during an 
 irrigating season of about ninety days. 
 
 DUTY OF WATER 
 
 This is the amount of hind that it should 
 irrigate. No definite rules can be made on this 
 point, owing to the varying capacity of different 
 soils to liohl water and the varying demands of 
 different crops. For example, nearly twice as 
 much water is needed in Arizona as in Montana, 
 largely because the season is longer and the loss by 
 evaporation much heavier. The actual amount 
 of water used by the cro]) itself is small compared 
 with the amount needed to saturate the soil so that 
 conditions favourable for })lant growth are [)ro- 
 duced. "I'lien there is always a considerable 
 amount of seepage and evaporation which cannot 
 be measured. Much also dej)ends u{)on the 
 capillary power of the soil, or its ability to draw 
 water upward, and especially upon tlie water' 
 holding and water-moving })ower of the subsoil. 
 
 In rciiard to the actual amount of water needed 
 by plants. Professor King has determined that it 
 takes from ;U)0 to 500 })ounds of water to make 
 one pound ol" dry matter in the crop. Since an 
 inch of water covering an acre weighs about 113 
 tons it would require 3 to 5 inches of water to 
 make one ton of hay, corn fodder or other dried 
 crop. I'his is about the minimum figure and does 
 not allow for serious loss by sec{)age and eva})ora- 
 tion. In southern California excellent results have 
 been secured with or 7 inclies per year in years 
 when water was low, but only when the water was 
 used with great economy, and the irrigation was 
 supplemented with excellent tillage. Ordinarily 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 265 
 
 nearly twice this amount is necessary, the average 
 for southern Cahfornia being about 12 inches, 
 in addition to a rainfall of 10 to 20 inches. 
 
 The Character of the Soil. — When water is first 
 turned upon virgin land it takes a large amount to 
 thoroughly wet the soil, especially to saturate the 
 subsoil. Newell states that on some arid soils 10 
 feet of water is often needed the first year and 
 5 feet or more per year for two or three years there- 
 after. As the subsoil becomes saturated and the 
 water-table raised, less and less water is needed, 
 until 8 to 18 inches per year or less may be 
 sufficient. 
 
 The amount of water needed for a single irri- 
 gation varies from 2 to 4| inches, according to the 
 openness of the soil and the crop. If the soil is very 
 dry, however, as on virgin land, two or three 
 times this amount may be needed to thoroughly 
 saturate the soil to a depth of 4 or 5 feet. If the soil 
 is clayey and cracks badly, smaller and more fre- 
 quent irrigations are better, since less water is lost 
 by leaching through the cracks. 
 
 The Kind of Crop. — The deeper the roots of the 
 crop feed the more liberal may be the irrigation. 
 What is desired is to store as much water as possible 
 in that part of the soil which is laid under tribute 
 by the plants. The deeper a crop feeds the higher 
 is the "duty" of water, or the area that it ought to 
 irrigate, because less of it is lost by leaching, as it 
 is when applied to shallow-rooted crops. In arid 
 regions plants commonly root deeper than in humid 
 regions, because the subsoil is likely to be almost 
 as congenial for root growth as the surface soil. 
 Tree fruits of all kinds are deep rooted, also 
 alfalfa; the irrigations of these plants are usually 
 more liberal, but less frequent, than the irrigations 
 
266 SOILS 
 
 of other field crops which do not grasp so much 
 soil with their roots. 
 
 The volume of water needed to irrigate an acre 
 in one year may be roughly stated as from 30,000 
 to 60,000 gallons, which is equivalent to one miner's 
 inch for 5 to 10 acres or one second foot for 250 to 
 500 acres. It is commonly considered that about 
 the maximum duty of a miner's inch of water is 
 4 to 6 acres of vegetables and small fruits and 5 to 10 
 acres of orchard fruits. This means that the 
 ground will be covered from 8 to 16 inches deep in a 
 growing season from May to October. The 
 average for most arid regions is about 12 inches 
 per year. In parts of southern California 30 inches 
 are sometimes used. The volume of water used 
 in sewage irrigation is always much more than 
 this. 
 
 The amount of water needed is always dependent 
 upon the amount of rainfall and is an addition to 
 it. The more rainfall the less irrigation, for irri- 
 gation should supplement the natural supply. 
 Since the rainfall in a section under irrigation may 
 range from almost nothing to 20 or more inches, and 
 varies from year to year, the difficulty of establish- 
 ing any definite standard is increased. The season 
 of the year when this rainfall comes has a marked 
 influence upon the quantity of water needed in 
 irrigation. If it comes in summer it is less valuable, 
 as a rule, than winter rainfall. 
 
 Levelling the Land. — Arid lands that are 
 irrigated are usually nearly level and are 
 covered with sagebrush. They often have 
 slight irregularities due to the drifting of the 
 light soil. Virgin land must be prepared for 
 irrigation by removing the sagebrush and level- 
 ling the surface. The brush is usually grubbed 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 267 
 
 out by hand with a mattock, at a cost of 
 $1.50 to $2.50 per acre. Sometimes it may be 
 plowed out in spring. If a railroad rail is dragged 
 over the field several times, in different directions, 
 the brush can be removed more easily. Sometimes 
 the land is flooded for a year to kill the sage- 
 brush. 
 
 It is essential that irrigated land be very smooth 
 so that water will flow readily and evenly. The 
 land is usually first plowed then smoothed with 
 various home-made implements. One of the most 
 common is the "buck scraper" made of two 2-inch 
 planks, 10 inches wide, fastened together and pro- 
 vided with a steel shoe on the lower edge, and with 
 handles for dumping. There are several patented 
 scrapers. The cost of levelling is from $1 to $15 
 per acre. 
 
 FREQUENCY AND TIME OF IRRIGATION 
 
 Water should be applied no more frequently 
 than is absolutely necessary for the welfare of the 
 crop. One great danger in irrigation, especially 
 on fine-grained soils, is that of puddling the surface 
 by frequent copious wettings. Then, too, the 
 more often water is applied the greater is the loss 
 by evaporation and seepage and the greater the 
 labour. Dig down 3 or 4 feet in several places and 
 examine the soil. The condition of the soil and of 
 the crops are reliable guides; irrigate before the 
 subsoil gets very dry and before the crop begins to 
 suffer. Plants indicate the need of water by curling 
 their leaves, or the leaves may turn a darker green 
 than usual, or the lower leaves may turn yellow. 
 
 There is no uniform practice as regards the 
 number of irrigations. It is usually necessary 
 
268 SOILS 
 
 to irrigate corn, wheat, barley, and oats from 
 three to five times, oats requiring the most 
 water and barley least. In Colorado wheat 
 is irrigated but twice; but sufficient rain 
 usually falls in spring and early summer to 
 make the number of irrigations five or six if all the 
 water had to be applied from the ditch. Clover 
 and alfalfa are usually watered before growth 
 starts in the spring and once after each crop is cut, 
 applying 4 to 6 inches each time. Grass is com- 
 monly irrigated as often and as copiously as is 
 expedient without swamping the meadows — usual- 
 ly every ten to eighteen days. Potatoes are not 
 irrigated until blossoming, then two to four times 
 thereafter. Fruit trees are irrigated less frequent- 
 ly but more deeply than field crops ; usually two to 
 six times a season, except citrus fruits, which 
 require more water. 
 
 When water is plentiful the tendency is to over- 
 irrigate. This is dangerous; too much water is 
 as bad as drought. It keeps the soil cold, air does 
 not circulate in it and the beneficial germs of 
 fertility cannot thrive. The plants look yellowish. 
 If growing fruits, as peaches, they are forced to an 
 abnormal size and are watery, of poor flavour and 
 carry to market poorly. A good irrigator uses as 
 little water as possible. If growing tilled crops the 
 aim should be to make tillage take the place of 
 irrigation as much as possible, for water saved is as 
 ffood as water added, if not better. 
 
 Winter n-rigation is becomnig quite common, 
 especially in parts of California and Arizona. 
 When the water courses are dry in summer, but full 
 in spring after heavy rains, it is often practicable 
 to divert it to the land and allow it to soak deeply 
 into the subsoil, where it is stored against the 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 269 
 
 drought of summer. If the subsoil is filled with 
 water in winter, little summer irrigation may be 
 needed. Winter irrigation is especially useful as 
 an adjunct to dry farming. 
 
 The Time of Day to Irrigate. — The best time to 
 irrigate is late in the afternoon, or on a cloudy day, 
 because less water is lost by evaporation; but the 
 more important consideration of convenience usual- 
 ly dictates the time, regardless of the hour. If 
 heat-loving plants, as corn, are irrigated on a hot, 
 sunny day, the rapid evaporation may cool the soil 
 sufficiently to check growth somewhat. Crops 
 that shade the ground, as fruits and grasses, are not 
 subject to injury in this way. When water is 
 scarce, and can be had only during certain hours, 
 night irrigation is often necessary. This is an 
 economy of water, for less of it is lost by evaporation 
 and the water delivered at night usually costs less 
 than the same amount delivered in the day, but it 
 is difficult to apply it as skilfully. 
 
 Directing the Floiv. — The flow of the water is 
 directed by a man with a long-handled shovel, 
 with which he keeps certain furrows open or 
 closes them, as needed. It is necessary that the 
 course of the water receive constant attention, for 
 it is likely to collect in the hollows or break the 
 channel. A common mistake in irrigating is to 
 hurry the water, thus increasing the washing of the 
 soil. Let it run so gently that the sides and bottom 
 of the furrows are not washed and the stream runs 
 clear. Too rapid application of water "slickens" 
 or puddles the soil ; let it soak in slowly. If the water 
 runs too slowly, direct more of it into each furrow; 
 if it runs too fast, reduce the amount that is allowed 
 to enter the furrow. It requires much practice to 
 become really expert in handling water. 
 
270 SOILS 
 
 TILLAGE AFTER IRRIGATION 
 
 When the crop will permit the land should 
 be tilled after each irrigation. This is especially 
 necessary in the case of orchard fruits, small fruits, 
 corn, potatoes and garden vegetables. Irrigation 
 leaves the surface soil more or less puddled; when 
 this dries it becomes hard and, if clay, it may crack. 
 These conditions are very favourable for a rapid 
 loss of water which, if unchecked, may easily 
 amount in a few days to a large per cent, of the 
 water that has been applied. 
 
 Amateurs in arid farming often have a notion 
 that all that is necessary is to irrigate often enough 
 to keep the soil moist, and that tillage is therefore 
 unnecessary. The fact is that tillage is about as 
 important in arid farming as in humid farming. 
 In the first place excessive irrigation makes many 
 crops sappy, over-vigorous and unsubstantial. 
 This is especially true of fruits. In the second 
 place it is good economy to use as little water as is 
 necessary to secure the best results, for water is 
 expensive to secure and laborious to apply. In 
 the third place a soil that is kept as continuously wet 
 as would be necessary in order to grow crops with- 
 out tillage between irrigations, is not in the best 
 condition for maintaining its fertility. A certain 
 amount of dryness in the surface soil promotes the 
 development of soil bacteria and other agencies 
 that have an important influence on the pro- 
 ductivity of the land. As men become more ex- 
 perienced in the use of water they almost invariably 
 decrease the amount applied and increase the fre- 
 quency and thoroughness of the supplementary 
 tillage. One does not need to grow crops many 
 years in order to learn that there is nothing that can 
 take the place of stirring the soil. 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 271 
 
 METHOD OF IRRIGATING IMPORTANT CROPS 
 
 Methods of irrigating different crops by flooding 
 and by furrows are endlessly varied in different 
 sections to suit the needs of different crops. The 
 following are common methods of handling a few 
 of the most important irrigated crops. 
 
 Meadows, Including Alfalfa. — These are irrigated 
 largely by flooding, usually once in early spring 
 before growth starts, and once after harvesting 
 each crop. If irrigation is given more frequently 
 than this, it should be some time before the time 
 to cut the grass, so that the ground may be firm 
 then. Irrigated meadows should usually be cut 
 rather than pastured. Unless the ground has been 
 allowed to become quite dry, animals are likely to 
 roughen the surface and increase the diflaculty of 
 flowing water over it evenly. The amount of water 
 used in irrigating meadows cannot easily be ex- 
 cessive. Under sewage irrigation, on the water- 
 meadows of Italy, from 40 to 70 tons per acre 
 are cut each season. These meadows are irri- 
 gated by a thin sheet of water running over 
 them almost continuously, night and day, during 
 seven months of the year, amounting to over 
 three hundred feet of water per year. Water is 
 turned off only long enough to cut the six or seven 
 crops of grass, which grows the year around. 
 
 Tree Fruits. — Most orchard irrigation is by 
 furrows. The prevailing method is to lead the 
 water through very narrow furrows four or five 
 feet apart, allowing it to soak four or five feet 
 deep and to spread between the furrows beneath 
 the surface mulch before the supply is cut off. It 
 is sometimes recommended that the furrows be 
 run on the shady side of the trees so that 
 
272 SOILS 
 
 the sunlight reflected from the water will not 
 burn the hark and leaves. The water should 
 not actually touch the trunks of the trees; citrous 
 trees are especially liable to be injured in this 
 way, contracting the "gum disease." Water that 
 seeps through at the lower end of the or- 
 chard, and which might run to waste, may be 
 collected in a foot ditch and used on the lower land. 
 All the ground on which young trees are planted 
 does not need to be irrigated. A distributing fur- 
 row may be plowed four to six feet away from the 
 row of young trees, with branch- furrows circling 
 each tree. Water should stand in these from twelve 
 to twenty-four hours. The circle furrow is made 
 farther away as the tree gets older and eventually 
 merges into two straight furrows on each side. 
 The number of the furrows is increased gradually 
 as the orchard comes into bearing until the whole 
 area is laid off with narrow furrows four to five feet 
 apart. 
 
 Occasionally fruit trees are irrigated by a system 
 of small pools or checks, a low retaining ridge being 
 thrown up around each tree with a "ridger," and a 
 certain amount of water allowed to stand within 
 until the soil has absorbed it. The chief objection 
 to this method seems to be that it tends to make the 
 roots develop near the surface and close to the tree, 
 and not to forage widely, though it is somewhat 
 more saving of water. More rarely fruit trees are 
 irrigated by flooding the whole ground. 
 
 The vital point in irrigating tree fruits is to wet 
 the soil deeply and to make tillage go just as far as 
 it will in reducino; the amount of irrig-ation. In 
 parts of California and Arizona it has been found 
 wise, on some deep soils, to irrigate deciduous fruits 
 ■ — never citrus fruits — in winter, as this may 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 273 
 
 make them less liable to winter injury and lessen 
 the need of irri^jjation in summer. Late fall irri- 
 gation is sometimes practised to prevent fall 
 blossoming and the drymg of the tissues of the trees 
 in winter, especially when the rainfall is very scant. 
 Evergreen fruit trees require about 50 per cent, 
 more water than deciduous fruits on the same 
 soil. The only exception to this is the olive, 
 which needs about as much water as deciduous 
 fruits. 
 
 Small Fruits. — Raspberries, blackberries, grapes 
 and other small fruits are commonly irrigated by run- 
 ning a furrow each side of a row. Strawberries are so 
 shallow-rooted that they must be irrigated very 
 frequently; hence it is a common practice to lead 
 the water through broad furrows in alternate rows, 
 so that the fruit may be [)icked between every 
 other row. Depressed bed irrigation is also used 
 for small fruits. This is really a form of check 
 irrigation, only the levees are widened so that 
 water may be carried in shallow ditches along 
 their tops. 
 
 Potatoes. — The land should be deeply irrigated 
 before planting and no more water used than is 
 absolutely necessary until after the plants have 
 blossomed. If possible, carry the crop to this 
 point without irrigation. After the vines cover the 
 ground and tubers have begun to form it is ex- 
 ceedingly important that the ground should be 
 kept moist all the time so that the plants suffer no 
 check. It is best to lead water between every two 
 rows, imless water is scarce, when it may be led 
 down every other space, alternating with successive 
 irrigations. The hills should be ridged with a 
 double-winged cultivator so that they will not be 
 flooded. 
 
274 SOILS 
 
 Garden Vegetables. — These are irrigated by flood- 
 ing, furrows, and various modifications of both 
 systems. A common method is to tnake furrows 
 between rows four to six feet apart or in 
 alternate spaces, the water not being allowed to 
 flow outside these furrows. Another method is to 
 lay off the garden into small basins surrounded by 
 ridges four to five inches high and six to eight inches 
 wide. In some cases furrows six inches deep and 
 about eighteen inches apart are made and the 
 plants grow on the high broad ridges between them. 
 Or each row of plants may be set in a narrow basin, 
 with a ridge between rows, the basin being short so 
 that it can be flooded quickly. Vine vegetables, as 
 cucumbers and melons, are commonly grown be- 
 tween irrigation furrows six feet apart, the seeds 
 being planted near the edge of the furrows and 
 the vines being spread on the broad ridge between 
 two furrows. Depressed and raised bed irrigation 
 are also used extensively for vegetables. It is 
 especially important that garden irrigation be 
 followed by cultivation as soon as the ground can 
 be worked. 
 
 COST OF IRRIGATION 
 
 This depends upon so many factors that nothing 
 at all definite can be stated, as is illustrated in the 
 following general quotations: 
 
 The yearly cost of water in southern California 
 is from $3 to $6 per acre. In Orange County, 
 California, water sells for about $4.75 per acre foot. 
 In Riverside County it cost as high as $15 per acre 
 in the dry year of 1900. In Los Angeles County 
 it was sold from 1898 to 1900 for $18 to $30 per 
 acre foot. Hydrant water bought from a city or 
 
^:i. iRRU.AlJiNU A ^iAKDEN FROM A HYlJRAN r IN A SEMI- 
 ARID REGION (Pullman, Wash.) 
 A small notch is cut in the wooden flume at the end of each row of celery 
 
 83. IRRIGATING STRAWBERRIES BY PUMPING FROM CACHE 
 
 CREEK, CALIFORNIA 
 
 Strawberries require a very large amount of water 
 
< V 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 275 
 
 private water company is likely to cost 20 cents per 
 1,000 gallons, which is $32.40 per acre for three 
 irrigations of 2 inches each. The average cost of 
 water for irrigating citrus fruits in California is 
 about $10 per acre. 
 
 The cost of a water right, which is bought with 
 the land, varies as much as the annual cost of the 
 water. Under the Fresno Canal in California it is 
 about $40 per acre. Census reports show that the 
 average first cost of constructing reservoirs, canals, 
 etc., and bringing water to the land is about $8.15 
 per acre; while the average cost of maintenance is 
 about $1.10 per acre. Irrigation in the humid 
 states usually costs more, largely because Eastern 
 farmers have not the skill and the economy in 
 handling water that comes natural to one born in 
 an arid region. The average cost of irrigation in 
 Connecticut in 1899 was $34.21 per acre, which is 
 about four times the average cost of irrigation in 
 arid regions. 
 
 NATIONAL AID IN IRRIGATION 
 
 Few Eastern farmers realise the area of land in 
 the West that is still owned by the United States 
 Government. It amounts to over six hundred 
 millions of acres and is located chiefly in Arizona, 
 California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, 
 Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah, 
 Washington and Wyoming. A large part of this 
 vast area possesses great inherent fertility, which 
 is rendered valueless by the lack of water. As 
 President Roosevelt states it, '*In the arid regions 
 it is water, not land, which measures production. ' 
 
 Much of this area is traversed by streams that 
 can be used to reclaim it. But most of the land 
 
276 SOILS 
 
 which can be Irrigated by small canals, such as can 
 be built with the combined means of a number of 
 farmers, or a stock company, has already been 
 brought under ditch. These are mostly the river 
 bottoms and low bench lands. These constitute, 
 however, but a small per cent, of the great area of 
 land that it is possible to make productive by 
 irrigation. There are large enterprises that are 
 beyond the reach of private capital. There are 
 millions of acres that may be made as fertile as any 
 land on the continent, and at a comparatively 
 slight cost per acre, if sufficient capital could be 
 found to build the immense reservoirs and canals 
 that this reclamation entails. It cannot be done 
 by the different states, for interstate disputes con- 
 cerning water rights would arise. It is a National, 
 not a state or private problem. So it has come 
 about that there has been a strong appeal from the 
 West for government aid. This appeal has been 
 heeded. 
 
 The Reclamation Act of 1902. — Under this Act 
 the Government purposes to irrigate, and so make 
 productive, a vast area of land now of little 
 or no value. Some authorities estimate the total 
 area which may be benefited by this Act as 
 close to fifty millions of acres, which are loca- 
 ted in parts of all the states and territories in 
 the arid and semi-arid regions. This Act provides 
 that all money from the sale of public lands in 
 the arid West shall constitute a special fund to be 
 used in the survey and construction of reservoirs 
 and canals for the reclamation of arid and semi-arid 
 lands. 
 
 The U. S. Government has already expended 
 about ten millions of dollars, of thirty-four millions 
 appropriated, in making surveys, constructing res- 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 277 
 
 ervoirs and digging canals. The reservoirs are built 
 chiefly for the purpose of storing flood water that 
 it may be turned into the streams at low water. 
 Additional money for this work will be derived 
 from the sale to settlers of government lands in 
 these states and territories after it has been brought 
 under ditch. This land is to be divided into farms 
 of not less than 40 or more than 160 acres, which is 
 enough to support a family of five. Only actual 
 settlers can take advantage of the privileges of this 
 Act; there is no room for speculators. Those who 
 settle upon these homesteads are required to repay 
 the government, in ten annual instalments or less, 
 the extent of their indebtedness, which is the pro- 
 portionate cost of supplying their land with water. 
 The cost of construction is repaid by the sale of the 
 land reclaimed. The money will then be used by 
 the government for developing similar enterprises 
 in other sections. 
 
 There are already under construction, or def- 
 initely in view, fourteen irrigation projects which, 
 when completed, will water about a million and a 
 half acres of land. These projects are not in a 
 few states, but in all of them; there is a com- 
 prehensive scheme for irrigating the entire area 
 of arid land that it is practicable to irrigate. Small 
 systems, called "units," are to be established here 
 and there as may be most expedient, with a view to 
 future additions and development, until a vast 
 area is watered by one great system of reservoirs, 
 rivers and canals. 
 
 It was a notable event in the history of American 
 agriculture when the first irrigation system to be 
 opened under the Reclamation Act — the Truckee- 
 Carson Project, in western Nevada — was formally 
 opened on June 17, 1905, in the presence of a large 
 
278 SOILS 
 
 and enthusiastic assemblage. When this single 
 unit is completed it will cost about ninety millions 
 of dollars and will water about three hundred and 
 seventy-five thousand acres in excess of the area 
 now supplied. 
 
 In addition to providing Irrigation systems, the 
 National Government is endeavouring to aid 
 arid farming by protecting the forests of the West. 
 Most of the streams from which the w ater is drawn 
 have their origin in forested mountains. Cutting 
 off the forests or allowing them to be burnt oft 
 would make the water supply more uncertain. 
 Contrary to the popular notion, forests have but 
 little effect in increasing rainfall, but they have a 
 very marked effect in regulating the flow of streams. 
 Over forty-seven million acres of forests have been 
 set aside for the protection of the headwaters of 
 irrigation streams. President Roosevelt said in 
 his message to Congress, December 3, 1901 : "The 
 forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the 
 streams in flood and replenishing them in drought 
 they make possible the use of water otherwise 
 wasted. Forest conservation is therefore an 
 essential condition to water conservation." 
 
 This is a development scheme of stupendous 
 proportions. It is worthy of the genius and enter- 
 prise of the American people who, as a people, are 
 now pledged to execute these plans. 
 
 Windbreaks. — In the subhumid sections of the 
 central West, particularly eastern North Dakota, 
 eastern South Dakota, central Nebraska, western 
 Kansas, central Oklahoma and central Texas, 
 windbreaks are frequently of great service for pro- 
 tecting the ground from the sweep of dry winds, 
 wdiich evaporate much moisture from the soil, and 
 often blow the lighter soils into drifts. Sometimes 
 
FARM IRRIGATION 279 
 
 crops of grains are literally blown out of the ground 
 after they are 3 to 5 inches high, their roots being 
 uncovered by the blowing away of 2 or 3 inches of 
 soil. Even slight barriers, as fences, lessen the 
 injury from wind for a distance of several hundred 
 feet to leeward. Lombardy poplars, cotton woods 
 and locusts are commonly used for high windbreaks, 
 and Russian mulberry and the shrubby Artemisia 
 for low hedges. A cottonwood windbreak 40 feet 
 high has a beneficial influence to a distance of 
 650 feet to the leeward, preventing the soil from 
 drying out rapidly and from drifting. 
 
 In the plains states where these conditions prevail, 
 windbreaks should always be provided ; they are es- 
 pecially needed in the subhumid sections where irri- 
 gation is not possible, and the rainfall is scanty. 
 The plants of a windbreak do steal much moisture 
 from the adjacent land, but in windy sections they 
 save much more than they steal, by keeping drying 
 winds from hugging the ground. Broad fields 
 should be avoided and, if possible, a system of 
 rotation should be adopted that will keep fields in 
 alternate strips of grass or clover and tilled land. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 THE greatest problem in farming Is that of 
 maintaining the fertlHty of the soil. The 
 fertility of the soil is its power to produce 
 crops. It is not mere plant food; it is water, 
 air, sunlight, plant food, temperature, soil bacteria, 
 and all the other factors and conditions that 
 make a soil habitable for plants. It is concerned 
 with the texture of the soil as much as with its 
 richness; and its water-moving power as much as 
 its composition. Plant food is but one of many 
 conditions necessary to the growth of crops, and 
 often it is the least essential condition. The 
 fertility of the soil is the sum of all the conditions 
 that make it possible for the seed to sprout, the 
 blade to spread and the ear to ripen. It is the in- 
 herent power of the soil to produce crops. 
 
 The problem of maintaining or restoring the 
 fertility of farm soils, then, is much broader than 
 that of merely adding plant food to them. When 
 we speak of fertility we naturally think first of 
 manures, fertilisers and other means of enriching 
 the soil. These are very important sources of in- 
 creased fertility, but fertility is not as dependent 
 upon them as many believe. The way in which a 
 soil is handled has fully as much to do with its 
 fertility as its composition, or the amount of plant 
 food added to it. It depends upon plowing, har- 
 rowing, cultivating, rolling, drainmg, irrigating and 
 all other tillage and cultural operations fully as 
 
 280 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 281 
 
 much as upon manuring, fertilising, fallowing and 
 the like. A really comprehensive discussion of 
 soil fertility should consider all the ways in which 
 a soil is handled or is acted upon by natural forces, 
 as well as means of enriching it, and of conserving 
 native richness. The methods of handling soil and 
 their relation to productivity have been discussed 
 in previous chapters. The remaining chapters 
 will be devoted to the methods of enriching soils 
 and husbanding natural resources. 
 
 Many Views. — There are many views, and un- 
 avoidably many conflicting views, on this great 
 problem. Some seek to solve it in one way and 
 some in another. Certain men lay most stress on 
 the texture of the soil and the movement of soil 
 water as a measure of the producing power of a 
 soil. Others emphasise thorough tillage above 
 all else. Another says, "Grow clover and plow it 
 under; it is the key to fertility." Others lay 
 stress upon good texture and the addition of humus. 
 We hear something of inoculating the soil to 
 make it fertile. Even now the most commonly ac- 
 cepted views on soil fertility have been challenged 
 by an eminent soil physicist whose conclusions, if 
 accepted, will almost revolutionise our views about 
 the effect of manures and fertilisers on soils. In 
 addition to this honest difference of opinion, there 
 are many quack remedies for preserving or restor- 
 ing soil fertility. The following pages present 
 the views most commonly accepted at this time. 
 
 THE NATIVE RICHNESS OF SOILS 
 
 Plant food is not fertility, but it has a very im- 
 portant influence on fertility. A soil's power to 
 produce crops is very rarely measured by the 
 
282 SOILS 
 
 amount of plant food it contains, yet mere richness 
 is a very valuable asset of a farm soil, and no man 
 can afford to disregard it in the modern emphasis 
 on good texture and other desirable attributes. 
 
 The actual richness of a soil in plant food de- 
 pends largely upon its origin and its fineness. A 
 leachy, sandy soil, for example, is not likely to con- 
 tain more than a third as much plant food as an 
 alluvial clay; a limestone soil is usually richer than 
 a slate soil, and so on. 
 
 The Soil a Storehouse of Plant Food.— The point 
 that needs to be emphasised most, however, is not 
 that farm soils vary greatly in native richness, but 
 that practically all farm soils, including those that 
 we consider poor, contain a vast amount of plant 
 food. 
 
 The analyses of representative soils in the 
 Appendix show that all of them contain almost 
 unbelievable quantities of the plant foods that we 
 buy and apply so grudgingly. An average farm 
 soil usually contains about 4,000 lbs. of nitro- 
 gen, 6,000 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 20,000 
 lbs. of potash per acre in the upper eight 
 inches of soil. "Worn-out" soils, which scarcely 
 produce enough to pay for cropping them, often 
 contain nearly as much plant food as this — while 
 some rich soils have over 6,000 lbs. of nitrogen, 
 10,000 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 50,000 lbs. of 
 potash per acre in the first eight inches. Besides all 
 this large amount of plant food in the surface soil, 
 the soil below the first eight inches usually con- 
 tains nearly as much, and a part of this can be used 
 by the roots of most farm crops. 
 
 These figures are astounding to those who have 
 believed that a soil gradually ceases to be produc- 
 tive because the plant food in it becomes exhausted. 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 283 
 
 The chemists give us indisputable proof that even 
 a soil that has become so "poor" that it hardly 
 pays to crop it, is likely to have stored v^ithin it tons 
 upon tons of plant food; that it is in no way ex- 
 hausted, as we have been taught to believe. Yet 
 the fact remains that this same soil will not pro- 
 duce large crops. What, then, is the trouble ? 
 
 Plant Food Locked Up. — Much of the tons of 
 plant food that the chemist finds in ordinary farm 
 soils, is "locked up", or unavailable, from two 
 causes. In the first place it may not be in the right 
 form for plants to use, it may be in a compound 
 that is distasteful to the plants; or it may be in a 
 form that is not soluble in soil water, so that it 
 cannot be absorbed by the roots. Plants accept 
 food only when it is in a certain form. The chem- 
 ist, however, cannot tell how much of the total 
 amount of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid 
 that he finds in soil is in such shape that plants can 
 use it. He cannot determine with any degree of 
 certainty what proportion of the 4,000 lbs. of ni- 
 trogen, 6,000 lbs. of phosphoric acid and 20,000 
 lbs of potash that are in an acre of average farm 
 soil is in the right form for crops to use. There 
 is no way of finding out this very important point 
 except to grow plants upon the soil. 
 
 Poor Texture a Cause of Infertility. — Part of 
 this great amount of plant food that is found in all 
 ordinary farm soils may have been made useless to 
 crops, for the time being, by poor texture, lack of 
 warmth and poor drainage. 
 
 Mere richness in plant food avails nothing if 
 there is not enough water to make a very large 
 quantity of a weak solution of that food for the roots 
 to absorb. The arid lands of the West are very 
 rich in plant food, but are valueless for cropping 
 
284 SOILS 
 
 until water is applied to them. In many cases the 
 amount of water in the soil measures its producing 
 power more than the amount of plant food in it. 
 Furthermore, the tons of plant food in a soil are as 
 valueless as sand unless the soil has the power to 
 move water rapidly to meet the needs of the crop. 
 
 Under-drainage may make an unproductive, yet 
 rich, soil productive. Plowing under green- 
 manures may effect a similar improvement. These 
 methods are discussed in detail in subsequent 
 chapters. The point to be emphasised is that 
 although most farm soils are very rich in plant food, 
 usually but a small percentage of this can be used 
 by crops, and that tillage, drainage, a rotation of 
 crops and the addition of humus are methods of 
 increasing the usefulness of native plant food. 
 
 SOILS EXHAUSTED OF PLANT FOOD 
 
 We ordinarily think that a soil becomes ex- 
 hausted of plant food chiefly by continuous cropping. 
 We see the yields from a soil that produced sixty 
 bushels of corn per acre fifty years ago, when it was 
 virgin, gradually dwindle to twenty-five bushels, 
 with prospects of going lower still. On the face of 
 it, this is due to the exhaustion of the plant food in 
 the soil by the corn crop. But is it .? The drain of 
 crops upon the soil's store of plant food is really 
 so slight, when compared with the total amount 
 of plant food in the soil, that it is scarcely worth 
 mentioning as a cause of the increasing unpro- 
 ductiveness of that soil. A crop of cotton of one 
 bale per acre, which is twice the average yield, 
 makes a draft upon the soil of 28 lbs. of nitrogen, 
 9 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 13 lbs. of potash each 
 year per acre. A crop of 50 bushels corn per acre 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 285 
 
 removes 96 lbs. of nitrogen, 33 lbs. of phosphoric 
 acid and 68 lbs. of potash each year per acre. A 
 crop of 1| tons of hay per acre removes 35 lbs. of 
 nitrogen, 7 lbs. of phosphoric acid and 39 lbs. of 
 potash; of wheat, at the average yield of 14 bushels 
 per acre, 33 lbs. of nitrogen, 10 lbs. of phosphoric 
 acid and 17 lbs. of potash. 
 
 Compare these small amounts of plant food 
 removed by average crops with the vast amounts 
 that are in ordinary soils. What are they when 
 compared with the 4,000 lbs. of nitrogen, 6,000 
 lbs. of phosphoric acid and 20,000 lbs. of potash 
 that the upper 8 inches of an average soil contains ! 
 In addition to all this is the undeveloped 
 richness of the subsoil, which becomes of use 
 from year to year. The average soil ought to 
 produce bumper crops for hundreds of years with- 
 out adding any fertiliser, if we considered but two 
 facts — the great amount of plant food in the soil, 
 and the very small amount removed by crops. 
 
 But other things must be considered. If only 
 a small part of the 4,000 lbs. of nitrogen, 6,000 lbs. 
 of phosphoric acid and 20,000 lbs. of potash is 
 available to plants — as is usually the case — the 
 drain of the crop upon this amount of available 
 plant food may be quite heavy. This is especially 
 true on the light and leachy soils, from which the 
 soluble plant food is quickly lost by leaching. In 
 other words, the amounts of plant food drawn from 
 the soil by farm crops makes little impression upon 
 the total amount that is in it, but it often does make 
 a decided impression upon the amount of soluble 
 or available plant food in the soil, which is, after 
 all, the kind of plant food that is of chief interest 
 to the farmer. 
 
 The gradual decrease in yields on soils that have 
 
286 SOILS 
 
 been cropped for many years is occasionally due, 
 in part, to the exhaustion of soluble plant food. 
 Usually it is due, wholly or largely, to the way in 
 which the soil has been handled. It is more apt 
 to be a problem in improving the physical con- 
 dition of the soil than in enriching it. This fact 
 has been proved on thousands of American farms, 
 where better tillage, more thorough drainage, 
 rotation of crops, green manuring and other 
 methods of improving the texture of a soil have 
 been practised. These matters are discussed at 
 length in other chapters. 
 
 LOSS OF FERTILITY BY EROSION 
 
 Not all of the plant food that is lost each year from 
 farms is carried off in crops. A far more damag- 
 ing cause of reduced yields on some farms is 
 erosion, or the washing of soil. This removes the 
 best part of it — the surface soil that has been made 
 fine and has had its plant food made soluble by 
 weathering. 
 
 The loss of fertility by erosion is one of the 
 greatest leaks on American farms. The chief 
 reason why erosion is so dangerous is that it is 
 insidious. Its ravages are not very conspicuous 
 until it has done much damaore. Erosion does not 
 ruin a soil in a single night, or a single season; it 
 starts from small beginnings, usually unnoticed, 
 and creeps stealthily upon the land. Every tiny 
 rill trickling down the slope carries off some of the 
 finest and richest soil on the farm. After a heavy 
 rain the puddles in the hollows are muddy. The 
 deep furrows left up and down the slope by the 
 cultivator teeth become miniature watercourses, 
 and the trickling water exacts a tribute of rich 
 

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 < §§• 
 y. 
 
 « ^— 
 
 < g 5j 
 
 < a 
 
 
8(i. THE OHIO RIVER FLOODING ITS MEADOWS 
 It leaves half an inch of rich mud upon the land, which is commonly used for corn, 
 fertility of many bottom lands is increased in this way 
 
 The 
 
 PASTURING WITH CATTLE 
 This is the best method of keeping the fertility of some lands, especially Ihose that 
 are steep, rocky and inclined to wash 
 
 88. SHEEP AT PASTURE 
 They congregate at night upon the hilltops, which are enriched by their droppings. 
 In western West \'irginia, and elsewhere, sheep husbandry is a 
 popular method of enriching hill lands 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 287 
 
 soil before it joins the large rill by the road. The 
 cornfield that was left bare all winter has lost some 
 of its best loam by planting time. Gullies appear 
 on the farm here and there, widening and deepen- 
 ing after every rain. The soil on the knolls and 
 hills becomes thin and yellow, for the rich, black 
 surface soil has been washed into the bottoms, and 
 part of it has hurried off to help build up some 
 excellent farming land down stream. 
 
 After a heavy rain the farmer can see the best 
 part of his soil creeping, running, racing away from 
 him. A thousand murky rills slowly meander 
 across his plowed ground, and gather force in the 
 hollows. A hundred turbid rivulets pour down 
 the hollows and join waters in the gulch. A dozen 
 muddy brooklets rush down the gulch, swell the 
 brook into a creek and race down stream, bearing 
 away tons of the rich silt and loam that make 
 plants grow. When the rain is over and the soaked 
 soil has dried out enough to till, there are gravelly 
 places that the farmer finds it hard to make pro- 
 ductive, and rocks are exposed. 
 
 In extreme cases the soil may be almost or wholly 
 ruined for cropping in a few years, becoming 
 gullied and thin. In most cases, however, the loss 
 is less conspicuous, but scarcely less disastrous. 
 This is an exact report of what is taking place 
 to-day on thousands of American farms. 
 
 The Great Loss by Erosion in the South. — Every 
 farm that has an irregularity of surface, however 
 slight, pays tribute to the force of moving water. 
 The most serious losses from erosion, however, are 
 on hill farms. The red clay soils of the South, and 
 especially in the uplands of Tennessee, Georgia, 
 the Carolinas, Mississippi and along the banks of 
 the Ohio River, are gouged and gullied every year. 
 
288 SOILS 
 
 unless properly handled, until they may become 
 almost or quite useless for cropping 
 
 W. J. McGee reports: "The destruction is not 
 confined to a single field, or to a single upland, but 
 extends over much of the upland. ... It 
 is probably within the truth to estimate that 10 
 per cent, of upland Mississippi has been so far 
 converted into bad lands as to be practically ruined 
 for agriculture under existing commercial con- 
 ditions, and that the annual loss in real estate 
 exceeds the revenue from all sources; and all this 
 havoc has been wrought within a quarter century.'* 
 This is an extreme case, but it illustrates what is 
 taking place, in a lesser degree, in many other parts 
 of the South. 
 
 We have thousands of square miles of lands that 
 are rapidly approaching desolation by erosion. 
 Over a large area the work of destruction has 
 already gone so far as to make it impracticable to 
 try to save the land for cropping. The problem of 
 erosion is most serious on the hill farms of the 
 South ; but hill lands in California, eastern Oregon, 
 Washington, and Montana, have been grazed so 
 close that the soil has been exposed, gullies have 
 appeared, and the lands are now nearly worthless. 
 Erosion is also serious on sloping lands in all other 
 parts of the country. 
 
 METHODS OF CHECKING EROSION 
 
 The method that will be most practicable de- 
 pends upon the locality, the contour of the land, the 
 nature of the soil, the crop and other local matters. 
 
 Preserve Forests and Wooded Strips. — In extreme 
 cases it is necessary to retain wooded areas running 
 across the slopes that are subject to washing. 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 289 
 
 If the land is hilly and will probably wash 
 badly if cleared, the less of it that is cleared, the 
 better. We rarely find bad gullies in woodlands, 
 even on the steepest hillsides; the roots of trees 
 hold the soil and the humus beneath them ab- 
 sorbs and holds the water, preventing it from 
 gathering in channels. Moreover, much of the 
 rainfall does not reach the soil, being intercepted 
 by the foliage and evaporated before it reaches the 
 
 f round. The direct force of the rain is also bro- 
 en. It may be wiser to farm only the bottom land 
 and gentle slopes, and cultivate them more in- 
 tensely, than to clear uplands that are bound to 
 wash badly after most of the humus in them is 
 destroyed by cropping. 
 
 If it is necessary to clear long slopes much may 
 be done to prevent serious loss from erosion by 
 alternating strips of forest with strips of tilled or 
 pasture land. The retaining strips of forest should 
 be twenty or more rods wide, depending upon the 
 steepness of the slope, and should run diagonally 
 across the slope or follow the contour of it. It is 
 especially necessary to keep the tops of hills in 
 forest, because there is where the water be- 
 gins to collect; moreover, the soil of hill-tops is 
 apt to be thinner and poorer than soil lower down 
 the slope. 
 
 Slopes that have already been cleared and have 
 started to wash badly may have strips of woods 
 planted across them. In a surprisingly short 
 time trees will make an effective barrier to erosion. 
 It may be wise to give up an entire slope that is 
 washing badly to forest growth. Native trees 
 usually come in quickly, but if they do not seeds or 
 seedlings may be planted. 
 
 Planting Trees to Prevent Erosion. — When 
 
290 SOILS 
 
 planting forest trees to prevent or check erosion, if 
 the land is not too rough or stony, it is best first to 
 plow the land deeply. Most tree seeds are benefited 
 by partial shade the first year and naay be sown 
 with a field crop, as peas, oats, or other grain. 
 These seeds may be of such quick-growing trees as 
 white maple, loblolly pine, elm, green and white-ash, 
 and black locust. The seeds should be gathered 
 as soon as ripe and sown immediately. From three 
 to five bushels of the winged seeds should be sown, 
 and others in proportion according to size. It is 
 best to sow each kind separately and thickly enough 
 to secure a dense stand. The quick-growing trees, 
 as elm, soft maple, and ash, are not as valuable for 
 timber as hardwood trees. Black locust and loblolly 
 pine are among the most useful trees for this pur- 
 pose. Catalpa speciosa and chestnut may also be 
 used to advantage. 
 
 Transplanting seedlings is more expensive than 
 seeding and the results are more or less uncertain, 
 so it should be done only when seeding is impracti- 
 cable. Soft-wooded sorts, as the poplars, box elder, 
 also the catalpa, are most commonly propagated by 
 cuttings. The cuttings should be 13 to 16 inches 
 long, of two- or three-year-old wood, and should be 
 taken in late winter. The lower ends are laid in 
 water until planting. They are planted most 
 rapidly with a dibble and so deep that only two 
 or three buds are above ground. 
 
 If trees for transplanting are to be grown from 
 seed make beds 3 to 4 feet wide in a rich mellow 
 soil; cover the seeds lightly, and mulch with forest 
 leaves until they have germinated. Shade the beds 
 by piling brush and boughs upon them, or by build- 
 ing lath roofs over them, an open space the width of 
 a lath being left between laths. The seedlings are 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 291 
 
 ready to transplant when two to four years old. 
 In many cases it may only be necessary to dig wild 
 seedlings. Seedlings two to four years old are often 
 found in great numbers on the outskirts of wood- 
 land. Set all plants, whether seedlings or cuttings, 
 not more than three feet apart each way, giving 
 5,000 to 7,000 per acre. In some cases it may be 
 well to make a first planting of the quick-growing 
 softwood trees, and plant the hardwood trees 
 later. 
 
 Directing Water. — Much may be done to check 
 erosion by directing the water into legitimate 
 channels, instead of allowing it to meander over the 
 fields, making channels that broaden and deepen 
 with each rain. Careful farmers spend consider- 
 able time in their fields during and after heavy 
 rains, guiding, checking, and diverting the rivulets. 
 In most fields there are a number of depressions, 
 or natural water courses, that should be kept free 
 of obstructions. 
 
 Terracing. — One of the most common en- 
 deavours to check erosion in the South is by ter- 
 racing. Much of the farm land in Georgia, Ala- 
 bama and the Carolinas is terraced. The slope 
 is laid off into a series of checks which follow the 
 contour, giving a series of nearly perfectly level 
 steps upon which water may remain and be ab- 
 sorbed. The width of these varies from 50 to 300 
 feet. The banks of the terrace are usually sodded 
 or seeded with grass. The land between the banks 
 is brought to an approximate level, sometimes by 
 scraping but more commonly by moving it down 
 hill gradually with a reversible plow; it often 
 requires several years to bring the surface into a 
 level condition. 
 
 Side-hill Ditches. — ^Another method is to build 
 
292 SOILS 
 
 side-hill ditches, which follow the contour and have 
 a fall of 1 to 5 inches in 100 feet. They are 6 to 
 10 feet apart on a very steep slope and 15 to 30 
 feet apart on a gentle slope. The ditches are 
 made mostly with a plow. They should be sodded 
 with grass. There should be no low places where 
 the water will collect and break through. Unless 
 built with great care they are apt to scour or break. 
 
 Terraces and side-hill ditches are not used now 
 as much as formerly. They prevent washing in 
 many cases, but they occupy land that ought to be 
 in crops and they breed weeds. The land is cut 
 up into small fields, increasing the cost of produc- 
 tion. In many cases terraced or ditched hillsides 
 wash badly. Deep plowing and green-manuring 
 are usually more serviceable than terracing for 
 preventing these soils from washing, and all the 
 land can be cropped. 
 
 Holding the Land With Soil-binding Plants. — 
 This is the most practicable solution in many cases, 
 especially on gentle slopes. If erosion has not pro- 
 gressed so far that the land will not grow a thick 
 turf, the slope may often be made into a pasture or 
 meadow with gratifying results. Grass roots hold 
 the soil tenaciously and the stubble divides surface 
 water and prevents it from accumulating. But 
 it is often difficult to get a close turf established. 
 
 Grasses with creeping root-stalks, like Bermuda 
 grass, are most valuable for this purpose. Ber- 
 muda grass is the salvation of many Southern hill- 
 sides. It makes a very dense turf in a remark- 
 ably short time. Sometimes it is established in 
 this way: Shallow furrows are plowed diagonally 
 across the slope, 4 to 6 feet apart. Small pieces of 
 Bermuda grass are dropped m the furrows, 2 to 3 
 feet apart, and covered. Bermuda grass spreads 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 293 
 
 with great rapidity by means of its underground 
 stems. In two years it has filled the furrow and 
 the field is then plowed diagonally across the fur- 
 rows. This distributes the grass and it soon takes 
 complete possession of the land, effectually pre- 
 ventmg further washing. Bermuda grass makes 
 excellent hay and pasturage. 
 
 Other grasses besides Bermuda have distinct 
 merit as soil binders. In the North the Hungarian 
 brome grass is especially valuable for this purpose. 
 The little Lespedeza, or Japanese clover, that 
 comes naturally into cleared ground and pastures 
 in many parts of the South, is a useful soil-binder, 
 and valuable for pasturage. It is moreover, a 
 leguminous plant and enriches the soil. The in- 
 creasing use of cover crops shows the growing 
 appreciation of the loss by erosion on bare lands 
 during the winter and early spring. Rye or crim- 
 son clover, sown at the last cultivation of corn, 
 covers the field with a mat of herbage during the 
 winter, effectively preventing serious washing of 
 the soil. Other benefits of cover crops are 
 considered in the following chapter. 
 
 Breaks. — Any material used to check small 
 gullies is called a "break," in the South. Corn 
 stalks, cotton stems, brush and inferior hay are 
 commonly used for this purpose. The material is 
 usually laid lengthwise of the gully, making a dam, 
 which should be wide enough and high enough to 
 back up the water and deposit the soil it contains. 
 If the gully is large it may be necessary to hold 
 down the brush with logs or poles, the ends of which 
 are firmly fastened into the sides of the gully and 
 braced with stones; if small, a few forkfuls 
 of stalks or brush may answer. Willow, 
 poplar, or alder are preferred for making a 
 
294 SOILS 
 
 brush break on uncultivated land because they 
 often sprout, take root and then permanently 
 hold the soil. 
 
 Breaks are almost indispensable to good farming 
 in many parts of the South and ought to be used 
 more on the upland farms of other parts of the 
 country. The practice of searching for gullies and 
 checking them with breaks should be as much a 
 part of farm routine as plowing and seeding. Care- 
 ful farmers go over all their cultivated land several 
 times a year and check gullies. A gully that can 
 be stopped with a forkful of brush to-day may need 
 half a wagon load if left a year. It must be re- 
 membered, however, that breaks are a temporary 
 expedient. The real trouble is the inability of the 
 soil to absorb much water rapidly. Deep plowing, 
 green manuring or sodding may effect a permanent 
 improvement. 
 
 Increasing the Water-holding Capacity of the 
 Soil. — The more readily a soil absorbs water, 
 the more it can hold without running over as sur- 
 face drainage, and hence the less likely is it to be 
 injured by erosion. The soils most commonly 
 subject to gullying are clays. These absorb water 
 very slowly, so that during a heavy rain a very 
 large percentage of the water is not absorbed by 
 the soil — even though the soil is quite dry — but 
 flows off as surface drainage, causing erosion. 
 One of the most practicable ways of checking 
 erosion is to increase the water-holding capacity of 
 the soil by under-drainage, by adding humus and 
 by deep plowing. The soils that are most com- 
 monly subject to erosion, however, it is not usually 
 practicable to underdrain; the addition of humus 
 and deep plowing are more serviceable. Plowing 
 under green-manuring crops makes these gullying 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 295 
 
 clay soils lighter and more porous, so that they 
 absorb more water, and absorb it much faster. 
 
 Deep plowing increases the depth of the soil 
 that can hold film water, so that less runs off on 
 top. Shallow plowing makes the soil reservoir 
 shallow, so that rains quickly fill it, spill over it, 
 and run down the surface. The one-negro-one 
 mule-one-shallow-working-plow combination is re- 
 sponsible for much of the washing of Southern 
 hill farms. Land has been plowed for years not 
 over four or five inches deep, when it ought to be 
 plowed not less than eight inches deep. 
 
 Tillage Operations Aflecting Erosion. — The sim- 
 ple precaution of running the rows of crops across 
 the slope, not up and down it, so that the culti- 
 vation furrows may not be in a line with gravity, 
 will do much to prevent erosion. The furrows be- 
 come watercourses during very heavy rain. The 
 loss in this way is especially serious if the furrows are 
 left running up and down slopes during the winter. 
 Every upland farmer is familiar with the triangular 
 patches of fine soil at the lower ends of these fur- 
 rows in the spring. The aggregate loss in this way 
 may be very great. The rows of crops should be 
 kept as nearly on a level as possible, even though 
 this necessitates many windings. We are often 
 told that straight rows look business-like, and 
 crooked rows slovenly. That is true for the 
 prairie farmer but not for the upland farmer. 
 
 Broad-tooth cultivators leave the soil in deep 
 furrows and high ridges, and so assist erosion. 
 The broad "sweep" and plow-like cultivators so 
 commonly used for "laying by" cotton and corn 
 are the worst offenders. Sweeps do excellent 
 service in cutting off weeds, but they leave the soil 
 much ridged and furrowed, the beginnings of 
 
296 SOILS 
 
 gullies. Tools of this character are often indis- 
 pensable, but the furrows they make should be 
 levelled off with a shallow- working implement, as a 
 spike-tooth cultivator. 
 
 The practice of ridging corn, potatoes, cotton, 
 and other crops is responsible for much gullying. 
 Unless ridging is made necessary by poor drainage, 
 it is rarely a profitable practice. Deep plowing 
 and deep planting may accomplish the same re- 
 sult, with less danger. Level culture should be 
 practised wherever erosion is likely to be serious. 
 
 The somewhat detailed attention given to ero- 
 sion in this chapter is not out of proportion to its 
 importance in the farm economy of this country. 
 Erosion is stealing from many farms the fertility 
 that should have been bequeathed to posterity. 
 There should be an increasing concern among 
 farmers about this phase of soil fertility. 
 
 FALLOWING AND SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 Fallowing — leaving land uncropped for one or 
 more seasons — was a common farm practice up to 
 the beginning of the last century. The Mosaic 
 law commanded that land should be fallowed one 
 year in seven. At present it is rarely practised in 
 America, except in t«he arid regions, although still 
 quite popular in many parts of Europe. The 
 cnief reason for this is the rapid improvement of 
 tillage tools. The crude tillage tools of earlier 
 years pulverised the soil so imperfectly, that the in- 
 crease in available plant food by weathering was 
 very slow; hence crops quickly exhausted the 
 soil. It was soon noticed that if land was 
 cultivated while it was being rested it would be 
 more productive thereafter. The chief advantage 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 297 
 
 of the old-time fallowing was that it promoted 
 weathering and so increased the amount of 
 soluble plant food in the few inches of surface 
 soil that were stirred by the clumsy tools of that 
 time. Modern tillage tools prepare the soil so 
 thoroughly and deeply that a larger area is laid 
 under tribute, and weathering, and other agencies 
 that increase fertility, have a better opportunity to 
 work. There are still occasions, however, when 
 fallowing is beneficial and sometimes very essential. 
 
 Fallowing to Store Water. — The value of fallow- 
 ing in American farming is chiefly in storing 
 water in the soil and cleaning the land of weeds, 
 rather than in increasing the amount of soluble 
 plant food in the soil. In the semi-arid and 
 arid sections of the West where "dry farming'* 
 is practised, fallowing is often indispensable. The 
 land is cropped one year and fallowed the next, or it 
 is fallowed one year in three. Fallowed land is 
 plowed and harrowed so that the soil will receive 
 and hold all the rainfall. Where the rainfall is 
 less than ten to fifteen inches such a proceeding 
 may be absolutely necessary. King found that 
 the fallowed part of a certain field contained 203 
 tons more water per acre in the spring succeeding 
 the fallow than the part that was not fallowed. 
 Even at the end of the season, after large crops of 
 grain had been taken from the land, it contained 
 179 tons of water more than the unf allowed land. 
 This shows that summer fallowing has a marked 
 and lasting influence on the moisture content of 
 soils. It is likely that fallowing to store water will 
 always be practised in America far more than 
 fallowing for any other specific purpose. 
 
 Fallowing to Set Free Plant Food. — Fallowing 
 increases the amount of available plant food in the 
 
298 SOILS 
 
 soil, especially nitrogen. The soil of the fallow 
 field is stirred frequently and is warm and moist, 
 conditions that are favourable to making inert 
 plant food soluble. This plant food is stored for 
 the crop of another year unless the soil is leachy, 
 in which case much of the quickly soluble nitrogen 
 may be lost. This is the chief disadvantage of 
 fallowing on certain soils. It is doubtful if it is 
 ever wise to fallow land chiefly for the purpose of 
 increasing its supply of available plant food. 
 Usually the same result can be secured, without 
 losing the use of the land, by a rotation of crops and 
 better tillage. 
 
 Fallowing may be used to advantage in some 
 cases for cleaning land of weeds, especially the 
 weeds that gain a foothold in grain farming. Bare 
 summer fallowing is an excellent means of getting 
 rid of both perennial and annual weeds, especially 
 the Canadian thistle. But if summer-fallowed 
 land is not kept harrowed, fallowing may increase 
 weediness. 
 
 The Methods of Fallowing. — Land that is to be 
 fallowed should be plowed early and at once fitted 
 thoroughly. Most of the weeds will immediately 
 start to grow ; these may then be killed by plowing 
 again or by harrowing. In some sections fallow 
 land is plowed three times during the season. 
 Such a mixing and interchanging of particles 
 cannot help but make a soil more fertile, as well as 
 increase its moisture content and improve its tex- 
 ture. In some cases one plowing and one to three 
 harrowings, at intervals during the summer, may 
 be about as effective as three plowings. The im- 
 portant point is to keep noxious weeds from start- 
 ing; some fallows are allowed to become foul with 
 weeds. If the fallow is to be followed by rye or 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 299 
 
 wheat, the last plowing is usually given before the 
 middle of August, so that the soil may have time to 
 settle and become compact before seeding. 
 
 Oftentimes a short fallow may be practicable. 
 This consists simply in tilling the soil during the 
 few weeks that may elapse between the harvesting 
 of one crop, as barley, clover, or oats, and the sow- 
 ing of the next crop, as wheat. Occasionally land 
 is left idle for several weeks, or longer, when it 
 ought to be at work, either growing a green-manure 
 to plow under, or being subjected to the weathering 
 that is set in motion by tillage. 
 
 Summary of Value of Fallowing. — In American 
 farm practice, fallowing is used to advantage chiefly 
 for increasing the water content of soils, and for 
 cleansing them of weeds, rather than for increasing 
 their supply of available plant food and improving 
 their texture. It is often practicable in the dry 
 sections but rarely in the humid sections. It is not 
 adapted to leachy soils. In this country fallowing 
 is practised chiefly in the arid and semi-arid 
 regions, under dry farming, and mostly in the 
 culture of wheat and oats. 
 
 ROTATION OF CROPS 
 
 Rotation of crops is the order or system in 
 which crops are grown upon the same land, and 
 refers to the sequence of crops when a number of 
 different kinds are grown, in distinction from the 
 one crop system. 
 
 Very early in the history of agriculture it was 
 noticed that many crops grew much better if they 
 followed some other crops than if grown con- 
 tinuously on the same land. Centuries ago En- 
 glish farmers divided their land into three parts. 
 
300 SOILS 
 
 one part being in spring-sown grain, another in 
 fall-sown grain, the other third being summer- 
 fallowed. In more recent years farmers have 
 noticed that it not only benefits some crops to follow 
 different crops, but also that it often makes a de- 
 cided difference what crops are associated in the 
 rotation. 
 
 The practice of growing different crops in suc- 
 cession, instead of one crop continuously, did not 
 originate with man. Crop rotation is almost 
 universal in Nature. The oak forest is cut off and 
 soon the land is shadowed with pines. The pines 
 grow lusty, fall before the woodman's ax, and oaks 
 or white birches take their place. The low-bush 
 blueberry and the arbutus flourish in the hardwood 
 clearings. Everywhere we may see that Nature 
 rarely follows one of her crops with another of the 
 same kind of plant. The wise economy of her 
 rotations we may study with profit. 
 
 WHY A ROTATION IS BENEFICIAL 
 
 A rotation is usually beneficial in several ways; 
 sometimes one benefit is most pronounced, some- 
 times another. The explanation that one naturally 
 thinks of first is that it affects the relative supply 
 of the different plant foods in the soil. Every 
 farmer knows that some crops are "harder upon 
 the soil" than others. The chemist, also, says 
 that some plants use more plant food than others. 
 Different crops take from the soil, not different 
 kinds of plant food, as some suppose, but different 
 amounts of the same plant foods. Thus wheat 
 needs more phosphoric acid and less potash than 
 fruits. Oats require more potash than corn. Crop- 
 ping a soil continuously with corn, for example, is 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 301 
 
 likely to exhaust it sooner of the available plant food 
 that corn needs than if clover, wheat and potatoes 
 are grown in a rotation with corn. The producing 
 power of a soil is measured by the amount of the 
 essential plant food it contains which is least 
 abundant; if it contains 20,000 lbs. of potash and 
 only 2,000 lbs. of phosphoric acid, it can produce no 
 larger crops than the supply of available phosphoric 
 acid is sufficient to nourish, A rotation of crops, 
 if it is well planned, does not subject the soil to a 
 continuous drain of plant foods in the same pro- 
 portions; it changes the proportions and so makes 
 the plant food in the soil go farther. 
 
 The Different Rooting Habits of Crops. — Another 
 reason why a rotation of crops is easier on a soil 
 than single-crop farming results from the different 
 rooting habits of plants. Timothy or blue grass, 
 for example, are shallow-rooting; they draw most 
 of their nourishment from the upper six inches of 
 soil. Clover and alfalfa are deep-rooting; their 
 long tap roots penetrate many feet deep in all 
 ordinary soils, gathering a large amount of food 
 below the depth to which the roots of timothy and 
 blue grass penetrate. The roots of corn forage 
 deeper than the roots of oats. Mangels, sugar- 
 beets and parsnips root deeper than round turnips 
 and table beets, and so on with other farm crops. 
 
 The relation of this fact to soil fertility is the 
 advantage to the soil of having crops grown upon it 
 that root at different depths. A soil may be almost 
 exhausted of available plant food for shallow-rooting 
 crops yet contain much for deep-rooting crops. 
 The fertility of the soil is thus conserved by ro- 
 tating crops that not only differ in their demands 
 upon the soil but also in the relative area of soil 
 that they place under tribute. 
 
302 SOILS 
 
 A third advantage of rotating crops, in its rela- 
 tion to soil fertility, is the opportunity provided for 
 improving the texture of the soil. When crops are 
 harvested the roots and stubble are plowed under, 
 and since crops vary in the amount of herbage 
 returned, and the depth and extent of the root 
 system, there is greater likelihood that all parts 
 will be benefited by the humus resulting from the 
 decay of roots if several crops are grown. Further- 
 more, a rotation permits the use of cover crops, 
 catch crops, and other means of improving texture, 
 as discussed in Chapter XII. 
 
 Rotation of Crops and Weediness. — Certain weeds 
 go with a certain crop ; they seem to find a niche in 
 its cultivation that just fits their needs. Thus 
 we have quack grass in the asparagus bed, purslane 
 in the onions and Canada thistles in the wheat. 
 Furthermore, some crops can be kept free from 
 weeds much easier than others. Note how much 
 faster weeds multiply when sown crops are grown, 
 as rye, oats or wheat, than when crops that are 
 inter- tilled are grown, as corn and potatoes. In 
 this country, weeds cause the greatest loss in the 
 grain fields of the West, where continuous cropping, 
 with or without summer fallow, is practised. 
 Wherever the single-crop system is dominant, weeds 
 become a serious nuisance. 
 
 A specific instance where a rotation of crops 
 may be used for cleaning land of weeds will call 
 attention to the usefulness of the practice. Wild 
 carrot and plantain are very troublesome weeds 
 in some localities, especially in the Northeastern 
 States. These plants do not produce seeds until 
 mid-summer. If a two-year rotation of wheat or 
 rye and clover is practised these weeds may be 
 almost completely exterminated, for as soon as 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 303 
 
 the clover is cut they immediately throw up their 
 flower stalks. These may be mowed a few weeks 
 after the clover is removed, but a better way is to 
 plow the clover stubble soon after the first cutting, 
 in preparation for winter wheat or rye. 
 
 The value of a rotation of crops for killing weeds 
 depends largely upon the fact that different crops 
 receive different kinds of tillage. Different tools 
 are used. Weeds that escape destruction under the 
 system of tillage given one crop are caught by the 
 tillage of another. Sown crops, especially grains, 
 should be rotated with tilled crops. Grains cover 
 the ground sparsely and there is no inter-tillage, 
 so weeds like the "paint-brush," Canada thistle, 
 dock, and Russian thistle, find an excellent oppor- 
 tunity to gain a foothold. Some crops that grow 
 very rapidly and quickly shade the ground, as 
 potatoes, are not as apt to be weedy as slow-growing 
 and sparse-foliage crops. This should be re- 
 membered when planning a rotation. 
 
 Insect and Disease Injury Lessened by Rotation. — 
 Each crop has its own peculiar troubles. Some 
 of these are fungous diseases. These are spread 
 mostly by seed-like bodies called spores; each 
 disease has a different kind of spore, which can 
 cause the disease only upon a certain crop. Thus 
 the spore of potato scab can make scab on po- 
 tatoes, but no other disease, either on potatoes or 
 any other plant. The longer a certain kind of 
 crop is grown upon the same piece of land the more 
 the land becomes infected with parts of diseased 
 plants and with spores, and the greater is the like- 
 lihood that the crop will be injured by the disease. 
 This is particularly true of such common diseases 
 as potato scab, and the club root of cabbages and 
 turnips, which increase very rapidly on crops grown 
 
304 SOILS 
 
 for several years on the same soil. It is less true 
 of corn smut, onion smut, and ergot, which increase 
 slowly. A change of crops deprives these fungous 
 diseases of the only kind of plants upon which they 
 can feed, so they disappear. Moreover, crops are 
 less vigorous when grown continuously upon the 
 same land, and are therefore more susceptible to 
 disease. 
 
 A number of important insect pests of farm 
 crops may be controlled to a greater or less extent 
 by crop rotation. In general, each crop has its 
 own pests, although insects often feed on more than 
 one kind of plant. Meadows kept for a long time 
 in grass are likely to become mfested with the 
 larvae of the May beetle, and with wire worms. 
 A rotation will prevent this. 
 
 Keev the Soil Busy. — If but one crop is grown, 
 the soil is usually left bare during part of the year. 
 This is poor farming, except when the land is pur- 
 posely fallowed. No ground should be allowed to 
 remain idle wJien it might be growing crops, either 
 to sell or to turn imder. The busier a soil is kept, 
 provided the right kind of crops are grown, and 
 provision is made for green-manuring, the more 
 productive it should be. This is more true of 
 Eastern than of Western farming. As land becomes 
 dearer, it becomes increasingly important to keep 
 it busy all the season by means of a well-considered 
 rotation. 
 
 Aside from maintaining or increasing the fer- 
 tility of the soil, a rotation may economise labour. 
 It distributes the labour throughout the year, since 
 crops differ in the time when they are sown and the 
 time it takes to bring them to maturity. This more 
 continuous employment may be exceedingly ad- 
 vantageous, enabling the farmer to secure cheaper 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 305 
 
 and better help, and to give his stock a greater 
 variety of foods. There is, furthermore, a con- 
 siderable advantage in having the money for crops 
 coming in at different seasons of the year. It is 
 better for the average man to have $3,000 in in- 
 stalments during the year than $4,000 in a lump. 
 The extent to which crop rotation is practised 
 is a reliable index to the development of the agri- 
 culture of a region. As farming becomes more 
 intensive, specialised and refined, rotations in- 
 crease. In some of the Western States a systematic 
 rotation of crops is now almost unknown. 
 
 CHOOSING CROPS FOR A ROTATION 
 
 One could plan an ideal rotation, so far as main- 
 taining the fertility of the soil is concerned, which 
 it would be utter folly to put into operation 
 because of economic conditions — the demands 
 of the market, the amount of help available, 
 and similar factors. Few rotations meet all the 
 requirements, both of the soil and of farm economy. 
 It is usually a question of adopting the rotation 
 that gives the most gain and the least loss; so the 
 planning of a rotation is largely a local and personal 
 matter. There are, however, some general prin- 
 ciples that ought to be considered. 
 
 1. A rotation should contain as many years as 
 is practicable of the crop that pays the greatest 
 profit per acre. The "money crop" should dic- 
 tate the rotation. The less profitable crops should 
 be subservient to the money crop, and shouldL make 
 the soil congenial to it. If cotton is the money crop, 
 and the soil is well adapted for growing it, build 
 the rotation around cotton and let the other crops 
 bolster it up. If hay is the money crop, and the 
 
306 SOILS 
 
 soil makes a strong meadow, keep the land in hay 
 up to the point where the soil would be injured and 
 the yield reduced by retaining it longer in sod. If 
 corn is the money crop, grow corn to the limit of 
 the soil's patience, and rotate it with other crops 
 that are most serviceable in maintaining the fer- 
 tility of a first-class corn field. Maximum profit 
 is the main point to observe in planning a rotation, 
 bearing in mind that no crop is profitable if 
 it is secured by robbing and impoverishing 
 the soil. 
 
 2. A rotation should preferably contain at least 
 one crop that improves the soil. This '* green 
 crop" may be grown specifically for a green- 
 manure, as a catch crop of rye after corn; or a 
 crop which is harvested, but which nevertheless 
 improves the soil by its growth, as clover or cow- 
 peas. The improvement may be in texture, by 
 plowing under humus; or it may be in actual 
 enrichment, by growing a leguminous crop, as is 
 considered in the next chapter. If it is at all ex- 
 pedient, a leguminous crop should be included in 
 the rotation. 
 
 3. If possible, the rotation should include crops 
 that feed at different depths, and that are dissimilar 
 in habits of growth. Deep-rooting crops should al- 
 ternate with shallow-rooting ones. 
 
 4. If the money crop is sown, the rotation should 
 include a "cleanser," a crop that is cultivated, so 
 that the land may be kept free from weeds. In 
 Europe, roots, as turnips, potatoes and swedes, are 
 commonly used as a cleanser; in this country corn 
 and potatoes are most largely grown for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Reducing these suggestions to a simple form, a 
 rotation ought to contain a money crop, a manurial 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 307 
 
 crop and a cleansing crop, and give as wide varia- 
 tion in habit of growth and food requirements as is 
 practicable. This general rule is necessarily sub- 
 ject to many exceptions. Sometimes the whole 
 scheme may be upset by economic exigencies, as 
 the relative value of the different crops, the imme- 
 diate need of the farmer of money, fluctuation in 
 the price of live-stock feeds, etc. 
 
 TYPICAL SYSTEMS OF ROTATION 
 
 The number of years that a rotation may last 
 varies from two to eight or even more. *'Four 
 course" rotations, lasting four years and including 
 four crops, are most common. As a rule, the poorer 
 the land, the shorter the rotation. Fixed rotations 
 are not as common in the United States as in Great 
 Britain. Many good farmers habitually change 
 crops upon their land with quite satisfactory 
 results, without following any definite system. 
 The only sort of rotation followed by many farmers 
 is to alternate a grain crop with a green crop, and a 
 cultivated crop with an uncultivated crop. As 
 this embodies two of the most important principles 
 in crop rotation, one will not go far wrong in follow- 
 ing these simple rules, even though specific crops 
 are not assigned in the rotation. Any number 
 of exigencies may arise that may make it desirable 
 to modify or depart from a system of crop rotation ; 
 but it is well to have some definite system in mind 
 and follow it as closely as possible. 
 
 A few examples of common systems of rotation 
 in the United States will show how the principles 
 outlined above are applied. 
 
 1. Potatoes, winter wheat, clover. 
 
 This rotation is frequently used when the money 
 
308 SOILS 
 
 crop is potatoes. Nothing is more favourable for 
 potatoes than to turn under a clover sod before 
 planting. The clover is sown with the wheat or is 
 seeded in the growing wheat in early spring. It is 
 the manurial crop of the rotation and potatoes is 
 the cleansing crop. This can be made a two-year 
 rotation by plowing under the clover in early 
 spring, in time to plant potatoes, not allowing it to 
 mature a crop. Rye may be substituted for wheat 
 and sweet potatoes or tomatoes for potatoes, without 
 lessening the value of the rotation. This rotation 
 may be secured with but one plowing. Plow the 
 sod in either fall or spring, plant the potatoes early 
 and use a harrow to prepare the seed bed for wheat 
 after the potatoes are harvested. This can be 
 made a four-course rotation by seeding with clover 
 and mixed grasses; then it becomes an excellent 
 rotation for the dairyman. 
 
 2. Corn, oats, wheat, grass and clover. 
 
 This is a favourite in the "Corn Belt." It is 
 economical of labour, but is open to serious ob- 
 jection in two respects — when wheat follows oats 
 it is not possible to prepare the seed bed for wheat 
 properly; and two uncultivated crops of about the 
 same feeding habits are together. It is customary 
 to manure the corn; if commercial fertilisers are 
 used, they are applied to the wheat. 
 
 3. Corn, wheat, oats. 
 
 Where corn is the leading crop this is, in some 
 respects, a better rotation. The chief criticism 
 of it is that one must wait until the corn is ready 
 to harvest before seeding to wheat, which may be 
 so late that the wheat does not make enough 
 growth to stand the winter. Wherever it is 
 practicable to grow potatoes an even better corn 
 rotation is: 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 309 
 
 4. Corn, potatoes, wheat, clover. 
 
 The clover sod is manured heavily before being 
 planted to corn. This is an almost ideal rotation, 
 since the crops of cereals alternate with a root or 
 clover crop. Under certain conditions the crop of 
 wheat may be dispensed with, making: 
 
 5. Corn, potatoes, clover. 
 
 In this and similar rotations the second crop of 
 clover should not be cut, but should be plowed 
 under to enrich the soil and feed the corn. 
 
 The essential point in rotations for stock farming 
 is to provide the maximum amount of roughage 
 and succulence. One of the most useful rotations 
 for this purpose is: 
 
 6. Turnips, barley, mixed grasses and clover, 
 Vheat. 
 
 This is the noted "Norfolk system" used ex- 
 tensively in England. If it is not desired to intro- 
 duce grain so frequently, this can be made a six- 
 course rotation by cutting the grass and clover 
 meadow three years, thus keeping one-half the farm 
 in hay. This rotation may be modified in many 
 ways to meet varying conditions, as by substi- 
 tuting oats for barley, rye for wheat, mangels or 
 sugar beets for turnips. In this rotation the cereals 
 are separated by roots, which is the cleansing crop, 
 and clover, which is the manurial crop. It is one of 
 the most perfect rotations in existence. 
 
 A popular dairy-farm rotation is: 
 
 7. Potatoes, one year; corn, two years; grass and 
 clover, three years. 
 
 The corn may be put into the silo the second 
 year. The grass and clover mixture is sown when 
 the corn is cultivated last. If desirable, one year 
 of corn or one of meadow may be omitted. The 
 main object in a dairy rotation is to secure a 
 
310 SOILS 
 
 continuous supply of food. The necessity for ac- 
 complishing this may make it necessary to adopt 
 rotations that are not ideal, so far as maintaining 
 the fertility of the farm soil is concerned. The 
 abundance of manure may offset this disadvantage. 
 When either the small grains or hay are the 
 specialties a common rotation is : 
 
 8. Wheat or rye; clover, or clover and mixed 
 grasses, three to six years. 
 
 In the "Cotton Belt" one of the most successful 
 rotations is: 
 
 9. Cotton, rye or clover, corn. 
 
 Catch crops of cowpeas are used between these 
 crops. In addition to main-crop rotation, catch 
 crops and cover crops are used in diverse ways. 
 
 The foregoing are but a few of many rotations 
 in common use on American farms. In the Ap- 
 pendix is a list of the rotations commonly practised 
 or recommended in each of the states. These lists 
 have been prepared by authorities on the subject 
 and are a record of the best current practice in 
 crop rotation. 
 
 SINGLE-CROP FARMING 
 
 It must not be inferred that it will never pay to 
 grow a crop continuously on the same land. Often 
 this is the only feasible course — as in some Western 
 grain farming; and again it may be best for certain 
 crops, as onions and tobacco. A summer fallow 
 may be introduced instead of another crop. There 
 are numerous instances of wheat and corn being 
 grown continuously, with little diminution of soil 
 fertility. In the noted experiments of Laws and 
 Gilbert, in England, wheat has been grown con- 
 tinuously on the same land for over sixty years, 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 311 
 
 yet the yields for recent years are much above the 
 average. These are scattered exceptions. The 
 evidence is overwhelming that, in general, the 
 single-crop system, if continued very long, means 
 ruin. 
 
 Mention should be made of "succession crop- 
 ping," as practised by market gardeners especially. 
 By setting out plants from hotbeds, by inter- 
 planting and by very high culture, they are able to 
 take three or four different crops from the same 
 land in a single season. The value of the crops 
 removed in one year by skilled market gardeners 
 often reaches astonishing figures. One Massa- 
 chusetts gardener is reported to have secured a net 
 profit of $2,000 an acre, in 1906. The chief aim 
 of the market gardener is to keep the land busy 
 all the time. He depends little upon the natural 
 fertility of the soil, but mostly upon the very 
 large amounts of manures and fertilisers that 
 he uses, so his rotation is chosen for its 
 economic advantages, rather than for the main- 
 tenance of fertility. 
 
 SELLING FERTILITY 
 
 The maintenance of fertility is a larger and 
 broader problem than how to utilise home re- 
 sources to advantage, and how to buy fertilisers 
 economically. The farmer should ask himself, 
 *'How much fertility am I selling from my farm 
 each year .?" The soil is a great bin of plant food 
 from which we draw a small supply each year. 
 It is not like a bin of wheat — to be drawn on each 
 year until exhausted, because it is constantly re- 
 ceiving new food from the decay of plants, weather- 
 ing of stones and other sources. But cropping 
 
312 SOILS 
 
 does impoverish farm soils of available plant food, 
 reducing their value for cropping, temporarily 
 at least. This plant food is being shipped off in 
 butter, eggs, hay, corn, apples, wheat, cotton, 
 potatoes, and in every other crop that goes to 
 market. The fertility that goes off in crops never 
 returns to that land. But some crops, or part of 
 them, stay on the farm. These are the crops that 
 are fed to stock and the manure returned to the 
 land. 
 
 A Bank Account with the Soil. — In reality, 
 when we sell crops we are selling the fertility of the 
 soil, not only the nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
 acid the crops have used, but also a certain 
 amount of good texture or "condition" which is 
 lost by the growth of the crop. A farmer should 
 know the relation between the price received for 
 his crop and the amount of plant food contained 
 in it. 
 
 The amount of fertility lost to the farm by the 
 sale of different crops varies greatly. The loss in 
 grass and cereal crops is much greater than in 
 vegetable and fruit crops. If a ton of wheat, which 
 contains 38 lbs. of nitrogen, 19 lbs. of phosphoric 
 acid and 13 lbs. of potash, sells for 60 cents a bushel, 
 the nitrogen in it sells for 41 cents a lb., and the 
 phosphoric acid and potash for 14 cents a lb. If 
 a ton of milk, which contains 12 lbs, of nitrogen, 
 4| lbs. of potash and 3| lbs. of phosphoric 
 acid, is sold for $30, the nitrogen in it brings 
 $2 per lb., and the phosphoric acid and 
 potash about 70 cents per lb. If, however, 
 cream or butter is sold and the skim milk 
 fed to hogs, calves or chickens, most of the 
 plant food is recovered in the manure of these 
 animals. 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 313 
 
 Hay is one of the most exhausting crops. If it 
 is sold, practically the entire crop leaves the farm, 
 carrying from it large quantities of plant food, 
 which is sold at a very low price per pound. When 
 a crop that contains a large amount of plant food, 
 as hay, sells for a low price, it is usually best to sell 
 it not as hay, but as a manufactured product — as 
 milk or butter, for example. The farmer ought 
 to think of the several thousand pounds each 
 of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid that his 
 soil probably contains, as so much capital stock. 
 He draws a cheque upon his soil bank every time he 
 removes a crop from it. He should see to it that 
 every pound of plant food that leaves the farm as 
 raw material — like grain, hay, potatoes, or as 
 manufactured products — as milk, butter, beef, 
 pork, eggs, wool, brings him a profitable 
 income. 
 
 On investigation the farmer may find that he is 
 selling plant food at a ruinous price. Then there 
 are two alternatives: to grow other crops which 
 contain less fertility and sell higher per pound of 
 plant food contained; or to sell the crops as 
 manufactured rather than as raw material. This 
 enforces the necessity of introducing stock of some 
 kind to manufacture the crop into products like 
 butter, eggs, or pork, which, when sold, do 
 not diminish the farm fertility bank account 
 to any appreciable extent. Then begins di- 
 versified farming, of which stock husbandry is 
 the backbone. 
 
 The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station 
 has published the results of experiments on the 
 loss of fertility under different systems of farming. 
 The gain of nitrogen from growing clover is net 
 considered in the following figures: 
 
314 
 
 SOILS 
 
 APPROXIMATE LOSS OF PLANT FOOD IN ONE YEAR FROM 
 
 160 ACRES OF LAND UNDER DIFFERENT SYSTEMS 
 
 OF FARMING 
 
 System of Farming: 
 
 All grain 
 
 Mixed grain and general 
 Mixed potato and general 
 
 Stock 
 
 Dairy 
 
 Phosphoric Acid 
 Pounds 
 
 2,460 
 
 1,003 
 
 991 
 
 35 
 
 76 
 
 Potash 
 Pounds 
 
 4,020 
 
 1,047 
 
 2,435 
 
 59 
 
 85 
 
 Nitrogen 
 Pounds 
 
 5,600 
 
 2,594 
 
 2,363 
 
 898 
 
 809 
 
 Commenting on these results the report says, 
 *' With stock farming, when all the crops are fed to 
 the stock on the farm and a small amount of milled 
 products is purchased, there is practically no loss 
 of potash and phosphoric acid except in handling 
 the manure. When the manure is well cared for 
 the loss of these plant foods is less than is stated. 
 When all the skim milk is fed on the farm and a 
 part of the grain exchanged for more concentrated 
 mill products, there is no loss but a constant gain 
 of fertility." 
 
 These figures are, of course, only approximate 
 and subject to much variation; but they show 
 where the heaviest drafts fall on the soil under 
 different systems of farming. 
 
 The type of farming followed, whether stock, 
 fruit, grain, hay or otherwise, is usually determined 
 by economic conditions that are of far greater im- 
 portance than the question of maintaining soil 
 fertility. A farmer grows the crop or rears the 
 stock that he thinks will be most profitable in his 
 situation as regards soil, climate, market and sim- 
 ilar factors. He is more concerned about growing 
 crops that pay this year and next, than about hand- 
 ing down to his son a farm on which the soil has not 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 315 
 
 been seriously impaired in fertility. But the larger 
 consideration of maintaining soil fertility for other 
 generations surely deserves serious thought from the 
 farmer of to-day. In any case it is likely that he 
 will have the subject brought to his attention by 
 self interest. The effects of pursuing a system of 
 farming that continually takes from the land and 
 returns nothing or little to it may be seen within 
 a generation, or even within a decade. Each year 
 thousands of American farmers are radically 
 modifying their systems of husbandry for the pur- 
 pose of maintaining the fertility of their farms. 
 Sometimes this must be done, apparently, at the 
 expense of self interest, at least for a few years. 
 Some of the crops that have paid best either must 
 not be grown at all or grown less frequently. But 
 a series of years may tell another story. 
 
 DIVERSIFIED FARMING 
 
 The number and kinds of crops grown are largely 
 determined by the distance to tne market. Eastern 
 farmers, who are close to large markets, grow a 
 greater variety of crops than Western farmers. Cot- 
 ton in the South, corn in the Central States and 
 small grains in the West are the most conspicuous 
 examples of single-crop farming in the United 
 States. There are many small single-crop areas, as 
 Aroostook County, Maine, which is devoted largely 
 to the culture of potatoes. Single-crop farming 
 does not necessarily mean that but one crop is 
 grown; it may mean that one main crop is grown 
 with a few secondary crops. Small grain farming, 
 even though wheat, oats, and barley are grown, 
 would be considered, in its effect on soil fertility, as 
 single-crop farming. 
 
316 SOILS 
 
 The chief disadvantages of a too rigid adherence 
 to single-crop farming are the unequal distribution 
 through the year of labour and of returns, and the 
 certain exhaustion of the soil sooner or later, by 
 almost continuous cropping with one plant or close- 
 ly related plants. Single-crop farming, if persisted 
 in, means ruin. Diversified farming is one of the 
 strongest props of soil fertility. Undoubtedly the 
 farming in some sections of the country, especially 
 the far West, must be single-crop, or practically so, 
 in order to be profitable, for the farmer must grow 
 what he can sell at a profit. But other crops 
 should be introduced whenever possible. It is 
 very hard to persuade the farmer who has been 
 growing corn, or wheat, or cotton, and little else, that 
 it will be for his interest to diversify his farming. 
 These have been his money-making crops. Yet 
 the time always comes when he is forced, by the 
 lessening fertility of his soil, to introduce "green 
 crops," to feed more stock, and to rest his over- 
 worked land. 
 
 KEEPING LIVE-STOCK TO MAINTAIN FERTILITY 
 
 Theoretically, the most economical way of 
 maintaining the fertility of the soil is by growing 
 crops to feed live-stock and returning their excre- 
 tions to the soil; practically, this is the most en- 
 during method. If all the conditions for caring 
 for and applying manures were perfect, from 70 to 
 90 per cent, of the plant food in what the animals 
 eat would be returned to the soil in the manure and 
 urine. Practically a much smaller per cent, than 
 this is recovered, for there is always loss in storing 
 and handling manure. But even granting that the 
 percentage of plant food that can be recovered in 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 317 
 
 manure is considerably less than is commonly 
 stated, the keeping of live-stock remains one of the 
 most economical methods of maintaining soil fertil- 
 ity under certain conditions. These are largely eco- 
 nomic ; as to whether the animals or their products 
 will find a ready market at profitable prices. 
 
 The stock-feeding solution of the problem of 
 maintaining soil fertility is meeting with more and 
 more favour in every part of the country. The 
 farmers of the West, who have seen their crops 
 gradually dwindle under single- crop farming, are 
 awakening to the necessity for a more diversified 
 husbandry, and especially stock husbandry. The 
 farmers of the South are begining to realise that it 
 will pay to split the time-honoured rotation of corn 
 and cotton with a green crop, which may be fed to 
 stock and the manure used to bind together the 
 clay soils which wash so badly. One-third of the 
 land now in cotton could be made to produce as 
 much cotton as at present, if the other two-thirds 
 were used for forage crops for stock. The South 
 has the great advantage of an almost continuous 
 grazing season. In every branch of crop produc- 
 tion there is a renewed appreciation of the oldest 
 and most reliable three-course rotations — the 
 land produces crops, the crops pass through farm 
 animals, the manure is returned to the land. Even 
 the great practical value of green-manuring, which 
 has been demonstrated so conclusively the past few 
 years, has not diminished the demand for animal 
 manures; and green-manuring is usually resorted 
 to only when a suflScient quantity of animal manure 
 cannot be had. 
 
 This growing appreciation of animal manures 
 and of stock husbandry as a means of maintaining 
 fertility is not misplaced. There are few parts of 
 
318 SOILS 
 
 the country where Hve-stock husbandry, in at least 
 one or more of its many branches, is not prac- 
 ticable. There is in progress an evolution toward 
 diversified farming, which is based very largely 
 upon the advantages of combining more or less 
 stock husbandry with all other types of farming. 
 Undoubtedly there are conditions when the keeping 
 of stock is impracticable, or when the same results 
 may be secured more advantageously by the use 
 of green-manures, by buying animal manure from 
 others, or by using commercial fertilisers. But 
 these cases are few as compared with the great 
 majority of American farms upon which stock 
 husbandry, in some form, ought to be one of the 
 chief means of maintaining fertility. Remember 
 the Flemish proverb: "No grass, no cattle; no 
 cattle, no manure; no manure, no crops." 
 
 THE EXCRETORY THEORY OF SOIL FERTILITY 
 
 There has been advocated during the last two or 
 three years a new theory of soil fertility, especially 
 as it relates to the rotation of crops. In the fore- 
 going pages are presented the most commonly 
 accepted beliefs and practices concerning soil fer- 
 tility; what it is and how it may be increased and 
 maintained to best advantage. Now comes a 
 radically different interpretation of the nature of the 
 problem from a few scientists, whose conclusions 
 nave been reached after extended study and 
 are therefore entitled to a very careful hearing. 
 
 Do Plants Excrete ? — The most important point 
 in the new theory of soil fertility is the positive 
 statement that the roots of plants do excrete sub- 
 stances that correspond in function to the excretions 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 319 
 
 of animals. This is used to explain the value 
 of a rotation of crops. We have been accustomed 
 to believe that the reason why a rotation of crops 
 results in increased yields is because the different 
 feeding habits of the crops bring a larger area of 
 soil under tribute, and equalise the demand upon 
 it; because it improves the texture of the soil; be- 
 cause it alleviates weediness, disease and other 
 difficulties. The new explanation is that the bene- 
 fit of rotating crops is not due so much to those 
 factors — although their importance is not denied — 
 as to the fact that a rotation puts a new kind of 
 plant into a soil that has become clogged with the 
 excretions of the old crop and which has therefore 
 become so "unsanitary" that the old plants can- 
 not grow well. The new plant is not injured by 
 the excretions of its predecessor and so makes a 
 vigorous growth. 
 
 The second radical change of view that the new 
 theory introduces is in regard to the action of 
 manures and fertilisers. We have been believing 
 that the value of supplying manures and fertilisers 
 to the soil is that they actually enrich it with the 
 plant food they contain and that this plant food 
 that we apply is actually needed by the crop and 
 is used by it. The new conception is that manures 
 and fertilisers are valuable chiefly because they 
 aid in renovating the soil, or in cleansing it of the 
 plant excretions, or "toxic" matter, although they 
 do supply plant food. In other words, fertilisers 
 are chiefly beneficial not because they enrich soil but 
 because they purify it. They act not upon the plants 
 but upon the soil; they purify the soil from the 
 excreta of the crop that has been grown and so 
 affect the growth of the crop that is to be grown. 
 
 No soil physicist would champion a theory that 
 
320 SOILS 
 
 so completely controverts our generally accepted 
 beliefs unless there were abundant and weighty 
 evidence to prove that it is at least plausible. It 
 will be impossible to give here more than a bare 
 summary of the abundant evidence submitted in 
 support of the new theory. Briefly stated the main 
 lines of argument are: 
 
 1. Practically all soils, including those that now 
 produce poor crops or are said to be worn out and 
 supposed to be exhausted of available plant food, 
 are really rich in available plant food. 
 
 2. The cause of their unproductiveness, then, is 
 the condition of the soil, not its chemical content. 
 The problem of soil fertility is not concerned so 
 much with the amount of plant food in the soil as 
 with the condition of the soil. 
 
 3. Plants excrete from their roots poisonous 
 substances which are to the plants what manure 
 is to animals — the wastes. If the same kind of 
 plant is grown continuously on the same land, the 
 soil becomes so clogged with this plant manure that 
 this kind of plant will no longer thrive in it, but 
 other kinds of plants will. 
 
 4. A water-culture of an unproductive soil — an 
 exact duplication of the soil water in that soil 
 upon which plants feed — will not grow plants 
 well until the impurities in it have been removed 
 with carbon black; after this is done plants 
 grow very vigorously in it. The chemical com- 
 position of the water-culture is the same as that of 
 the soil water of the unproductive soil in the field. 
 
 5. Humus is Nature's carbon black. If an 
 abundance of humus is present in the soil it absorbs 
 these plant excrements and the soil is kept in a 
 sanitary condition. 
 
 6. Commercial fertilisers are valuable not merely 
 
90. HAY THAT WILL SOON BE BALED AND SHIPPED TO THE CITY 
 
 The plant food in the hay is then lost to the farm. But if the hay were fed to cattle, 
 
 most of the plant food in it is recovered in the manure. In selling 
 
 crops we sell the fertility of the land 
 
 91. CLOVER FOLLO^VING \VHEAT— ONE OF THE COMMONEST 
 ROTATIONS IN THIS COUNTRY 
 
 A rotation of croDS is necessary to the highest success in most types of farming. I 
 possible include a legume, as clover, in every rotation 
 
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY 321 
 
 for the plant food they contain, but also for their 
 cleansing action upon the soil. Manures benefit 
 the soil chiefly because the humus in them cleanses 
 the soil. 
 
 7. The practical application is to rotate crops, and 
 to use farm manures and green manures, which 
 supply the humus that cleanses the soil of plant 
 excretions. In the wild the soil cleanses itself by 
 the constant addition of decaying plants. 
 
 The clash between the current belief and the new 
 belief is mainly this : The prevailing belief explains 
 the unproductiveness of soils that the chemist finds 
 to be very rich in plant food by saying that the soil 
 is in poor texture and hence has not the conditions 
 of warmth, aeration and moisture that are essential 
 to plant growth. The new conception explains 
 the same situation by saying that the worn-out soil 
 has become unsanitary because of an accumulation 
 of excretions from the roots of plants, not enough 
 humus being present to absorb them. 
 
 These two interpretations of the cause of infer- 
 tility are radically different, but there is no dispute 
 about the remedies. In either case they are good 
 tillage, a rotation of crops and the addition of humus 
 to the soil in the form of farm manures and green 
 manures. In either case these remain the most 
 valuable means of maintaining the fertility of 
 farm soils. So the farmer will continue to rotate 
 crops, and to use barn and green manures, unmind- 
 ful of the controversy that is being waged in the 
 scientific world concerning the exact way in which 
 they benefit the soil. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 GREEN MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 
 
 ONE of the most significant phrases that has 
 recently come into our agricultural vocab- 
 ulary is "Keep the soil in good texture." 
 The older farmers of to-day heard nothing about 
 this in their early years, although many of them 
 were skilful in securing the results now expressed 
 by these words. Like many another idea in 
 agriculture, good texture has been talked about 
 and exploited to a degree that is not, perhaps, com- 
 mensurate with its real importance in the successful 
 tilling of the soil. Good texture, like the liming 
 of soils, is but one of many important factors 
 that enter into that most complex problem of 
 modern agriculture — how to maintain the fertility 
 of the soil. However, it is a subject that is not 
 generally understood by those who till the soil, 
 and one that cannot be overlooked or disregarded 
 without loss. There are thousands of acres of 
 land that produce indifferent or unprofitable crops 
 for no other reason than that the soil is poor m 
 texture. 
 
 WHAT IS MEANT BY " GOOD TEXTURE" 
 
 Land is in good heart or good texture when it 
 is in the right physical condition for growing crops. 
 This means that it possesses the qualities expressed 
 by such common farm words as mellow, loose, 
 friable, porous, easy to work; and is not hard, 
 
 322 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 323 
 
 cloddy, lumpy, leachy. It is not concerned with 
 the mere richness of the soil in plant food, but it is 
 concerned with the way in which that plant food 
 is served to the growing crops. It does not mean 
 the amount of water that a soil contains, but it 
 does mean the facility with which that water is 
 presented to the crop. In other words, good tex- 
 ture means that the machinery of the soil is well 
 oiled and in running order; not that there is plenty 
 of raw material — plant food — in it, out of which 
 a profitable crop can be manufactured. In the 
 language of the farm, the texture of the soil is the 
 way it "works up." Everybody who has handled 
 soil knows exactly what is meant by that. 
 
 HOW NATURE SECURES GOOD TEXTURE 
 
 There are several ways of putting in good texture 
 a soil that has become cloddy, stiff, and in "bad 
 heart." The most practicable way, usually, is 
 Nature's way — to keep it filled with humus. 
 
 "Humus" is another word that is fast becoming 
 established in the vocabulary and in the practice 
 of the successful farmer of to-day. "Humus," 
 "green manure," and "good texture" express a 
 trinity of agricultural ideas that are improving 
 our farming more than anything else except, pos- 
 sibly, plant breeding. 
 
 Although the term humus is now in common 
 use, there is much haziness about the conception 
 that underlies it. The best illustration of the use 
 of humus is found in Nature's farming. Here is 
 a piece of virgin soil. For centuries it has nur- 
 tured herbs, grasses, vines, shrubs, trees. In 
 numberless cycles plants have been born upon it, 
 have grown to maturity, reproduced their kind, 
 
324 SOILS 
 
 died, decayed, and have returned to the soil. 
 From their substance have sprung other plants. 
 Each year the soil becomes richer from the return 
 of its children and is able to nourish lustier off- 
 spring. It may thus come to have upon it great 
 trees, standing so high and so thick that we won- 
 der how such a thin, rocky soil can support them. 
 
 Then a farmerclcars the land, uproots tne stumps, 
 subdues the herbage, and plants corn. For a few 
 years, perhaps for many years, the crops are large; 
 but after a wliile they begin to dwindle. The 
 farmer then seeks to maintain his yields by ap- 
 plications of fertilisers. These htUp some, but 
 do not seem to restore the land to its early pro- 
 ductive power. The farmer begins to wonder 
 where the trouble lies. How can his pygmy crops 
 of grain exhaust the soil more than the great forest 
 crop of Nature's farming ? lie takes a sample of his 
 soil to be analysed. The chemist tells him that 
 the soil contains enough of all the necessary plant 
 foods to grow seventy-five bushels of corn per acre 
 for several hundred years. Yet the yield has 
 fallen from sixty to forty bushels per acre, and 
 applications of fertilisers, though they increase the 
 yield considerably, do not secure the results of fifty 
 years ago. Why is this ? 
 
 A Farmers Logic. — The farmer, and I assure 
 the reader that he is not hypothetical, then began 
 to notice more carefully the growth of crops on 
 different parts of his farm. One season he noticed 
 a bigger growth of corn in a certain spot. He 
 remembered that the thresher was set up on this 
 spot two years before and a considerable amount 
 of fine straw and chaff had remained on the ground 
 and had been plowed under. He recalled that 
 last spring the plow had pulled easier and the soil 
 
LOSS OF FERTILITY BY EROSION 
 
 The finest and richest soil from this field of winter wheat is being washed into the 
 
 creek. Such land ought to be in sod or, at least, the drills 
 
 should run crosswise of the slope 
 
 93. A GEOR<.I A 1 II LD THAT ONCE PRODUCED A BALE OF COTTON 
 PER ACRE, NOW RUINED BEYOND REDEMPTION 
 BY GULLYING 
 
 Shallow plowing, the lack of humus, and carelessness about "break.s" 
 brought this about 
 
94. RICHNESS RUNNING OFF IN THE BOTTOM OF THK DEEP Fl'RR( )\\ 
 
 MADE BY RIDOINC. THIS COTTON 
 
 Somi- (l;iy this hmil will \h- lallcil "worn oiil" 
 
 Note that this one collccteil much soi! until a new Rully formed over it. Hay, cotton 
 
 stems, brush, weeds, etc., are also usc<l. .Sliinv Southern hill farms 
 
 need attention in this matter all the year 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 325 
 
 had worked up mellower on this spot. This gave 
 him an idea. The chemist had also told him that 
 he could buy of a fertiliser dealer all the plant food 
 that there is in a ton of good cow manure for two 
 dollars, yet this farmer knew from experience that 
 he could get better results on his land from one ton 
 of manure than from five dollars' worth of any 
 commercial fertiliser he had ever bought. Per- 
 haps the manure had other values besides its plant 
 food value. 
 
 He went to the cow pasture and kicked over a 
 heap of dry cow dung that had lain there many 
 months. Evidently the rains must have washed 
 out practically all its plant food. The substance 
 that remains is mostly indigestible vegetable mat- 
 ter that the cow has eaten; it is fibrous, holds 
 water like a sponge, and is easily incorporated with 
 the soil. He knows that it is good for plants, 
 though it contains little or no plant food. 
 
 Following this clue, the farmer went to his wood- 
 land. Beneath the living plants about him are 
 the dead and decaying trees, underbrush, herbage, 
 leaves. He can barely trace upon the ground the 
 outline of a one-time forest monarch that is slowly 
 passing into mould, and already nourishes a thrifty 
 colony of mosses and ferns. Beneath the carpet- 
 ing leaves is the rich, black, forest mould. It is 
 made of the leaves, branches and trunks of a genera- 
 tion ago. It holds water like a sponge. Upon it 
 Nature is growing a crop that must be many 
 times more exhaustive of plant food than any crop 
 of maize. 
 
 The farmer came to this conclusion: "It is 
 this decaying vegetation that my soil needs. My 
 farm has been cropped with corn, oats and pota- 
 toes for fifty years. No vegetation has been 
 
326 SOILS 
 
 returned to it except the stubble and roots of the 
 grain, the roots of the potatoes and a few 
 weeds. For fifty years my father and I have been 
 exhausting the soil of its vegetable matter. No 
 wonder the soil gets cloddier and harder to work 
 every year; it needs more of this material to sepa- 
 rate the particles and make it looser and more 
 fibrous. I know why it suft'ers more from drought 
 than it used to — it has not enough of the spongy 
 material in it to hold the moisture. I am going 
 to try growing some crop to plow under and decay 
 in the soil. I believe it is the lack of this material 
 more than the lack of plant food that reduces my 
 yields." 
 
 The farmer who made these remarks to me, 
 about eight years ago, has since then more than veri- 
 fied the accuracy of his conclusion. Each year 
 he now devotes a portion of his farm to clover, 
 vetch, field peas, rye, rape, or some other crop that 
 fits into the rotation, and plows under the herbage. 
 His soil is growing richer and his fertiliser bill has 
 been cut in two. Soil that formerly was lumpy, 
 "run together," and baked is becoming mellow 
 and in good heart; its texture has been improved 
 by the addition of humus. 
 
 This farmer is only one of thousands who now 
 make use of "green manure," as such a crop 
 is called, for the improvement of their lands. I 
 once heard a speaker at a Farmers' Institute 
 say: '*The key to maintaining the fertility of 
 the soil is to have plants decaying in it all 
 the time, as is the case in uncleared land." 
 This statement of the problem is forceful and 
 practical. He did not mean, of course, that 
 humus alone can maintain fertility. No amount 
 of green-manuring can enrich a soil in the 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 327 
 
 mineral plant foods — potash and phosphoric 
 acid — and there are many soils that are ex- 
 hausted of these. Fertilisers and manures must 
 be used to make good this loss. But he did 
 mean that a majority of the soils that now pro- 
 duce unsatisfactory crops, and are said to be 
 *'worn out," need the humus that comes from 
 decaying plants more than mere additions of plant 
 food. This practice is becoming a noteworthy 
 feature of American farming. 
 
 HOW HUMUS BENEFITS THE SOIL 
 
 Humus benefits the soil in several ways. Its 
 greatest benefit is in improving texture. Mix a 
 little leaf mould, gathered from the woods, with 
 a pailful of light, sandy soil ; it gives the soil more 
 "body," and makes it less leachy. Add leaf 
 mould to a pailful of stiff clay soil that clods, 
 bakes and cracks in the field; the clay be- 
 comes more porous and works up better. Wet it 
 and it does not puddle. These same results farm- 
 ers secure, on a commercial scale, in their fields. 
 
 The relation of good texture to the fertility of 
 cloddy land lies in the uselessness of the clods. 
 The root hairs of plants feed on the outside of the 
 smallest particles of soil. If, therefore, a large 
 proportion of the soil is lumpy and in bad heart 
 the feeding area or "pasturage" is reduced that 
 much. This is why we hear about plant food 
 being "locked up" in lumps — it is where the 
 plants cannot get to it. This is why it is said, 
 and truly, "Fining the soil may be equivalent to 
 fertilising it." One way of fining the soil, and 
 hence of increasing its productive power, is to im- 
 prove the texture by adding humus. 
 
328 SOILS 
 
 Storing the Rain. — Another benefit that humus 
 confers upon a soil is that of increasing its 
 power to hold moisture. A sand may contain 
 enough plant food for a crop, but the crop 
 will not grow because the sand cannot sup- 
 ply the plant with water — it is too leachy. 
 Plants not only need water to drink, but 
 water is also needed to carry food that is 
 dissolved in it to the plants. Soils deficient 
 in humus dry out quickly in a time of drought. 
 There may be an abundance of plant food 
 in the soil, but it is useless for the time being 
 if there is not enough moisture to dissolve it and 
 carry it to the plant. Where do you find fish- 
 worms in a *'dry spell?" I dig in the moist soil 
 beneath the chips of the old woodpile. Chips 
 have decayed there in the soil for years. It is full 
 of humus, and moisture, and worms. Is not the 
 soil blacker, richer, and more moist where the cur- 
 rant bushes have been mulched every year with 
 manure or straw ? So in the larger operations of 
 the farm, the addition of humus to a soil from 
 which it has been "burnt out" by years of clean 
 tillage has a marked effect in increasing the 
 power of that soil to hold moisture. 
 
 Humus Enriches the Soil. — When a plant decays 
 in the soil it returns to the soil practically all that 
 was taken from it. But there are additional bene- 
 fits. In the decay of the plant certain acids are 
 formed that help to dissolve some of the unavail- 
 able, or unpalatable, plant food in the soil. All 
 humus is a store of nitrogen; green-manuring is 
 the cheapest means of maintaining the supply of 
 this plant food. If the plants grown for green- 
 manuring are "legumes ' they are especially 
 valuable for adding nitrogen. 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 329 
 
 TWO KINDS OF GREEN MANURE 
 
 Almost any herbaceous plant has some value 
 when plowed under as a green manure. The 
 weeds that get a foothold in the garden and corn- 
 field in late summer serve one useful purpose in 
 this way. But the trouble with weeds for green 
 manure is that we cannot depend upon them. 
 They come in where they have a mind to, not as we 
 desire. Usually they are rank in the hollows, 
 where the soil is rich and needs no humus, but shun 
 the knolls, where the soil is hard and needs humus 
 badly. Sometimes weeds may be turned to good 
 account for green-manuring, but usually a special 
 crop must be grown. 
 
 There is a distinction between crops for this pur- 
 pose. They may be " leguminous" plants or " non- 
 leguminous." A leguminous plant is one that, 
 among other characteristics, bears its seeds in a 
 certain kind of a pod, called by botanists a 
 legume . " Peas , beans , clovers , vetches , alfalfa , soy 
 beans, cowpeas, are examples of leguminous plants 
 commonly used for green-manuring. If it is 
 known that the soil is more or less lacking in the 
 plant food, nitrogen, a leguminous crop should be 
 grown for plowing under in preference to a non- 
 leguminous crop, like rape, buckwheat or rye. 
 Through the little warts or nodules on their roots 
 leguminous plants may feed upon the nitrogen that 
 is in the soil air, instead of drawing upon the supply 
 that is in the soil. When these plants are plowed 
 under, therefore, the soil is enriched with the 
 nitrogen that they have gathered. The plants 
 themselves are richer in nitrogen, and have a higher 
 feeding value, when the nodules are on their roots. 
 
 This wonderful process of "nitrogen-fixing" has 
 
330 SOILS 
 
 far-reaching practical application. The bacteria 
 in these nodules, which can be seen in various 
 sizes on the roots of most legumes, are so small 
 that it would take 10,000 of them placed side by 
 side to measure an inch. Yet these tiny germs 
 save the farmers of this country millions of dollars 
 that would otherwise have to be spent for fertilisers 
 containing nitrogen. 
 
 If the soil does not need nitrogen, but does need 
 humus, a non-leguminous crop like rye or rape may 
 be grown. The leguminous plants, however, are 
 the great soil '* renovators." The clovers in the 
 North and the cowpea in the South have built up 
 thousands of acres of soil and vastly increased their 
 producing power. Most of these plants, especially 
 clovers and alfalfa, benefit the soil in still an- 
 other way; they deepen it through their deep- 
 rooting habit. Clover roots bore down into the 
 soil several feet, bringing up and using plant food 
 that is beyond the reach of the roots of most field 
 crops. This is handed over to the surface soil 
 when the plants are plowed under. But some 
 soils will not grow clover. The kind of crop that 
 should be grown for green-manuring, and how to 
 grow it, depend upon the special conditions of each 
 farm. 
 
 WHEN A GREEN-MANURING CROP MAY BE GROWN 
 
 If the soil is badly "run down," and the land 
 can be used for a green-manuring crop without 
 sacrificing too much, the crop may occupy the 
 ground the entire season or even for several sea- 
 sons, as when red clover is sown in the spring, cut 
 the following year and the second crop of that sea- 
 son plowed under. As a rule, however, it is more 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 331 
 
 practicable to grow green manures between other 
 crops, or as a part of a definite system of rotation. 
 The rotations listed in the Appendix point out 
 many ways in which a green-manuring crop may 
 be grown without losing time. The effort should 
 be to have a "green crop" in the rotation every 
 few years, or at least a sod to plow under occasion- 
 ally; for there is humus and richness in a sod as 
 well as in a crop grown especially for plowing 
 under. 
 
 Catch Crops and Cover Crops. — There are two 
 ways of introducing a green -manuring crop for 
 part of a season. One is the use of a "catch crop," 
 which is grown during the season between the 
 time when one money-making crop is harvested 
 and another planted. Catch crops are used most 
 by market gardeners. 
 
 Another way is to use a "cover crop," which is 
 sown late in the season after the main crop is out 
 of the way, so that it makes some growth in the 
 autumn, and perhaps in early spring also. A cover 
 crop not only adds humus to the soil but it also 
 protects the soil from heaving in spring. It catches 
 and holds the soluble plant food that would other- 
 wise be lost in seepage; this is returned to the soil 
 when the crop is plowed under in spring. It also 
 catches the snows and drys out the soil earlier in 
 spring. One of the commonest cover crops is rye 
 sown in corn or cotton at the last cultivation. 
 
 Cover crops are now extensively used in fruit 
 growing. In addition to their other benefits, cover 
 crops in the orchard make the trees mature their 
 wood and fruit buds earlier in the fall and so lessen 
 danger of winter injury. There are hundreds of 
 ways in which a green-manuring crop may be intro- 
 duced, depending largely upon the system of 
 
332 SOILS 
 
 farming and the value of the land. It does not pay 
 to allow land to lie bare and idle, unless necessary 
 to store water in arid farming. Keep it busy. Fill 
 in the chinks between the money crops with catch 
 crops or cover crops that will maintain fertility; 
 and, if engaged in staple-crop farming, endeavour 
 to include a green-manuring crop in the general 
 rotation. 
 
 FERTILISING VALUE OF ROOTS AND STUBBLE 
 
 It is not always necessary to plow under the 
 entire crop in order to gain substantial benefit from 
 green-manuring ; in fact, it is seldom practicable to 
 do so. The roots and stubble of a mature crop of 
 cowpeas or clover contain about one-third of the 
 soil-improving value of the crop. It is usually 
 more practicable, particularly with leguminous crops, 
 to harvest the hay, especially if it is fed on the farm 
 and the manure used to enrich the farm. Thirty- 
 five per cent, of the soil-improving value of red 
 clover is in the roots and stubble left after the crop 
 is cut. If the crop is fed or pastured, and the 
 manure returned to the land, the soil gets from 80 
 to 90 per cent, of the full manurial value of the crop, 
 while the farmer also gets its full value for feeding 
 — a case of eating your cake and having it too. 
 Stock husbandry is the key to many pleasant sur- 
 prises like this. 
 
 GREEN MANURES NOT COMPLETE FERTILISERS 
 
 Green-manuring alone cannot be expected to 
 maintain the fertility of the soil on most farms, 
 although it will contribute very largely to that end. 
 When crops are grown and turned under there is no 
 
A HILLSIDE THAT GULLIED BADLY UNTIL COVERED WITH 
 BERMUDA GRASS AND LESPEDEZA 
 
 These hold the soil perfectly. There are many cultivated slopes that 
 ought to be seeded 
 
 
 
 98. THE DENSE TURF OF BERMUDA GRASS 
 
 This is the great soil-binder of the South. It takes complete possession of a pasture in 
 two or three years, and is valuable for feeding. It spreads like " quack grass" 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 333 
 
 actual gain of plant food, except nitrogen if legu- 
 minous crops are grown. No green manures 
 return to the soil any more potash and phosphoric 
 acid than they took from the soil. No matter how 
 long and how skilfully green-manuring is con- 
 ducted, it will not enrich the soil with one pound 
 of the mineral plant foods, although it may make 
 the mineral foods already in the soil more available, 
 which may amount to the same thing, so far as 
 crop production is concerned. A sharp distinction 
 should be made here : green-manuring may actually 
 enrich the soil in nitrogen, but it cannot enrich the 
 soil in potash and phosphoric acid ; it may, however, 
 so improve the texture of the soil that plants can use 
 more of the potash and phosphoric acid already there . 
 When we remember that most farm soils, even 
 the poorest, contain tons of plant food, we can 
 believe that in practical effect, though not in 
 reality, green-manuring may enrich the soil in all 
 the plant foods. The mere amount of plant food 
 in the soil is nothing to us: it is the ability of the 
 soil to transform this material into plants that inter- 
 ests us. Green-manuring helps the soil to do this 
 as no other farm practice does, except the use of 
 barn manures. We ccnnot expect green-manuring 
 to relieve us of the necessity for buying and using 
 the mineral plant foods ; but we do expect that, in 
 certain systems of farming, it will make unnecessary 
 the purchase of nitrogen, and that it will greatly 
 reduce the amount of the mineral plant foods that 
 need be applied. 
 
 INOCULATING THE SOIL 
 
 Under some conditions a leguminous crop that is 
 plowed under may make the soil richer by a 
 
334 SOILS 
 
 hundred or more pounds of nitrogen; under other 
 conditions it may add little if any nitrogen to the 
 soil except that which it has drawn from the soil. 
 In order that a legume may gather nitrogen from 
 the air there must be '* nitrogen-fixing bacteria" 
 in nodules on its roots. If the legume is grown in 
 a soil that has never been used for that crop, or not 
 for several years, there may be none of these bac- 
 teria in the soil. If there are none the crop will 
 not thrive, or very few nodules will be found on 
 the roots, and when there are no nodules nitrogen is 
 not gained. If a leguminous plant is dug up and 
 no nodules can be found on the roots, one may be 
 reasonably sure that the plant is not gathering from 
 the air the plant food that costs fifteen cents 
 a pound in commercial fertilisers, but that it is 
 living on the nitrates in the soil. 
 
 Inoculating With Old Soil. — If no bacteria are 
 present, they must be supplied. A few of them 
 often cling to the seeds of the crop, sometimes 
 enough to inoculate the soil quite thoroughly 
 after one or two crops of the legume have been 
 grown in it. Usually, however, it is best to in- 
 oculate with soil taken from a field on which that 
 particular crop has been grown successfully. This 
 soil contains millions of the germs; when it is 
 broadcasted or drilled in, the bacteria are spread 
 and will find the roots of the leguminous crop 
 when it is planted. From 400 to 800 lbs. of soil 
 is sufficient. It is best to take the soil several 
 inches below the surface and in a part of the field 
 on which the plants had many nodules the year 
 previous. The practice of sprinkling old soil over 
 a new field has given luxuriant crops of legumes 
 after failures to get a satisfactory stand. 
 
 Inoculating With Artificial Cultures. — Another 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 335 
 
 way to introduce the needful bacteria is to buy 
 one of the several artificial cultures. Of these, 
 '*nitro-culture" is probably most widely known. 
 These preparations contain a large quantity of the 
 bacteria somewhat as a yeast-cake contains the 
 bacteria that make bread rise. The "soil yeast- 
 cake" is dissolved in warm water and this water 
 sprinkled on a quantity of soil, which is then dis- 
 tributed on the new land. Very uncertain results 
 have attended the use of nitro-culture and similar 
 preparations; in some cases the soil has been in- 
 oculated with bacteria very successfully; in other 
 cases no beneficial results have followed. It is 
 evident that the method of preparing these cul- 
 tures has not yet been perfected. Undoubtedly the 
 use of artificial cultures of this and other beneficial 
 bacteria will some time become common and suc- 
 cessful, but at present the safest way is to get old 
 soil if it can be had. 
 
 Some of those who are exploiting these preparations 
 have not made it clear, as they should, that in- 
 oculating the soil with this material assists none 
 but leguminous crops to secure nitrogen; and, 
 furthermore, that it may help to enrich the soil in 
 no plant food except nitrogen. The "yeast-cake" 
 idea appeals strongly to the popular imagination 
 and the most absurd claims are sometimes made for 
 the artificial cultures. Soil inoculation is but 
 one of many means of maintaining fertility, and 
 usually it is a very incidental means. 
 
 Each Crop has Different Bacteria. — Not one kind 
 of bacteria performs this service, but many — a differ- 
 ent kind on each leguminous crop. According to 
 present knowledge, the bacteria that aid clover to 
 feed on nitrogen from the air, do not aid alfalfa, 
 cowpeas or any other crop. This means that one 
 
336 SOILS 
 
 must get old soil, or an artificial culture, for each 
 kind of leguminous crop grown. It is probable 
 that the several kinds of bacteria will be found to 
 be more or less interchangeable, but the safest way 
 is to get the kind that go with the crop to be grown. 
 
 It is often found that the first year a leguminous 
 crop is grown the stand is poor and the growth 
 unsatisfactory; or that there are few nodules on 
 the roots, showing that little nitrogen is being 
 secured. But the second year the crop will be 
 better and the roots have more nodules, because 
 the bacteria have increased. In growing legumi- 
 nous crops, therefore, it is often best to re-seed on 
 the same land until the soil becomes well filled with 
 bacteria. Often if a poor stand of clover or alfalfa 
 is plowed and the land at once re-seeded a much 
 better stand is secured. 
 
 Poor Soils Benefited Most. — If the soil is already 
 quite well supplied with available nitrogen legu- 
 minous plants growing in it get very littlenitrogen 
 from the air; they will draw upon the nitrogen in 
 the soil. Leguminous plants live on nitrogen of the 
 air only when they have to ; when there is very little 
 nitrogen in the soil. Cowpea plants on poor soil 
 usually have many more nodules on their roots 
 than cowpea plants on a rich soil; showing that 
 the former are living mainly on the nitrogen of the 
 air, while the latter are living mainly on the nitro- 
 gen in the soil. Even on a soil already rich in 
 nitrogen, leguminous^crops do return more nitrogen 
 to the soil than they draw from it; but the poorer 
 the soil the more nitroo^en there is added to it. The 
 same crop of cowpeas may add 100 lbs. of nitrogen 
 to the soil or 25, according to the extent to which 
 the plants have been obliged to get nitrogen from 
 the air. This calls attention again to the peculiar 
 
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 99. SOIL IN POOR TEXTURE 
 It needs more humus to make it mellow 
 
 100. ON LEFT, A CLOD OF CLAY SOIL; ON RIGHT, DECAYING 
 STEMS AND LEAVES, WHICH BECOME HUMUS 
 
 Mix the humus with the clay and note improvement. The same thing can be done 
 in the field, on a larger scale, by plowing under a green manure 
 
101. NODULES, OR TUBERCLES, ON THE ROOTS OF SOY BEAN 
 
 In these live the bacteria that may take nitrrtgen from the soil air, and turn it over to 
 thepknt. Only "leguminous" plants-as clover, pea, cowpea-can do this 
 
 103. COWPEAS ON "WORN-OUT" COTTON FIELD 
 
 Note the tiny gullies; the fine soil has been mostly washed av.ay. The cowpeas. when 
 Mote tmy g^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^.^^ ^.^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^1 ^^j g^rich it 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 337 
 
 value of leguminous crops for improving poor 
 soils. These bacteria do not multiply on sour or 
 wet soils, which is one reason why light soils are 
 usually more benefited by green-manuring than 
 heavy soils. 
 
 PLOWING UNDER A GREEN MANURE 
 
 It is a common mistake to allow a cover crop to 
 grow late into the spring, and until it gets woody, 
 before plowing it under. Too much rank herb- 
 age may dry out the soil that season. The 
 earlier it is plowed under the more moist the soil 
 is, as a rule, and the quicker the plants decay. If 
 possible, it is best to plow under a green manure at 
 least two weeks before planting the succeeding 
 crop, so that it may partially decay. If the crop is 
 not hardy, as oats or buckwheat, it is usually best 
 to allow the herbage to lie on the surface during 
 the winter, and plow it under in spring rather than 
 to plow in the fall. Little if any of the manurial 
 value of the crop is lost by leaving it on the ground 
 during the winter, and it protects the surface from 
 washing. Such crops as the cowpea and soy bean 
 are exceptions to this because their leaves fall off 
 and are blown away. When plowing under a large 
 amount of herbage, a drag chain is serviceable. In 
 general, it is much better to plow under small crops 
 of herbage two or three times than to plow under 
 a large quantity at one time. 
 
 Like every other farm practice, green-manuring 
 has limitations. Some crops do poorly if planted 
 on land where a green crop has just been plowed 
 under. Alfalfa, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and 
 buckwheat are among these. This is partly be- 
 cause the decay of a large amount of herbage in the 
 
338 SOILS 
 
 soil results in fermentation, and the soil becomes 
 more or less acid; and partly because the herbage 
 loosens and dries out tlie soil before it has become 
 thoroughly decayed. Potatoes and corn do not 
 seem to mind this. In any case it is best, if prac- 
 ticable, not to plant a crop for at least two or three 
 weeks after a large amount of herbage has been 
 plowed under, but to keep the land fallow. Lim- 
 ing the soil at the time of green-manuring is often 
 beneficial. If only stubble is plowed under, or a 
 scanty crop of herbage, these precautions are not 
 necessary. 
 
 LEGUMINOUS CROPS FOR GREEN-MANURING 
 
 Red Clover is the king of green-manuring crops, 
 especially in the Northern States. This is partly 
 on account of its very deep root system, which 
 bores through, loosens and drains the subsoil and 
 brings deep-lying plant food to the surface. It 
 does not catch well on soils in bad heart; such soils 
 must first be improved by plowing under rye and 
 other coarser crops. The seeding is ten to twenty 
 pounds per acre. In the North, seeding is in early 
 spring or in August; in the South, September or 
 October sowing is preferred. Usually the crop is 
 cut or pjistured one or two years, and the after- 
 math is plowed under. Unquestionably red clover 
 is the most valuable plant in Northern farming, 
 where the maintenance of soil fertility as well as the 
 largest immediate profits, is considered. If it can 
 be worked into a rotation to advantage this should 
 be done. Be sure the land is not deficient in lime. 
 
 The preeminent value of red clover for improving 
 soils is strikingly illustrated in some experiments 
 by Henry W. Geller. Many pots of ordinary soil 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 339 
 
 had added to them these materials: (1) Fresh 
 manure, at the rate of 20 tons per acre ; (2) Clover 
 stems from an old field, dried and ground to meal; 
 (3) Ground wheat straw; (4) Ground peat. The 
 effect of these different forms of humus on the crop 
 grown in the soil to wliich they were added, was 
 very marked. Mr. (jieller concluded, "Of all the 
 different kinds of organic matter applied, clover 
 liberated the most plant food"; and again, "The 
 greatest yield was obtained from the soil to which 
 clover was applied, it being three times as large as 
 the yield of untreated soil; while the crop from the 
 manured soil was twice that of the untreated soil." 
 
 The Cowpea is to the South what clover is to the 
 North. It grows anywhere south of the Ohio 
 river, and in some places farther north, especially 
 along the Atlantic Coast. It is planted only in 
 spring or summer, as frost kills it. Cowpeas may 
 be sown after wheat, oats, or rye and the crop cut 
 for hay in time for fall crops to be sown. The 
 roots feed almost as deeply as those of clover and 
 the plants thrive on a very poor soil, provided it is 
 not too wet. It is seeded at the rate of one and a 
 half to three and a half bushels per acre, either 
 broadcast or drilled in, and is cultivated two or 
 three times. The vines soon cover the ground. 
 They are commonly cut for hay; rarely is it best 
 to plow under the entire crop. 
 
 The cowpea is most valuable as a catch crop; 
 it fits in nicely after the harvesting of one staple crop 
 and before the planting of another. One of the 
 best ways of building up worn-out cotton land in 
 the South is to sow rye in the fall, plow it under 
 in spring, harrow and let the land lie fallow for a 
 month, then sow cowpeas. Cut this crop for hay 
 and sow rye again. Three or four years of this 
 
340 SOILS 
 
 treatment will make a marked improvement in the 
 soil. Both of these crops thrive on very poor 
 land. The cowpea has worked miracles on thou- 
 sands of acres of Southern land; it is a great 
 blessing to Southern agriculture. 
 
 Crimson clover deserves third place in the list of 
 soil-improvers. It is grown chiefly along the 
 Atlantic sea-board from Massachusetts to Georgia, 
 and is used almost entirely as a cover crop. It is 
 sown from the last of July to the first of October 
 at the rate of fifteen to twenty pounds of seed 
 per acre, either between rows of standing crops, as ♦ 
 corn or cotton, or after the crop has been harvested. 
 The peculiar value of crimson clover lies in its 
 ability to grow late into the winter, and to begin 
 growth again early the next spring, thus accumulat- 
 ing much herbage before the spring plowing. It 
 gathers nitrogen most industriously during this 
 period. It makes good winter pasture. In the 
 South, crimson clover complements the cowpea, 
 since it grows at a season when the cowpea does 
 not. In the North it is equally at home and is 
 valued highly. 
 
 Alfalfa is the greatest soil-improver of arid 
 farming in the West. At the Wyoming Experi- 
 ment Station land on which alfalfa had been grown 
 produced $10 worth more of potatoes and oats per 
 acre than similar land that had not been in alfalfa, 
 and this increase was secured at no cost. In late 
 years the culture of alfalfa has extended over many 
 parts of the East. Wherever it can be grown to 
 advantage, as a part of the farm rotation, alfalfa is 
 one of the very best means of maintaining fertility, 
 although it is grown primarily as a forage or hay 
 crop. It prefers an open subsoil, being the most 
 deep-rooting of any farm crop; this makes it of 
 
103. A FIELD OF COWPEAS GROWN TO IMPROVE THE SOIL 
 
 The covvpea is to the South what clover is to the North — the great soil renovator 
 
 104. A SINGLE COWPEA VINE, TWELVE FEET LCJNG, ON A 
 NORTH GEORGIA FARM 
 
 The tops will be cut for hay, but the roots and stubble, when plowed under, greatly improve 
 the soil, as they contain a third of the soil-improving value of the plant 
 
\l lAKl- HKANS (IROVVN FOR A GREEN MAN'URE IN FLORIDA 
 
 'I'lic vines arc oflcn jo to 40 feet long. This leRiime largely replaces the 
 cowpea in Florida 
 
 lOli. THE RIGHT PLACE FOR A COVER CROP-TO PROTECT THE 
 BARE GROUND OF CORN FIELD OVER WINTER 
 
 Nature's cover crop of weeds is not evenly distrihufed. Rye sown at the last 
 cultivation in summer is a popular cover crop for corn 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 341 
 
 unusual value in improving the soil. Seeding is at the 
 rate of twenty to thirty pounds per acre, and after 
 spring frosts in the North ; fall seeding is preferred 
 in the South. The sod is cut for three to eight 
 years; hence alfalfa can be used only in a long 
 rotation. 
 
 Other Leguminous Green Manures. — The four 
 plants mentioned above are the great soil-improvers 
 of America. Other crops are often or occasionally 
 grown. Canadian field peas are frequently grown 
 in the North, especially on rough soils, and either 
 alone or sown with grains to support the vines. 
 The seeding is one and a half to two bushels per 
 acre. Market gardeners often grow garden peas, 
 pick the pods and then plow under the vines, thus 
 getting double value from the crop. Vetches of 
 various kinds, particularly the smooth vetch and 
 the hairy vetch, are often used, especially in the 
 Pacific Northwest. Vetches are used extensively 
 for orchard cover crops in the East. The seeding 
 is about one bushel per acre. Hairy vetch may 
 become a bad weed unless looked after sharply. 
 The soy bean, also called "soja bean" and "Jap- 
 anese pea," is very serviceable in many sections. It 
 is hardier than the cowpea and can be grown 
 farther north. When grown for soil improvment 
 the whole crop should be plowed under, as the 
 roots and stubble do not contain such a large pro- 
 portion of the plant foods as clover and cowpea 
 stubble. White sweet clover and lupines are 
 sometimes grown for green-manuring. 
 
 NON-LEGUMININOUS CROPS FOR GREEN-MANURING 
 
 Rye is the most useful of plants that improve the 
 soil when plowed under, but do not enrich it in 
 
342 SOILS 
 
 nitrogen, not being legumes. It is commonly used 
 as a cover crop, sown in corn, after potatoes, etc., 
 from August first to November first, the seeding 
 being one and a half to three bushels. It is 
 especially valuable for building up light soils or 
 soils in such bad texture that legumes do not thrive. 
 Rye grows late and begins growth very early in 
 spring, thus using and returning to the soil much 
 nitrogen that would be leached away from bare 
 soils at this time. It makes good winter and 
 spring pasture. Wheat is sometimes used for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 Oats and buckwheat are used when a crop is 
 needed which will be killed by winter. Buck- 
 wheat is especially valuable for very light and 
 poor soils. 
 
 Rape is a valuable forage and green-manuring 
 crop, especially as a cover crop. Like rye, it grows 
 until the ground freezes, and begins growth again 
 very early the following spring. Winter rape, 
 however, is not hardy in the Northern States ; spring 
 rape, especially Dwarf Essex, is valued there. 
 
 White mustard is frequently used to improve 
 light sandy soils and is especially useful as a catch 
 crop. It grows very rankly in late fall and is not 
 killed until the ground freezes. The seeding is 
 about one-third bushel per acre. It does not 
 become a weed. 
 
 THE RENOVATION OF VTORN-OUT SOILS 
 
 How to restore productiveness to soils that have 
 lost their power to produce profitable crops, and 
 are said to be "worn-out," is one of the great farm 
 problems of to-day. There are hundreds of 
 thousands of acres of worn-out soils in the Atlantic 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 343 
 
 States. The older soils of the East, which have 
 been cultivated, more or less, for two or three cen- 
 turies, were the first to decline. Gradually the 
 area of worn-out soils is extending westward. Even 
 some of the Mississippi Valley soils that fifty years 
 ago were thought to be of inexhaustible fertility, 
 are now said to be about worn-out. 
 
 The history of the East is being repeated in the 
 West. The virgin soils there are now said to have 
 an inexhaustible wealth of fertility; yet sooner or 
 later the crops on even these wonderful soils will 
 decline. Then those agricultural freebooters whose 
 whole idea of tilling the soil seems to be that of 
 merely skimming off the cream of Nature's in- 
 crease, will pass on to virgin soils, leaving 
 behind land that it will take years of careful 
 farming to bring back to its normal productive- 
 ness. 
 
 The agricultural history of our country, so far as 
 soil management is concerned, is far from being 
 a credit to the genius of our people. It has been 
 marked by the most ruthless soil robbery on the 
 largest scale that the world has ever known. 
 Virgin lands have been cleared, their fatness wrung 
 from them with little or no returns, until the crops 
 have dwindled to but a fraction of the bountiful 
 harvests of pioneer days. Then the son, who has 
 fallen heir to the inevitable result of the spend- 
 thrift farming of his father, moves West. The 
 most disheartening feature of all is that nine times 
 out of ten he follows there the same course which 
 has brought poverty to so many farm homes in the 
 East. Western farming is as improvident now as 
 Eastern farming has been, and still is to a con- 
 siderable extent. We cannot escape from the 
 criticism of J. J. Hill: "American farmers have 
 
344 SOILS 
 
 barely skimmed the soil; there is little intensive 
 farming in this country." 
 
 The problem of worn-out soils is vital now and is 
 becoming more insistent as our agriculture ages. 
 Fortunately the East has at last awakened to the 
 exigencies of the situation, and is reclaiming her 
 worn-out soils with satisfactory results. It is to 
 be hoped that before the rich farm soils in the 
 Mississippi Valley and westward have been brought 
 to the low productiveness that many Eastern soils 
 have now reached — and they are surely trending 
 that way — Western farmers will adopt the methods 
 of husbandry that are necessary to maintain 
 fertility. 
 
 How to Begin the Work of Soil Improvement. — 
 The methods that are of service in renovating worn- 
 out soils include all the points in soil management 
 that have been noted in the preceding chapters. 
 Undoubtedly there are a few worn-out soils that are 
 exhausted chemically: they are actually deficient 
 in plant food. But most of them are worn-out 
 physically. They are unproductive, because 
 they have been mismanaged. This mismanage- 
 ment may have consisted partly in bad handling, 
 such as plowing too shallow, or when the soil was 
 wet, or in not checking erosion. It is more likely, 
 however, to be due to mismanagement as regards 
 rotation of crops; and probably it is due most of 
 all to mismanagement as regards maintaining the 
 supply of humus in the soil. Most worn-out soils 
 are in special need of humus. Green-manuring is 
 of greater importance in the renovation of worn- 
 out soils than any other factor. 
 
 In most cases the quickest and easiest way, to 
 begin with, is to grow leguminous crops for green- 
 manures. But green-manuring will be made more 
 
MANURING AND WORN-OUT SOILS 345 
 
 effective, and certainly more remunerative, if it 
 can be associated with some form of stock hus- 
 bandry, so that the crops may be fed or pastured on 
 the place and the manure returned to the soil. 
 Stock-feeding, not clover, cowpeas nor any other 
 plant, is the key to the most economical main- 
 tenance of soil fertility in general farming. There 
 are few sections of the country where it is not 
 practicable to raise some kind of stock. 
 
 When animal manures are not available, how- 
 ever, green-manuring alone will improve worn-out 
 soils, but less economically. Commercial fer- 
 tilisers have little value for restoring a worn-out 
 soil if, as is usually the case, the texture of the soil, 
 not its chemical contents, is at fault. They are 
 of far greater usefulness after the soil has been put 
 into good heart by green-manuring or the addition 
 of animal manures. 
 
 The final step in the improvement of a worn- 
 out soil is to put it into a rotation of crops which 
 is not exhaustive and which makes provision for 
 a continuance of the various farm practices that 
 maintain fertility. Thousands of acres of land 
 in the East, thought to be worn-out, have been 
 restored to bountiful productiveness by these 
 methods. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FARM MANURES 
 
 FROM the beginning of agriculture, appli- 
 cations of manures have been the chief 
 means of maintaining the fertility of farm 
 soils. Manuring has been assisted, to some extent, 
 by green-manuring and crop rotation. In modern 
 agriculture increasing prominence is being given 
 to these latter practises. But it is not likely that 
 manuring will ever be displaced as the most widely 
 practiced and most economical method of main- 
 taining the fertility of the land. 
 
 The vital relation between stock husbandry and 
 crop husbandry has been emphasised in the pre- 
 cedmg chapter. The practical advantages of 
 associating these two coordinate branches of 
 agriculture are more generally admitted to-day 
 than at any previous time. Farmers are beginning 
 to abandon the wasteful methods of pioneer days, 
 to curtail the present extravagant use of artificial 
 fertilisers, and to rely more and more upon Nature's 
 provisions for maintaining fertility and the excre- 
 ments of animals — the return of plants to the soil. 
 The first provision is discussed in the preceding 
 chapter; the second in this chapter. 
 
 HOW MANURE BENEFITS THE SOIL 
 
 The real value of manures and their effect upon 
 the soil were not known until quite recently; and 
 it is altogether probable that even now we have 
 but just begun to understand the manifold ways in 
 
 346 
 
FARM MANURES 347 
 
 which manure improves the soil. There was a 
 time when the value of manure was thought to be 
 only or chiefly the value of the plant food it con- 
 tained. It was even said that since a ton of stable 
 manure contains but $2 to $4 worth of nitrogen, pot- 
 ash and phosphoric acid, that the same amount of 
 plant food could be obtained and applied more 
 cheaply in the form of a commercial fertiliser. This 
 is true; but the conclusion must not be drawn that 
 manure might well be supplanted by commercial 
 fertilisers. From the chemist's point of view a ton 
 of manure may be worth but $2, because that is the 
 value of all the plant food in it. From the farmer's 
 point of view manure may be worth several times 
 that amount. The farmer knows that he cannot 
 buy $2 worth of artificial fertiliser that will give 
 the results on most soils that one ton of manure will. 
 This fact, which is realised by farmers everywhere, 
 has led to a very careful investigation of the ways in 
 which manure benefits the soil, aside from adding 
 the small amount of plant food it contains. These 
 supplementary benefits, which the chemist knows 
 nothing of and does not consider in his estimates of 
 the value of different kinds of manures, are often 
 of far greater practical value in crop production 
 than the plant food that the manure contains. 
 
 Manure Improves Texture of the Soil. — The 
 chief value of manure, on many soils is not the plant 
 food it adds but its beneficial effect upon the tex- 
 ture of the soil. In the preceding chapter it was 
 shown that most farm soils, even those that are 
 unproductive and worn-out, contain large amounts 
 of plant food; and that the cause of the unpro- 
 ductiveness is more apt to be that the soil is in poor 
 condition, or bad heart, than that it is exhausted of 
 plant food. 
 
348 SOILS 
 
 One of the great functions of manure is to 
 improve the condition of the soil, so that the 
 plant can more readily use the plant food in it. 
 Examine old, dry, cow dung in the pasture. The 
 plant food in it has been mostly washed out; a 
 spongy, fibrous material is left which, when 
 crumbled, presents such equable conditions of 
 moisture and temperature, that florists like to sow 
 cineraria and other extremely fine and delicate 
 seeds upon it. This material, which is about one- 
 quarter of the original substance of manure — the 
 balance being water — is composed mostly of food 
 that the animal did not digest. When incorpo- 
 rated with the soil it greatly improves the texture, 
 loosening a heavy, compact soil and binding to- 
 gether a light, leachy one; making the soil more 
 friable, warmer, more retentive of moisture and 
 more congenial to plants in every way. 
 
 In three years' experiments. King found that 
 manured fallow ground contained eighteen tons 
 more water per acre in the first foot of soil than 
 similar land unmanured, while the total gain of 
 water in the first three feet of soil was thirty-four 
 tons. Being already fine and partially decayed, 
 the vegetable matter in manure is at once thor- 
 oughly incorporated with the soil, becoming humus; 
 while a green-manuring crop plowed under is con- 
 verted into humus slowly. No one who has seen 
 the almost magical improvement in a hard, clay 
 soil by a single liberal dressing of manure can doubt 
 that its value is largely, sometimes mostly, in its 
 effect upon soil texture. 
 
 The Bacteria in Manure. — Aside from the humus 
 it adds, manure benefits the soil in other ways, most 
 o£ which are still imperfectly understood. It is 
 known that manure contains countless numbers of 
 
107. A COMxMUN, AND AN EXTREMELY WASTEFUL METHOD OF 
 STORING FARM MANURES 
 
 Rains and the drippings from the eaves may wash out two thirds of the plant food 
 in this manure before it is spread upon the land 
 
 108. THE DARK-COLOURED PUDDLE IN THE BARNYARD CONTAINS 
 THE ESSENCE AND THE RICHNESS OF THE MANURE 
 No man can maintain the fertility of his farm economically if he permits such a waste 
 
lU'J. THE MAXUKE FILES FROM THIS HAKN DRAIN INTO THE 
 
 POND, WHICH IB COVERED WITH "DUCK MEAT" IN 
 
 TESTIMONY OF ITS RICHNESS 
 
 Good for ducks, but the land of this farmer needs that fertility badly 
 
 110. MANURE WA( . i , \ : 1 M 1 1 RECEU ES THE MANURE FROM THE 
 
 STALLS AND IROM WHICH IT IS SPREAD ON 
 
 THE LAND EACH DAY 
 
 The sooner manure is got upon the land the better 
 
FARM MANURES 349 
 
 bacteria that are beneficial to the soil. When the 
 vegetable matter in manure decays in the soil 
 certain acids and ferments are produced which have 
 a decided influence upon the supply of available 
 plant food. In short, the addition of manure to 
 farm soils sets in motion a series of activities which 
 profoundly affect the productivity of the land. All 
 this is in addition to the plant food value of manure. 
 It is altogether probable that we do not know half 
 of the direct and indirect benefits of manure upon 
 farm soils. But we do know enough about it to 
 place its agricultural value far above its plant food 
 value. Commercial fertilisers influence the soil 
 almost solely in regard to its supply of plant food ; 
 farm manures influence all the soil conditions which 
 are essential to the production of profitable crops. 
 There is no comparison whatever between the two. 
 
 THE COMPARATIVE PLANT FOOD VALUE 
 OF DIFFERENT MANURES 
 
 The amount of plant food in different kinds of 
 manure depends upon the animals from which it 
 came and the care it has received. Analyses of 
 the excretions of various animals are given in the 
 Appendix. It will be noted that horse manure is 
 richer in nitrogen than either cow or hog manure. 
 An average sample contains about 6 per cent, of 
 nitrogen, 3 per cent, of phosphoric acid and 5 per 
 cent, of potash. It is, however, liable to "fire 
 fang," or ferment, unless kept compact and moist; 
 this lowers its value somewhat. Horse manure 
 varies in composition more than any other, because 
 of the greater variety of ways in which it is handled, 
 particularly as regards the use of bedding. 
 
 Cow and hog manure contain more water than 
 
350 SOILS 
 
 other kinds and are relatively poorer in plant 
 food, especially in nitrogen. An average sample 
 of either contains about 4 per cent, of nitro- 
 gen, 2 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and 5 per 
 cent, of potash. 
 
 Sheep manure is commonly richer than the 
 manure of any other farm animal, except poultry. 
 It is comparatively dry and since it is usually al- 
 lowed to accumulate in pens, where it is tramped 
 hard by the animals, it is less apt to suffer a loss of 
 plant food than other kinds. Ordinarily it con- 
 tains about 8 per cent, of nitrogen, 2 per cent, of 
 phosphoric acid, and 7 per cent, of potash. 
 
 Poultry manure is the richest of farm manures, 
 largely because it contains the semi-solid urine, 
 and there is little waste. It is especially rich in 
 nitrogen and phosphoric acid. An average sample 
 contains 12 per cent, of nitrogen, 9 per cent, of 
 phosphoric acid and 6 per cent of potash. 
 
 Average values for different manures are : Sheep 
 manure, $4.20 per ton; mixed farmyard manure, 
 $2.25 per ton; hen manure, $6.50 per ton; hog 
 manure, $3.20 per ton; livery-stable manure, $2.45 
 per ton; cow manure, $2.43 per ton. These figures 
 are based solely on their plant food content and do 
 not consider the value of the manure for improving 
 the soil in other ways. 
 
 THE QUALITY OF MANURE 
 
 The age and the condition of the animal influence 
 the quality of manure. Manure from young ani- 
 mals is not as rich as that from full grown animals, 
 because the former digest a larger proportion of 
 their food than the latter. Cows in milk return 
 only about 65 to 75 per cent, of the manurial value 
 
FARM MANURES 351 
 
 of their food in their excrements, while cows that 
 are being fattened return 80 to 90 per cent. 
 
 The kind of food that the animal eats has a 
 marked effect upon the richness of its manure. 
 The more grain there is fed to them, especially such 
 foods as wheat bran, gluten meal and cotton-seed 
 meal, the richer the manure, since these grains are 
 rich in protein. Animals fed solely on hay of poor 
 quality produce manure that is much inferior to 
 that of grain-fed animals. In short, the richer the 
 ration, the richer the manure. 
 
 The kind and quantity of bedding used affects the 
 value of manure, also the individuality of the animal. 
 Some animals use a larger proportion of their food 
 for making milk, or beef, or mutton, than others; 
 what is not used is recovered in the manure. 
 
 HOW MANURE IS WASTED 
 
 There are still many sections where barn manure 
 is not used upon the land, and, in fact, is considered 
 a nuisance. In parts of Oregon farmers give 
 away manure for the hauling, and are glad to be 
 rid of it. In counties of California and Oklahoma 
 manure is dumped into the river. Some Missouri, 
 Kansas, and North Dakota farmers use it to fill up 
 holes, or dump it in heaps beside the fields and 
 roads. Some South Dakota farmers burn it to 
 get rid of it. In Idaho it is frequently seen piled 
 as high as a barn. The waste of manure in parts 
 of the West is a painful sight to the Eastern farmer 
 who knows that the land will soon be in need of it. 
 On the very farms where manure is thrown away 
 in this manner the soil is often greatly benefited by 
 it, even now. These improvident methods, how- 
 ever, are becoming less and less common. 
 
352 SOILS 
 
 The plant food in manure is subject to serious 
 loss. Although there may be but little plant food in 
 manure, as compared with artificial fertilisers, yet 
 most of it is very soluble and is easily lost, if the 
 manure is not handled carefully. The plant food 
 in manure is wasted in two ways ; by leaching and 
 by fermentation. 
 
 The Leaching of Manure. — No other farm 
 practice has been discussed more than that of al- 
 lowing plant food to leach from manures. One 
 can scarcely attend a farmers' institute without 
 hearing about it, or read a farm journal without 
 seeing a reference to it. All this agitation has 
 probably saved many million dollars, worth of 
 plant food that otherwise would have been wasted. 
 Yet is it doubtful if one per cent, of American farm- 
 ers realise what they lose by neglecting to care 
 for manures properly. One estimate places the 
 annual loss of plant food on American farms, by 
 leaching from manure that could easily have been 
 prevented, as $200,000,000 or over four times what 
 is paid each year for commercial fertilisers. If the 
 leaks on a few farms are noted, and the number of 
 farms in a neighbourhood that suffer similar 
 losses are counted, one will conclude that this 
 estimate is not too high. The saving of manures 
 is indeed a threadbare subject; but there is such 
 urgent need that farmers adopt better methods of 
 handling manures that one is justified in harping 
 upon it 
 
 One of the most common farm scenes in eastern 
 United States is a row of manure piles beneath the 
 eaves of the barn. Each pile extends up to the 
 hole or window out of which it was thrown from 
 behind the cows or horses. Water from the roof 
 drips upon it; rains and snows beat upon it; winds 
 
FARM MANURES 353 
 
 dry it. After a heavy rain the puddles in the yard 
 are black with richness that has leached from these 
 piles of manure. This is the fertility of the farm 
 running to waste. Manure handled in this way may 
 lose over half of its plant food. Roberts found 
 that a ton of manure exposed in this way for six 
 months lost 42 per cent, of its plant food. Another 
 ton exposed from April 25 to Sept. 22 lost 60 per 
 cent, of its nitrogen, 47 per cent, of its phosphoric 
 acid and 76 per cent, of its potash, a loss in value 
 from $2.80 per ton to $1.06. When the pile of 
 exposed manure is finally hauled away it has lost 
 a large part of its soil-improving value. A dark- 
 coloured stain on the side of the barn is pretty 
 good evidence of shiftless farming in this respect. 
 
 The loss of plant food from manure by leaching 
 depends largely upon the climate; the wetter it 
 is the greater the loss. In the arid and semi-arid 
 regions it is not large; but in every case it is large 
 enough to set every farmer to thinking how he may 
 best prevent it. 
 
 Loss from Fermentation. Another way in which 
 manure often loses value is by heating, or fermenta- 
 tion. When manure is piled up, especially horse 
 manure, it begins to heat and decay. This fer- 
 mentation is caused by the growth of bacteria. 
 These need heat and air; the warmer the manure 
 is, and the more loosely it is piled, so that it is full 
 of air, the more quickly it heats. The nitrogen in 
 fermenting manure is rapidly changed into am- 
 monia, which escapes into the air. Every one has 
 noticed the pronounced "smell" of manure piled 
 up loosely and heating. It is plant food escaping. 
 
 The heating of manure also injures it in another 
 way. Part of the vegetable matter in it, which 
 becomes humus when applied to the soil, is burned. 
 
354 SOILS 
 
 The higher the manure heats, the greater is the 
 loss. Dry, white, " fire-f anged " manure has had 
 a large part of its humus-making material destroyed. 
 Loss from the Escape of Urine. — ^A third way in 
 which manure loses value is by failing to catch the 
 liquid portion. This contains more nitrogen and 
 more potash than the dung; yet, in many cases, 
 liquid manure is allowed to run to waste, while the 
 dung is saved. Moreover the plant food in the 
 liquid portion is immediately available to plants. 
 It should be saved as carefully as the solid portions 
 of the excrements. 
 
 HOW TO CARE FOR MANURES 
 
 Leaching usually causes more loss of plant food 
 from manure than either fermentation or the waste 
 of liquid manure; attention should first be given to 
 preventing this loss. There are two ways of doing 
 this : by hauling the fresh manure from the stable 
 and spreading it upon the land at once; and by 
 piling it under cover. 
 
 Hauling manure direct from stable to field in- 
 volves little or no loss of fertility, as compared with 
 storing it, and is the most satisfactory method 
 whenever it is expedient. Usually, however, it is 
 not expedient to do this at certain seasons of the 
 year; it would interfere very seriously with other 
 farm work, while the hauling of stored manure 
 may be done to advantage in late fall and very 
 early spring when other work is not pressing. 
 
 Usually at least a portion of the manure must be 
 stored, especially that made during the busy 
 months of seed time and harvest. In this case there 
 is but one sane thing to do; that is, to pile the 
 manure under cover. This is the only safe way 
 
FARM MANURES 355 
 
 to prevent leaching; a single, heavy, summer 
 shower may leach away enough plant food from 
 an exposed pile to pay a large part of the slight 
 expense of covering the pile. 
 
 Covered barnyards are sometimes practicable. 
 The animals tramp the manure and so keep it 
 from fermenting. The cattle are exercised and 
 watered there, in winter especially. It is neces- 
 sary, however, to use a considerable quantity of 
 bedding and to keep the yard dry. A yard 30 x 50 
 feet is large enough for fifteen to twenty cows, but 
 they should be dehorned. 
 
 Manure Pits. — Another method, preferred by 
 many, is to build shallow, covered cement pits, 
 adjacent to the stable. Into these the manure is 
 dumped ; the liquid manure from the gutters in the 
 stable may drain into them. In large dairy stables 
 manure is collected on trucks or cars which are 
 run on tracks to these pits. The pits should be 
 large enough to hold the manure made in several 
 weeks,-, or as long as it is convenient to wait before 
 hauling it to the field. This is one of the most 
 practicable ways of storing manure. 
 
 If a cement pit cannot be had, and the manure 
 must be stored outside the barn, it is a simple 
 matter to build a shed over it. But part of the 
 liquid in the manure will drain off, and the farmer 
 can ill afford to lose it. Therein is the great ad- 
 vantage of covered cement pits. 
 
 Many barns are built so that the manure can be 
 shoved down a scuttle into a cellar. In some 
 cases the cellar is cement-lined and excellent con- 
 ditions for storing manure are thus secured. Often 
 the cellar bottom is not cemented allowing the loss 
 of part of the liquid manure. Cellars beneath the 
 stable do very well, so far as the saving of manure 
 
356 SOILS 
 
 is concerned; but there are decided sanitary 
 objections to this method. The stable above is 
 almost sure to be bad-smeUing. Thorough ventila- 
 tion and the use of gypsum will do much to alleviate 
 this condition; but manure should be stored away 
 from, not beneath, the animals, especially in a dairy. 
 
 The manure of animals confined in pens, as 
 sheep and young stock, is usually stored without 
 serious loss, if it is allowed to accumulate and an 
 abundance of bedding is used. The manure is 
 tramped down very firmly by the animals, all the 
 liquid portion is absorbed, and there is little loss 
 by fermentation or leaching. 
 
 How to Prevent Loss by Heating. — The fermenta- 
 tion that makes manure deteriorate in value takes 
 place only when it is piled loosely, so that air passes 
 through it readily. Compacting the manure, as 
 with the tramping of animals, prevents this loss. 
 Manure must also be only moist, not wet, in order 
 to ferment; so that if it is kept wet with the liquid 
 excrement, there is little likelihood that it will heat. 
 Sometimes it is practicable to wet the manure 
 occasionally. If fermenting manure has a small 
 amount of fresh manure mixed with it the heating 
 will be checked. 
 
 Methods of Saving Liquid Manure. — The simplest 
 way to save liquid excrement is to provide plenty of 
 bedding to absorb it. Many materials are used for 
 bedding and these affect the value of the manure. 
 It is commonly thought that strawy manure is not 
 as valuable as clear manure ; yet the straw in manure 
 may have absorbed much of the liquid excrement, so 
 that strawy manure may be really more valuable 
 than that which contains little straw. 
 
 The objects of bedding are not only to keep the 
 animals comfortable and clean but also to catch 
 
FARM. MANURES 357 
 
 the urine and to increase the bulk of the manure 
 so that it can be distributed more evenly. Straw 
 is most generally used and is quite satisfactory. 
 Marsh hay, cornstalks, leaves, sawdust and shav- 
 ings are used more or less. The two latter should 
 be used in moderate quantities; in large amounts 
 they lower the value of the manure. Pine needles 
 are believed to injure the manure. Fine, dry sand 
 or soil is, sometimes used to advantage, and oc- 
 casionally peat or muck. These earthy materials 
 have greater value for bedding than strawy mate- 
 rials because they absorb ammonia gas as well as 
 liquids, and so save nitrogen and keep the air of 
 the stable sweet. 
 
 The plan of collecting the liquid manure and 
 distributing it upon the fields by means of a tank 
 with a sprinkling attachment has not been found 
 generally practicable. Ordinarily it is more satis- 
 factory to absorb the liquid manure with bedding. 
 
 The use of bedding will not entirely prevent the 
 loss of plant food from the stable. There is al- 
 ways a considerable amount of ammonia escaping, 
 as the sharp odour about stables bears evidence. 
 This can be prevented by using chemical ab- 
 sorbents which enter into combination with the 
 ammonia, making a salt of ammonia that is not 
 volatile. Land plaster (gypsum) is most com- 
 monly used for this purpose. Kainit and super- 
 phosphate are used to some extent, enriching the 
 manure not only with the nitrogen they catch but 
 also with the plant food they contain. These 
 materials should be scattered in the stables at 
 the rate of one to two pounds per animal 
 daily, and also over the manure piles. Dry 
 sand, earth, peat or muck answer quite well 
 for this purpose. 
 
358 SOILS 
 
 AMOUNT OF MANURE MADE ON THE FARM 
 
 The amount of manure that will be made during 
 a year by a given number of animals is capable of 
 fairly accurate calculation. A common estimate is: 
 
 Horse, 12,000 lbs. of solids, and 3,000 lbs. of liquids. 
 
 Cow, 20.000 " " " " 8,000 " " 
 
 Sheep, 760 " " " " 380 " " 
 
 Swine, 1,800 " " " " 1,200 " " 
 
 Another method, resulting from many careful 
 experiments, is to multiply the amount of "dry 
 matter" in the food for one year by 2.1 for the 
 horse, by 3.8 for the cow, by 1.8 for the sheep. 
 Add to these figures the weight of bedding used. 
 Thus if a cow eats thirty pounds of dry matter a 
 day she will produce about 30 x 3.8, or one hundred 
 and fourteen pounds of manure a day, besides the 
 bedding. The age of the animals, their condition 
 and their food influence the amount of manure 
 made. 
 
 According to Heiden's rule for calculating man- 
 ure, the following quantities of cow manure may be 
 expected from feeding one ton of the feeds named: 
 
 GREEN FEEDS 
 
 Pounds 
 
 Corn fodder 1,590 
 
 Rye fodder 1,797 
 
 Red top 2,465 
 
 Oat fodder 2,903 
 
 Orchard grass 2,074 
 
 Timothy 2,942 
 
 Hungarian grass 2,220 
 
 Red clover 2,243 
 
 Crimson clover 1,482 
 
 Alfalfa 2,166 
 
 Cowpeas 1,260 
 
 Soja beans 2,188 
 
 Corn Silage 1,605 
 
FARM MANURES 359 
 
 DBT FEEDS 
 
 Pounds 
 
 Com fodder 4,439 
 
 Orchard grass hay 6,920 
 
 Red top hay 6,996 
 
 Timothy hay 6,282 
 
 Hungarian grass hay 7,089 
 
 Red clover hay 6,505 
 
 Crimson clover hay 7,020 
 
 Alsike clover hay 6,935 
 
 Alfalfa hay 7,035 
 
 Cowpea hay 6,858 
 
 Soja bean hay 6,428 
 
 Millet hay 6,931 
 
 The amount of plant food in manure may also 
 be estimated with considerable accuracy, if one 
 knows the kinds and the amounts of foods that 
 the animal consumes. Numerous digestion ex- 
 periments have shown the amounts of the fer- 
 tilising materials in various feeds and fodders that 
 are ordinarily recovered in the manure. Knowing 
 the amount of each feed and fodder that 
 each animal eats, the amount of potash, 
 phosphoric acid and nitrogen in each food, 
 and the percentage of this that is commonly 
 recovered in the manure, one can tell how rich 
 the manure should be. 
 
 Most farms do not produce enough manure to 
 dress the fields satisfactorily. Sometimes manure 
 may be bought to advantage, especially livery- 
 stable manure, city street sweepings, or stockyard 
 manure. Ordinarily it will not pay to give over 
 a dollar a ton for average barnyard or stable ma- 
 nure, and not this much if the haul is long. If the 
 farm is near a town, stable manure may often be 
 obtained for the hauling, especially if the farmer 
 agrees to haul it away whenever necessary. 
 
860 SOILS 
 
 WHEN TO APPLY MANURES 
 
 No advice can be given that is generally ap- 
 plicable, but a few suggestions will show the great 
 diversity of practice. In general the sooner ma- 
 nure is spread upon the soil after it is made, the 
 more will the soil be benefited. But other con- 
 siderations affect this point. The state of decay 
 and the kind of crop must be considered. Rotted 
 manure — that which has partially decayed — may 
 be applied to better advantage in the spring than 
 fresh or "green" manure. Rotted manure is 
 commonly preferred for the lighter soils and fresh 
 manure for the heavier soils. Market-garden 
 crops, especially, prefer rotted manure, chiefly 
 because its plant food is somewhat more quickly 
 available than that in fresh manure, and these 
 crops need this to make a quick start and a very 
 rapid growth. Gardeners often make manure 
 into a compost with leaves and vegetable and 
 animal refuse of all sorts. The material is put 
 into a long, low, flat-topped pile which is turned 
 over and mixed several times. Ordinarily it is 
 allowed to rot for two years. 
 
 One of the most common practices on American 
 farms is to broadcast fresh manure on grass land 
 that is to be plowed after the next crop of 
 hay. Another is to manure heavily for corn, 
 which does not object to large amounts of coarse 
 fresh manure, and to follow corn with a crop that 
 prefers to have the manure quite well rotted, as it 
 will be after having lain in the soil a year. 
 
 Spreading Manure in Winter. — On a majority 
 of farms most of the manure that is available is 
 produced during the winter months when the 
 animals are housed. Farm work is usually light 
 
FARM MANURES 361 
 
 at that time of the year and it would be a great 
 advantage to spread the manure frequently during 
 the winter rather than to wait until early spring, 
 when roads, lanes and fields are miry and when other 
 farm work demands attention. But some farmers 
 fail to spread manure in winter because they think 
 much of the plant food in it will be washed away. 
 Usually the danger of loss is far less than is feared. 
 Manure spread upon the land in winter loses 
 little of its value unless the land is quite steep so 
 that there is considerable surface washing. If the 
 land is fairly level there need be no appreciable 
 loss. Manures spread at this season do not fer- 
 ment, because the temperature is too low. Man- 
 ure spread in winter should be applied to land on 
 which plants are growing, as on sod or on cover 
 crops. It is especially desirable to manure in 
 winter land that is to be planted to Indian corn. 
 Sometimes heavy snows make winter spreading 
 impracticable. 
 
 HOW MUCH MANURE TO USE 
 
 In applying manure the amount of the different 
 plant foods in it should be kept in mind; also 
 whether it is being used chiefly to improve the tex- 
 ture of the soil or to supply plant food. The 
 nature of the soil and the crop are other deciding 
 points. 
 
 Manures are often applied too freely. Rarely 
 is it profitable to apply over 40 two-horse loads per 
 acre, and 25 to 35 loads is about the maximum 
 amount under most conditions. Ordinarily farm- 
 ers use from 4 to 10 cords of cow manure per acre; 
 market gardeners, however, who grow plants under 
 special conditions so that their methods cannot 
 
362 SOILS 
 
 be compared with the methods of general 
 farming, often use 30 to 50 cords per acre. 
 A cord of fresh cow manure weighs about 
 three tons. 
 
 Light Dressings Desirable. — If a certain field 
 is in special need of the mellowing and enriching 
 effect of manure, a heavy dressing may be given; 
 but usually it is more profitable to spread 30 cords 
 of manure over 10 acres, if 30 cords is all that can 
 be had, than to put ail of it on 5 acres. A moder- 
 ate increase in yield on 10 acres is better than a 
 heavy increase on 5 acres. The farther a field is 
 from the barn, the less likely it will pay to haul a 
 heavy dressing of manure to it; for manure is 
 bulky and expensive to handle. It may be 
 more practicable to put humus into such 
 fields by green-manuring, and perhaps commer- 
 cial fertilisers can be used there to advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Although manure is a complete fertiliser, it is 
 not well balanced since it usually contains much 
 more nitrogen than either of the other two plant 
 foods. An abundance of nitrogen promotes a very 
 vigorous growth of leaves and stems, but it is not 
 so valuable for developing seeds and fruits. Too 
 heavy applications of manure may make the wheat 
 lodge or the fruit soft. For this reason if only a 
 limited amount of manure is available, it is best 
 to use it most freely on the crops that are valued 
 chiefly for a very vigorous growth of stem or leaf, 
 as the grasses, clover, most garden vegetables, and 
 forage crops. Commercial fertilisers should be used 
 on manured soil to supply the plant food that 
 manure is deficient in and so balance it; as 
 by using superphosphate on land manured for 
 cotton. 
 
;5'9*?5r*^'' 
 
 111. MANURE PILED IX THE FIELD, TO BE SPREAD LATER 
 This is often more convenient than spreading direct from the wagon, but it must not 
 
 be left in piles long 
 
 nl 
 
 ^Hl/ 
 
 
 ."^^T*:;^- 
 
 112. SPREADING MANURE FROM THE WAGON ON CORN STUBBLE 
 A manure spreader does the work more evenly but not more cheaply 
 
n;i. iiUYiN(; plant food in sacks 
 
 This is pr.ictical)lo only to siii)l)lcmcnt lionif rrsourccs. He sure you know what 
 
 l<ind of actual plant food is in the ban. and how much. Buy 
 
 by analysis, not by brand 
 
 200 r»OUNDS 
 
 ,LOW GRADE BLOOU AND BONE 
 
 ; PUT UP BY THE 
 
 / |E. 0. PAINTER FERTILIZER COllPANY 
 
 I JACKSONVIUUE, RCORIDA 
 
 - Dealers .nan K.nUso,Pe..n..,n,Matena .s a..U Che„,„n,s. 
 
 114. A FERTILISER TAG TAKEN FROM A SACK, SHOWIXC, THE 
 GUARANTEED ANALYSIS OF THE FERTILISER 
 
 Some of the analyses printed on fertiliser taRs, while perhaps true, arc apt to be 
 
 misleading. The farmer should be able to figure out from the tag 
 
 how much he could afford to pay for the fertiliser 
 
FARM MANURES 363 
 
 HOW TO APPLY MANURE 
 
 The most practicable method in many cases, 
 especially in winter, is to spread it direct from the 
 wagon, cart, or sled. Fresh manure distributed 
 from wagons in winter is not apt to be spread very 
 evenly and should be scattered in spring with a 
 brush drag. The manure may be dumped in 
 piles, which are spread later. The merit of this 
 plan is that it economises team work, so the rela- 
 tive cost of team and hand labour must be consid- 
 ered. If the manure is dumped in piles, it should 
 be spread very soon; otherwise the ground on 
 which it is piled becomes over-rich. Some farmers 
 leave manure in the field in piles for several months ; 
 their crops are decidedly "spotted" for two or 
 three seasons thereafter. 
 
 Manure spreaders are of little advantage to 
 the average farmer, chiefly because they carry such 
 a small load in proportion to the draft, and their 
 expense. They do, however, distribute manure 
 more evenly than it is usually done by hand. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 
 
 ONE OF the most striking features of 
 American agriculture is the extraordinary 
 rapidity with which the commercial fertil- 
 iser industry has developed. Bone, wood ashes 
 and a few other natural products ^ have been 
 in use for centuries, but the first use of artifi- 
 cial fertilisers — the "phosphates" of the modern 
 farmer — was about 1845. Not till after 1860, how- 
 ever, were they used to any great extent. The 
 annual fertiliser bill of American farmers to-day 
 is close to fifty millions of dollars. This is paid 
 mostly by the farmers of about twenty of the 
 Eastern States, for commercial fertilisers are used 
 very little in most of the Western States. 
 
 In round numbers, we have paid about a quarter 
 of a billion of dollars for artificial fertilisers in the 
 last five years. In no other country are commercial 
 fertilisers used to the extent they are here. Yet 
 only a small per cent, of our farm soils have shown 
 the need of fertilising. When the millions of acres 
 of rich. Western farm lands have passed through the 
 same history of gradual decline as those in the East 
 — as they certainly will — what will our fertiliser bill 
 be, a hundred years hence ? Where is this enormous 
 and rapidly increasing expense account leading us ? 
 Are the results secured by the present lavish 
 use of artificial fertilisers sufficient to justify us in 
 continuing the practice or is there a cheaper way 
 of solving the problem of declining fertility ? 
 
 364 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 365 
 
 Changed EconoTnic Conditions. — The rapid 
 growth of the fertiliser trade is not necessarily an 
 indication that American farmers have preferred 
 artificial fertilisers to farm manures. Since 1865 
 we have passed through great economic and social 
 changes which have favoured the use of artificial 
 fertilisers. The most important of these, as related 
 to agriculture, is the rapid growth of cities. This 
 has developed the great market-garden, fruit and 
 trucking interests which are the chief users of 
 commercial fertilisers. Market-garden and truck 
 farmers, many of whom are, of necessity, located 
 near cities on high-priced land, often find it im- 
 practicable to keep stock or give up the use of their 
 expensive land for green-manuring, even for a short 
 season. They must keep a money-crop growing 
 upon it every day of the season. With them, the 
 soil is merely the medium for transforming the 
 plant food which they spread upon it into merchant- 
 able crops. The modern market garden near a 
 large city more nearly resembles a manufacturing 
 establishment than a farm. Under such con- 
 ditions, the use of artificial fertilisers, as well as 
 purchased manures, is probably the most prac- 
 ticable course to pursue. There are also many 
 instances where artificial fertilisers are seemingly 
 almost indispensable — as, for example, in the cul- 
 ture of pineapples on the almost barren sands of 
 eastern Florida. 
 
 The staple-crop farmer, however, has not these 
 peculiar economic conditions to contend with. 
 The time-honoured methods of maintaining soil 
 fertility by green-manuring, by a rotation of crops 
 and by the use of animal manures — he can use if he 
 chooses. Unquestionably commercial fertilisers 
 will be used more and more extensively in market 
 
366 SOILS 
 
 gardening and in the culture of special crops and 
 on certain soils; but the indications are that their 
 use in general farm practice as a chief source of 
 fertility is on the wane, while the use of the more 
 natural resources, green-manuring and farm ma- 
 nures, is on the increase. Often artificial fertilisers 
 have been used to remedy temporarily the effects 
 of poor texture, due to mismanagement. Com- 
 mercial fertilisers, if used at all in general farming, 
 should be applied sparingly and as a supplement 
 to natural resources, not as the main source of 
 fertility. 
 
 WHAT COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS ARE MADE OF 
 
 The term is usually applied simply to materials 
 which contain the essential plant foods — nitrogen, 
 potash and phosphoric acid. These are found in 
 many materials: some are mineral products, as 
 nitrate of soda, muriate of potash, phosphate rock; 
 some are animal products, as dried blood and 
 tankage, which are wastes from the slaughter 
 houses, and boneblack, which is a refuse in refining 
 sugar. These raw materials are combined in 
 various ways, and in different proportions, per- 
 haps treated with acids. One brand of commercial 
 fertiliser may be made of two or three of these raw 
 materials ; another may contain many kinds. 
 
 Complete and Incomplete Fertilisers. — Com- 
 mercial fertilisers are either "complete" or "in- 
 complete." A complete fertiliser contains all three 
 of the essential plant foods ; an incomplete fertiliser 
 contains but one or two. Most fertilisers sold in 
 this country are complete. The reason for this, 
 from the manufacturer's point of view, is obvious. 
 He knows little or nothing of the kind of soil upon 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 367 
 
 which the fertiHser will be applied, or of its needs 
 as regards plant food. In order to be sure that it 
 will be of some benefit on all soils, then, it is neces- 
 sary for it to contain all three plant foods. But, as 
 will be emphasised later on, very few soils really 
 need additions of all three; some need only one. 
 In such cases the use of a complete fertiliser is 
 wasteful. 
 
 Many Brands. — Most fertiliser manufacturers 
 sell many brands, or different combinations of raw 
 materials. Some firms sell as many as forty-five 
 brands, each one, presumably, different from all 
 the others, and designed to meet the needs of cer- 
 tain soils or certain crops. Thus we have Smith's 
 Mortgage-lifter Fertiliser, Jones' Sure-crop Fer- 
 tiliser, Brown's Special Potato Fertiliser, White's 
 Corn Fertiliser, and so on. In one year 1,112 
 brands of fertilisers were sold in the State of New 
 York alone. In most states the number is from 
 150 to 300. 
 
 State Supervision oj the Fertiliser Trade. — How 
 shall the farmer know which of these many brands 
 to choose.^ Some of them are just what his soil 
 and crops need; some would be almost worthless 
 to him. The national and state governments have 
 now come to the assistance of the farmer in this 
 important matter. State laws specify that no fer- 
 tiliser manufacturer or dealer shall sell any brand 
 of fertiliser in any state, either direct from the 
 factory or through an agent, until the brand has 
 first been registered with some appointed authority, 
 usually the Director of the State Experiment 
 Station. The manufacturer is further required to 
 put a tag on each bag of fertiliser, giving an anal- 
 ysis of its contents specifying the amount of each of 
 the essential plant foods it contains. Every year 
 
368 SOILS 
 
 the Experiment Station of each state in which fer- 
 tiHsers are used extensively, collects samples of the 
 fertilisers offered for sale in that state, and analyses 
 each one to see if it contains as much plant food as 
 the manufacturer claims that it does. If it is found 
 to contain less than the guarantee on the tag 
 specifies, the manufacturer is subject to prosecution. 
 The effect of this state supervision of the fer- 
 tiliser trade has been very satisfactory. The 
 feneral standard of the business has been raised, 
 lach year the Experiment station of each state 
 publishes a bulletin listing all the brands of fertilisers 
 that have been registered for that year, also the 
 guaranteed analysis of each as shown by the 
 manufacturer's tag, and the actual value, as shown 
 by analyses at the Experiment station. Farmers 
 who use fertilisers should get these bulletins. 
 
 Studying Fertiliser Tags. — Some of the guaran- 
 tees printed on fertiliser tags are misleading. The 
 real analysis is sometimes obscured by adding to it 
 statements of valueless materials that the fertil- 
 iser contains, and by repeating the real analysis in 
 another form, thus making the buyer who is not 
 skilled in such matters think he is getting more 
 for his money than he really does. Roberts states 
 that the following guarantee was on a fertiliser sold 
 in New York: 
 
 Percent. 
 
 Total bone phosphate 30 to 35 
 
 Yielding phosphoric acid 14 to 16 
 
 Soluble bone phosphate 22 to 26 
 
 Yielding water-soluble phosphoric acid . . 10 to 12 
 
 Total available bone phosphate 26 to 30 
 
 Available phosphoric acid 12 to 14 
 
 Insoluble bone phosphate 2 to 4 
 
 Yielding insoluble phosphoric acid . . . 1 to f- 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 369 
 
 What a lot of dust-raising! Doubtless it is all 
 true ; and the manufacturer has complied with the 
 law that requires him to state on the tag the amount 
 of plant food contained in the fertiliser. But the 
 buyer wants to know just one thing — how much 
 available potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen 
 the fertiliser contains. This tag should have 
 read :• 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Soluble phosphoric acid 10 
 
 Reverted phosphoric acid 2 
 
 That is all there is in it of value to the farmer. 
 The most reliable manufacturers print on their tags 
 a bare statement of the amount of actual plant 
 food the fertiliser contains. 
 
 Repetitions in Guarantees. — Another fertiliser 
 tag reads: 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 1. Ammonia 3 to 5 
 
 2. Available phosphoric acid 11 to 13 
 
 3. Total phosphoric acid 15 to 19 
 
 4. Total bone phosphate 27 to 30 
 
 5. Actual potash 12 to 14 
 
 6. Muriate of Potash . . 18 to 22 
 
 There are several repetitions in this complete 
 fertiliser. Contrary to the common idea among 
 farmers, ammonia is not nitrogen; it is only four- 
 fifths nitrogen, the other fifth being hydrogen, 
 which has no value as a fertiliser. It will be 
 necessary to multiply the 3 per cent, of ammonia 
 by .82, the actual percentage of nitrogen in am- 
 monia. This shows that there is 2.46 per cent, of 
 the plant food nitrogen in this fertiliser, instead 
 of 3 per cent. There is 11 per cent, of available 
 
370 SOILS 
 
 phosphoric acid in this fertiliser, as shown in No. 2, 
 out of the total amount of phosphoric acid it con- 
 tains, 15 per cent., indicated in No. 3. We are 
 not concerned about the bone phosphate in No. 4, 
 because this is merely a repetition of the figures 
 given for phosphoric acid; 4() per cent, of bone 
 phosphate is actual phosphoric acid, and this has 
 already been stated in Nos. 2 and 3. There is 
 12 })er cent, of actual potash, which is that found in 
 the nuiriate of potash jind repeated in No. G. The 
 guarantee of this fertiliser might better be: 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Nitjogen 3 
 
 Available phosphoric acid 11 
 
 (furnished in bone phosphate) 
 
 Insoluble pliosphorie acid 4 
 
 Potash 12 
 
 (furnished in muriate of potash) 
 
 Always take the lowest per cent, given. Rarely 
 does a fertiliser contain more than the minimum 
 amount of plant food stated in the guarantee. 
 
 THE FORMS OF PHOSPHORIC ACID 
 
 The way in which the amount of phosphoric 
 acid is stated is one of the most common sources 
 of confusion. The nitrogen and potash in com- 
 mercial fertilisers are mostly soluble and available 
 to plants. But the phosphoric acid in fertilisers 
 is more comj^lcx. It is usually not alone but com- 
 bined with different amounts of lime, making 
 "phosphates of lime" or '* phosphates." On fer- 
 tiliser tags one will find these terms: '* available 
 phosphoric acid," **soluble phosphoric acid," "in- 
 soluble phosphoric acid," "reverted phosphoric 
 acid." 
 
 "Available" and "soluble" phosphoric acid 
 are the same, for only plant food that is soluble in 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 371 
 
 soil water can be available, or useful to plants. 
 This valuable kind of phosphoric acid has but one 
 part of lime with it and two parts of water: 
 
 Lime >.^^^ 
 
 Water— ^^Phosphoric acid. 
 Water 
 
 This is the kind of phosphoric acid that is found 
 in superphosphates. It quickly dissolves in water 
 and plants can use it at once. In some guarantees 
 it is called "water-soluble phosphoric acid." 
 
 "Insoluble phosphoric acid," on the other hand, 
 has three parts of lime to one of phosphoric acid, 
 and has no water, thus: 
 
 Lime^,^^ 
 
 Lime— — ^Phosphoric acid. 
 
 Lime^"'^ 
 
 This is the kind of phosphoric acid found in fresh 
 bones and in the various "rock phosphates" taken 
 from the mines. Since it cannot be dissolved in 
 water, insoluble phosphoric acid has no value 
 whatever as a plant food unless it can be changed 
 into soluble phosphoric acid. As bones rot in the 
 ground the insoluble phosphoric acid in them 
 slowly becomes soluble, losing part of its lime. 
 A quicker way to change this into plant food is to 
 treat it with acids, which is the way superphos- 
 phates are made. 
 
 In studying fertiliser guarantees, remember 
 that the "insoluble phosphoric acid" is not plant 
 food and cannot become so until it has been made 
 soluble. When applied to the soil, insoluble 
 phosphoric acid may gradually become soluble. 
 Hence it is customary, when figuring on the value 
 of a fertiliser, to count the insoluble phosphoric 
 acid as worth about one-half as much as the 
 soluble. Some chemists, however, do not con- 
 sider it worth even that much. 
 
372 SOILS 
 
 The '* reverted pliosphoric acid" on fertiliser 
 tags is intermediate between the soluble and the 
 insoluble, thus: 
 
 Lime .^^^ 
 
 Lime — — rPhosphoric acid 
 
 Reverted means turned back; this is phosphoric 
 acid which was once soluble but is gradually be- 
 coming insoluble, since more lime has been added 
 to it. It' soluble phosphoric acid in the soil is not 
 quickly used by plants it tends to revert. In this 
 condition it is not quite as readily used by plants. 
 However, the reverted phosphoric acid given in 
 fertiliser analyses may be considered about as valu- 
 jible as the soluble. Sometimes a tag will read 
 ''phosphoric acid soluble in ammonium citrate.'* 
 l^his is reverted phosphoric acid, ammonium 
 citrate being the weak acid used by chemists 
 to dissolve it. 
 
 Points that the fertiliser buyer should remember 
 when studying guarantees are: 
 
 1. Look for the percentage of nitrogen. If the 
 analysis gives the percentage of ammonia, remem- 
 ber that it is but four-fifths nitrogen. If the 
 analysis says "equivalent to nitrate of soda," 
 remember that but 15 ])er cent, of nitrate of soda 
 is the plant food nitrogen. 
 
 2. Look for the percentage of potash. If the 
 tag says, "equivalent to sulphate of potash," or 
 "equivalent to muriate of potash," remember that 
 but half of sulphate or muriate of potash is the 
 plant-food potash. 
 
 3. Look for water-soluble phosphoric acid or 
 available phosphoric acid. Insoluble phosphoric 
 acid has half value; reverted phosphoric acid is 
 slightly less valuable than soluble. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 373 
 
 4. Look out for re-statements in the fertiliser 
 tags, thus: 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 1. Bearing total bone phosphate . . 30 to 35 
 
 2. Yielding phosphoric acid 14 to 16 
 
 3. Soluble bone phosphate 22 to 26 
 
 4. Yielding water-soluble phosphoric acid. 10 to 12 
 
 5. Total available bone phosphate . . 26 to 30 
 
 Statement No. 4 is the only one worth considering; 
 the others are mainly re-statements in another 
 form. "Equivalent to" or "Yielding" usually 
 means that the plant food in the fertiliser has al- 
 ready been stated in the guarantee in another 
 form. To convert one material into another, 
 when there is repetition, use the following table : 
 
 To convert the guarantee of Multiply hy 
 
 Ammonia . . . into Nitrogen 82 
 
 Nitrate of soda . " Nitrogen 16 
 
 Bone phosphate " Phosphoric acid . . .45 
 
 Muriate of potash " Potash 63 
 
 Sulphate of potash " Potash 54 
 
 5. Pay no attention to anything in the guarantee 
 that is not plant food. The amounts of "mois- 
 ture," "silicic acid," "carbonic acid," "mag- 
 nesia," "alumic oxid," "ferric oxid," and other 
 materials that the fertiliser contains are of no 
 interest or value to the buyer. 
 
 CALCULATING THE VALUE OF A FERTILISER FROM 
 THE ANALYSIS 
 
 The value of a commercial fertiliser is based 
 solely upon the amount of plant foot that it con- 
 tains. Animal and green manures are often quite 
 valuable for their effect upon the condition or 
 "heart'* of the soil; but commercial fertilisers 
 have little or no value in this respect. When 
 
374 SOILS 
 
 buying a fertiliser the farmer should consider just 
 two things; the amount of plant food in it and 
 what it costs per pound in this form. It is a 
 simple matter to estimate the value of a com- 
 mercial fertiliser from its guarantee, provided the 
 guarantee is not too confusing. Suppose a fer- 
 tiliser is offered with the following guarantee: 
 
 Per cent, 
 
 1. Ammonia 2 to 4 
 
 2. Available phosphoric acid 10 to 12 
 
 3. Total phosphoric acid 14 to 17 
 
 4. Equivalent to bone phosphate . . . . 30 to 37 
 
 5. Potash 9 to 11 
 
 6. Equivalent to sulphate of potash . 16 to 20 
 
 The first thing to do is to draw a line through 
 statements 4 and 6, because 4 is a repetition of 
 2 and 3, while 6 is a restatement of 5. The 
 ammonia must now be reduced to nitrogen by multi- 
 plying 2 per cent, by .82, giving 1.64, the percent- 
 age of actual nitrogen in the fertiliser. Since 
 there is 14 per cent, of phosphoric acid in the fer- 
 tiliser and but 10 per cent, of this is available, the 
 inference is that the other 4 per cent, is insoluble. 
 A simplified statement of the contents of this 
 fertiliser is : 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Nitrogen 1.64 
 
 Available phosphoric acid 10 
 
 Insoluble phosphoric acid 4 
 
 Potash 9 
 
 The number of pounds of each plant food in a ton 
 of this fertiliser is then determined: 
 
 1.64% of 2,000 lbs.= 32.8 lbs. of nitrogen in a ton. 
 10% of 2.000 lbs.==200 lbs. of available phosphoric 
 acid in a ton. 
 4% of 2,000 lbs.= 80 lbs. of insoluble acid in a ton. 
 9% of 2,000 lbs.=I80 lbs. of potash in a ton. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 375 
 
 The trade values of the different plant foods in 
 commercial fertilisers vary slightly from year to 
 year but generally a pound of nitrogen is worth 
 seventeen cents; a pound of potash four cents; a 
 pound of available or water-soluble phosphoric 
 acid, four and a half cents; this is what the 
 several plant foods can be bought for in raw fer- 
 tilising materials. The valuation of this partic- 
 ular fertiliser is: 
 
 Per ton 
 Nitrogen, 32.8 lbs. @ 17 cents per lb. . . . $ 5.57 
 Available phosphoric acid, 200 lbs. @ 4j cents 
 
 per lb 9.00 
 
 Insoluble phosphoric acid, 80 lbs. @ 2 J cents per lb. 1 .80 
 
 Potash, 180 lbs. @ 4 cents per lb 7.20 
 
 Total value per ton $23.57 
 
 Such a fertiliser may cost $36 per ton, or more. 
 The difference between this sum and $23.57, the 
 actual value of the plant food in it, covers the cost 
 of mixing, bagging, handling and the profit. On 
 an average it costs about $8 per ton to mix, bag, 
 and handle a ton of fertiliser before it finally 
 reaches the buyer, and allow a fair profit for all 
 concerned. If $8 is added to the actual plant food 
 value of a fertiliser, as determined from the 
 guaranteed analysis, the buyer knows what would 
 be a fair price to pay for the fertiliser. 
 
 LOW-GRADE FERTILISERS EXPENSIVE 
 
 To meet the demand for a cheap fertiliser — a 
 lot of fertiliser for the money — many manufac- 
 turers sell "low-grade fertilisers" for $15 to $26 
 per ton. But it costs as much to mix, bag, and 
 handle a ton of fertiliser containing $15 worth of 
 plant food as it does a ton of fertiliser containing 
 $30 worth of plant food. Furthermore, the cost 
 
376 SOILS 
 
 of applying it to the land is greater, since more 
 has to be applied to give a certain result. Usually 
 plant food can be bought more cheaply in a con- 
 centrp.ted, or "high-grade fertiliser" than in a low 
 grade. Even though a low-grade fertiliser may 
 contain some high-grade materials, as sulphate 
 of potash and nitrate of soda, the plant food in it 
 usually costs more because this is weighed down 
 with so much useless bulk. The farmer cannot 
 afford to pay for bulk. Every pound of material 
 in a ton of fertiliser which is not plant food 
 adds to the price which the farmer must pay for 
 the plant food. Usually the more concentrated 
 the fertiliser, and hence the higher the price per 
 ton, the cheaper it is. But one cannot make a 
 mistake in buying a low-grade fertiliser if he figures 
 on the guarantee. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF HOME-MIXING OF FERTILISERS 
 
 It is a convenience to buy fertilisers mixed and 
 ready to apply, provided the buyer examines the 
 guarantee and finds that he can buy plant food in 
 this fertiliser about as cheaply as though he bought 
 the raw materials and mixed them himself; and 
 provided, too, that this brand of fertiliser contains 
 the several kinds of plant food in the right pro- 
 portions for the soil and the crop to be grown. 
 But this is not usually the case. Few farm soils 
 need applications of all three plant foods; many 
 need but one. Many brands of commercial fer- 
 tilisers contain all three and the farmer may be 
 buying plant food that his soil does not need, and 
 so wasting his money. 
 
 The raw materials out of which commercial fer- 
 tilisers are made, may be bought and mixed on the 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 377 
 
 farm. There are several advantages in doing 
 this as compared with buying commercial brands. 
 The most important one is that of being able to 
 use but one or two of the plant foods, as is found 
 necessary, and to gauge the proportions of each 
 to suit the needs of the soil and the crop. There 
 is also a saving in the cost of plant food, because the 
 raw materials are mostly concentrated, and there 
 is less expense in handling them. Added to this 
 is the difficulty of always determining with absolute 
 certainty the exact amount of plant food in a brand 
 of commercial fertiliser owing to the ambiguous 
 wording of many guarantees. 
 
 On the other hand, it is sometimes difficult to 
 buy these raw materials; they are not so generally 
 distributed over the country, as brands of mixed 
 fertilisers. Again, the mixed fertilisers are apt 
 to be ground more finely than the unmixed. If 
 a man uses but little fertiliser, it is likely that he 
 will find it more expedient to buy a commercial 
 brand; but if he uses a considerable amount it 
 may be cheaper for him to buy plant food in the 
 raw materials, not mixed. Most fertilizer dealers 
 sell the raw materials as well as mixed fertilisers. 
 
 The following raw materials are most com- 
 monly used: 
 
 SOURCES OF NITROGEN 
 
 Nitrogen is the most costly of the three plant 
 foods. For this reason special attention should 
 be given to the means of producing it on the farm, 
 as discussed in the two preceding chapters. The 
 chief commercial sources fall into two classes: 
 the "nitrates," which are salts; and "orgaric 
 nitrogen," which is the nitrogen in plant and 
 
378 SOILS 
 
 animal materials, as cottonseed meal, dried blood, 
 etc. Plants can feed on a nitrate but not on 
 organic nitrogen. It is necessary for the plant or 
 animal product to thoroughly decay, during which 
 process the organic nitrogen in it is changed into 
 a nitrate, before plants are able to use this kind of 
 food. This shows the value of knowing the source 
 of the different plant foods in a fertiliser. 
 
 Nitrate of Soda {Chili Saltpetre), is the chief 
 commercial form of nitrogen as a nitrate. Large 
 deposits of this salt are found in the arid sections 
 of South America. It contains from 15.5 to 16 
 per cent, of nitrogen. Nitrate of soda is dissolved 
 in soil water almost immediately and becomes at 
 once available as plant food. For this reason it 
 should not be applied to land until the crop is 
 planted, or just before. It is especially valuable 
 for giving crops a quick start, and for promoting 
 a luxuriant leaf and stem growth. 
 
 Dried Blood is collected from slaughter houses. 
 Red blood contains 12 to 14 per cent, of nitrogen, 
 and black blood 6 to 12 per cent. This material 
 decays very quickly in the soil, so that its plant 
 food is quickly available for crops. It is one of 
 the best sources of nitrogen. 
 
 Cottonseed Meal usually contains 7 per cent, of 
 nitrogen, together with 1§ to 2 per cent, each of 
 potash and phosphoric acid. The nitrogen in it 
 is as quickly available to plants as that in dried 
 blood. This material can often be used to best 
 advantage, however, by feeding it to stock and 
 recovering most of the nitrogen in manure. 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia is a by-product in the 
 manufacture of boneblack, illuminating gas and 
 coke. It usually contains about 20 per cent, of 
 nitrogen, being the most concentrated source of 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 379 
 
 this plant food. The nitrogen in it is nearly as 
 quickly available to plants as that in nitrate of 
 soda. It should not be mixed with muriate of 
 potash, as the muriate causes a loss of ammonia. 
 Less important sources of nitrogen are the fol- 
 lowing animal products: hoof meal, dry ground 
 fish, tankage, Peruvian and other guanos, horn 
 and hoof meal, wool and hair waste, dried meat or 
 meal; and two vegetable products, linseed meal 
 and castor pomace. These materials are usually 
 obtained with greater diflficulty and are less 
 valuable for the farmer unless he is so situated 
 that he can buy them advantageously. The 
 amount of plant food in each of these is given 
 in the Appendix. 
 
 SOURCES OF PHOSPHORIC ACID 
 
 The principal sources of phosphoric acid are 
 phosphate rocks and bones. In most cases the 
 phosphoric acid is in combination with lime, mak- 
 ing a phosphate of lime. Only a fertiliser that 
 contains phosphoric acid is a *' phosphate," 
 but this term is often applied by farmers to 
 all fertilisers. For many years bones were the 
 main source of phosphoric acid and they are 
 still largely used. 
 
 Raw Bone is that which has not been treated 
 in any way, except by grinding. It should 
 contain about 4 per cent, of nitrogen and 22 
 per cent, of phosphoric acid ; but only 5 to 7 per 
 cent, of the phosphoric acid is soluble, the 
 remainder being insoluble. For this reason the 
 phosphoric acid in raw bone is but slowly avail- 
 able to plants, its usefulness extending over 
 several years. 
 
380 SOILS 
 
 Boiled and Steamed Bone. — Most of the bone used 
 as fertiliser has been boiled or steamed to free it 
 from fat. The fat is objectionable in a fertiliser 
 and is valuable for soap; the meat contains nitro- 
 gen and is used in making glue. Boiling or 
 steaming reduces the amount of nitrogen in the 
 bone, so that it contains about 28 to 30 per cent, 
 phosphoric acid and only about 1| per cent, of 
 nitrogen. About G to 9 per cent, of the phosphoric 
 acid is soluble. Boiled or steamed bone, however, 
 can be pulverised much finer than raw bone and 
 this greatly increases its value for immediate use. 
 It is much used in mixed fertilisers and is especially 
 valuable for meadows. 
 
 Both raw and boiled or steamed bone are sold 
 under various trade names, as "meal," "dust," and 
 "fine ground bone." These terms refer to fine- 
 ness, not to composition, and there is no uniformity ; 
 the "bone meal" of one manufacturer may be as 
 fine as the "bone dust" of another. The finer 
 it is, the better, since it decays more quickly. 
 
 Dissolved Boneblack.—^aw bones are burnt 
 until they become "animal charcoal" and are 
 readily crushed into a fine powder. This "bone 
 black" is used in refining sugar. It is then turned 
 over to the fertiliser dealer, who finds that it con- 
 tains 32 to 36 per cent, of phosphoric acid, mostly 
 insoluble, and a small amount of nitrogen. Bone- 
 black is sometimes used directly as a fertiliser, but 
 more commonly is treated with oil of vitriol to make 
 the phosphoric acid in it more soluble. The re- 
 sulting product is "dissolved boneblack" which 
 contains 15 to 17 per cent, of soluble phosphoric 
 acid and is one of the most important of the phos- 
 phates. Some superphosphates are dissolved 
 boneblack. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 381 
 
 Rock Phosphates. — Other sources of large 
 amounts of phosphoric acid are mineral deposits 
 in South Carohna, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee 
 and Canada. These rock phosphates are mostly 
 the fossil remains and the dung of animals, chiefly 
 fish-eating birds. This rock differs widely in 
 composition. South Carolina rock phosphate, dis- 
 covered in 1868, is most generally used. It con- 
 tains 26 to 28 per cent, of phosphoric acid, most of 
 which is insoluble. This South Carolina rock is 
 ground very fine and sold as "floats." Floats are 
 often used for certain crops, especially on moist 
 soils rich in humus. This raw, cheap, slowly- 
 available mineral phosphate may often be used 
 instead of the high-priced, quickly-available 
 superphosphates, especially on perennial crops like 
 fruit trees and grasses. It is becoming quite a 
 common practice to use floats for the main supply 
 of phosphoric acid and to supplement it with small 
 amounts of a superphosphate. 
 
 Florida rock phosphate, discovered in 1888, is 
 more variable in composition than that found in 
 South Carolina. It contains from 18 to 40 per 
 cent, of phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid 
 in it seems to be much more slowly available than 
 that in South Carolina rock. Tennessee rock 
 phosphate, discovered in 1894, contains 30 to 32 
 per cent, of insoluble phosphoric acid and is used 
 chiefly in making superphosphates. 
 
 Phosphate Slag, also sold as "Thomas slag," 
 "Thomas phosphate meal" and "basic slag" is 
 a by-product in the manufacture of Bessemer 
 steel, phosphorus being an impurity in iron ore. 
 The slag is ground to a fine powder and contains 
 15 to 20 per cent, of phosphoric acid, much of 
 which is soluble in soil water and so is quickly 
 
382 SOILS 
 
 available for plants. This material is considered 
 one of the best phosphates for general use, espe- 
 cially on moist soils rich in humus and poor in lime. 
 It is produced in this country in considerable 
 quantities. 
 
 Superphosphates. — Any phosphate, either bone 
 or mineral, which has been treated with acid to 
 render its phosphoric acid more soluble is called 
 a superphosphate. One popular superphosphate — 
 dissolved boneblack — has been mentioned. Dis- 
 solved bone, made by treating raw ground bone 
 with sulphuric acid, is another. It contains 13 to 
 15 per cent, of available phosphoric acid and 2 to 
 3 per cent, of nitrogen. The most common super- 
 phosphate is that made by treating ground rock 
 phosphate with sulphuric acid. The great fault 
 of the raw rock and raw bone phosphates is their 
 slowness; plants derive little benefit from them 
 the same season that they are applied. To over- 
 come this, the manufacturer mixes some strong 
 acid with them, usually sulphuric acid. This 
 makes most of the phosphoric acid in them 
 soluble. 
 
 Contrary to the belief of some, a well-made 
 superphosphate contains no free acid that will 
 make the ground "sour." The acid used in 
 making it is all combined with lime, making 
 gypsum, which is itself a valuable dressing 
 for some soils. However much difference 
 there may be in the agricultural value of 
 raw bone phosphates and raw mineral phos- 
 phates, a superphosphate made from one is as 
 good as a superphosphate made from the other, 
 per pound of phosphoric acid; the kind of raw 
 material does not count after it has been treated 
 with acid. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 383 
 
 Besides dissolved bone and dissolved boneblack, 
 which are the common bone superphosphates, 
 *' plain superphosphate," '*acid phosphate," and 
 "dissolved rock" are standard sources of this 
 plant food. These are all superphosphates made 
 from rock phosphate. That made from South 
 Carolina rock is most common; it contains 12 to 
 14 per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid. The 
 "double superphosphate," containing about 45 
 per cent, of available phosphoric acid, is not 
 used much in this country. 
 
 It is more difficult to decide what material to 
 buy as a source of phosphoric acid than either of 
 the other plant foods. The first question that 
 arises is whether a raw bone or a raw mineral 
 phosphate should be bought, or a superphosphate. 
 The relative cost of the plant food in the different 
 materials, its availability, and the special needs of 
 the soil and crop must determine this. A pound 
 of phosphoric acid can be bought in raw rock 
 phosphate for two and a half cents; in raw 
 ground bone for four cents and in a super- 
 phosphate for five to six cents. Crops that 
 mature quickly, including most vegetables, need 
 quickly available fertilisers; while plants which 
 grow for several seasons, as fruit trees and 
 grasses, are able to get along with a certain 
 amount of slowly available fertiliser. The cru- 
 ciferous plants, as cabbage and turnip, ap- 
 pear to do very well on the raw phosphates. 
 Use as much of the slow-acting, but cheap, 
 raw phosphates as practicable. Oftentimes 
 a combination of superphosphate, for quick 
 results, and raw phosphate, for general en- 
 richment, is the best solution of the prob- 
 lem. 
 
384 SOILS 
 
 SOURCES OF POTASH 
 
 There are few commercial sources of potash; 
 the most important are wood ashes and the Ger- 
 man potash salts. 
 
 Wood Ashes. — Until the discovery of the potash 
 salts, this was the chief potash fertiliser. Wood 
 ashes are often leached with hot water to extract 
 the potash for soap-making and other purposes. 
 The ashes remaining contain only one-third as 
 much potash as before — usually but 1 or 2 per cent. 
 — besides 1| per cent, of phosphoric acid and 
 30 per cent, of lime. Unleached wood ashes, if 
 well cared for, should contain 6 to 9 per cent, of 
 potash, 2 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and about 
 32 per cent, of lime. Hardwood ashes are richer 
 than softwood ashes. 
 
 Wood ashes are so variable in composition, ac- 
 cording to their source, impurities and care, that 
 one should buy them only on a guaranteed analy- 
 sis. A good sample is worth about twenty cents 
 a bushel for the plant food in it, which is almost 
 all immediately available. In addition, wood 
 ashes have an important indirect value, due to the 
 lime they contain. The price paid for them, how- 
 ever, should be based on their plant-food content 
 only. In this case the potash in them costs a 
 trifle more than that in the German salts; but the 
 indirect benefit of wood ashes is often so marked 
 that their great popularity as fertiliser is justified. 
 When they can be bought at about the same price 
 per pound of plant food, or a little more, as other 
 potash fertilisers, prefer the ashes. 
 
 Besides wood ashes, cotton-hull ashes are a 
 valuable but limited source of potash; lime-kiln 
 ashes usually contain less than 1^- per cent, of potash 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 385 
 
 and 1 per cent, of phosphoric acid; coal ashes 
 contain no plant food whatever but may benefit 
 the soil by improving the texture. 
 
 German Potash Salts. — Deposits of crude potash 
 salts in Germany were discovered in 1859. Min- 
 ing was begun in 18G2 and the product of the 
 mines is now about 750,000 tons a year. The 
 supply seems inexhaustible. Three kinds of Ger- 
 man potash salts are commonly used in this country : 
 kainit, muriate of potash, and sulphate of potash. 
 
 Kainit is one of the crude salts, just as it comes 
 from the mines. It contains about 12 per cent, of 
 actual potash and 33 per cent, of common salt, 
 together with other salts. This extremely large 
 percentage of salty material makes kainit un- 
 desirable for the heavier soils and for some crops; 
 but it is beneficial to light soils, and to certain 
 crops, as asparagus, that appreciate salt. Since 
 it contains so low a per cent, of potash, a pound of 
 potash in kainit costs more than a pound in the 
 refined salts. For this reason it is rarely used 
 except when its indirect benefit, because of its 
 saltiness, is needed. Sylvinit, another crude salt, 
 is very little used in this country. 
 
 Muriate of Potash is used in the United States 
 more than any other potash fertiliser. It is very 
 highly concentrated, containing about 50 per cent, 
 of actual potash. Potash in muriate at $40 per 
 ton costs four cents a pound, which makes this the 
 cheapest source of potash. 
 
 There are two occasions when muriate of potash 
 should not be used. Certain crops, notably to- 
 bacco, sugar beets, onions, and potatoes, are quite 
 noticeablj^ injured by the chlorine which this salt 
 contains in large amounts. Again, if the soil is 
 deficient in lime, heavy applications of muriate 
 
386 SOILS 
 
 of potash will be likely to aggravate the trouble. 
 If it is necessary to apply potash every year, alter- 
 nate the muriate with the sulphate, or with wood 
 ashes, and give the land an occasional dressing of 
 lime. Never mix muriate of potash with sulphate 
 of ammonia; the latter will lose part of its nitrogen. 
 The muriate is especially valuable for the lighter 
 soils, because it attracts moisture. 
 
 Sulphate of Potash is bought in two forms, 
 "high grade" and "low grade." The former con- 
 tains 51 to 53 per cent, actual potash, which in 
 this form costs four and one-half cents a pound at 
 the current price of $45 a ton. High-grade sul- 
 phate of potash can be used safely for all crops. 
 Unlike the muriate it does not increase the loss of 
 lime from the soil ; although the potash in it costs a 
 trifle more than that in the muriate, the sulphate 
 is generally preferable for this reason. It is 
 especially preferable for tobacco, sugar beets, onions 
 and potatoes. Low grade sulphate of potash con- 
 tains about 26 per cent, of potash combined with 
 magnesia, which has a beneficial effect on some 
 soils. But the potash in it costs more than in 
 other forms, so that it is not used much in this 
 country. 
 
 Many other materials are occasionally used as 
 fertilisers, such as tobacco stems and stalks, wool 
 and hair waste, seaweed, crude fish scrap, etc. 
 The amounts of food in the most common of these 
 are given in the Appendix. 
 
 MIXING THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 If but one plant food is to be applied, the 
 material is put upon the land as it comes from the 
 dealers; if two or three are to be applied, the 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 387 
 
 materials must be niixed. The mere mixing re- 
 quires little skill, but it is very important to get the 
 right proportions of the different plant foods in the 
 mixture. We will suppose that excellent results 
 have followed the use of 1,000 pounds per acre of 
 a certain brand of fertiliser containing 4 per cent, 
 of nitrogen, 8 per cent, of potash and 6 per cent, 
 of phosphoric acid; but it is found that the plant 
 food in this fertiliser costs more than it can be 
 bought for in raw^ materials. This means that 
 for each acre, a mixture containing 40 pounds of 
 nitrogen, 60 pounds of potash, and 80 pounds of 
 phosphoric acid is needed. By referring to the 
 figures of the amounts of plant food in each fer- 
 tilising material, we find that the 40 pounds of 
 nitrogen may be obtained in 250 pounds of nitrate 
 of soda, or 200 pounds of sulphate of ammonia, 
 etc. The 60 pounds of potash may be obtained 
 in 120 pounds of sulphate of potash, or in 114 
 pounds of muriate of potash, etc. The 80 
 pounds of phosphoric acid may be obtained in 
 533 pounds of dissolved South Carolina rock, or 
 in 250 pounds of Florida phosphate, etc. If 
 sulphate of ammonia is found to be the cheapest 
 source of nitrogen, sulphate of potash, of potash, 
 and dissolved South Carolina rock, of phosphoric 
 acid, the mixture would be: 
 
 200 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 
 
 120 lbs. sulphate of potash 
 
 533 lbs. dissolved South Carolina rock 
 
 853 lbs. for an acre; larger quantities in proportion. 
 
 It often happens that some fertilising materials 
 which can be bought to advantage contain more 
 than one kind of plant food. Thus a good sample 
 
388 SOILS 
 
 of unleached ashes should contain 8 per cent, of 
 potash and 2 per cent, of phosphoric acid; in such 
 a case each plant food should be figured out 
 independently. If a fertiliser containing 10 per 
 cent, of potash and 5 per cent, of phosphoric acid 
 is needed, and ashes can be bought very reasonably, 
 it will only be necessary to add to the ashes 
 a sufficient quantity of muriate of potash, and of 
 superphosphate, for example, to make a fertiliser 
 having the desired analysis. 
 
 The actual mixing of fertilisers is easily done. 
 The right quantities of the several materials are 
 dumped upon a tight, smooth floor and are shovelled 
 over until thoroughly mixed. The mixture may 
 then be put through a sieve. It is best to keep the 
 several ingredients separate until a short time 
 before the fertiliser is needed. Any fertiliser con- 
 taining ammonia should not be mixed with lime, 
 as lime attacks ammonia and nitrogen escapes. 
 If highly concentrated fertilisers are mixed, as 
 muriate of potash and bone ash, it is often de- 
 sirable to add a quantity of some other material, 
 not plant food, as dust, dry soil or land plaster. 
 This gives the mixture greater bulk so that it can be 
 distributed much more evenly, especially if light 
 applications are to be made. The saving in buying 
 raw materials and mixing them at home is often 
 25 to 40 per cent, over the cost of the same amounts 
 of plant food if bought in the average manufactured 
 article. 
 
 WHAT KINDS OF FERTILISER TO USE 
 
 There are two great problems in using com- 
 mercial fertilisers. The first is, "What kind and 
 what amounts of plant food does my soil need.?" 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 389 
 
 The second, "In what form can I buy each plant 
 food cheapest?" 
 
 What and how much fertiliser to apply as a 
 fertiliser depends upon the deficiency of the soil, 
 the needs of the crop, the system of farming, and 
 kindred matters. 
 
 Soil Analyses as a Guide to Fertilising. — If the 
 crops are unsatisfactory, and this cannot be 
 wholly explained by a poor texture of the soil, 
 a deficiency of available plant food may be sus- 
 pected. But what kind of plant food, and how 
 much fertiliser will it pay to apply ? The first thing 
 that many farmers do is to send a sample of the 
 soil to a chemist to be analysed; for, they argue, 
 if crops grow on plant food in the soil, surely an 
 analysis of the soil should show just what it needs. 
 But the chemical analysis of a soil rarely gives 
 reliable information about the best way to fertilise 
 it. The analysis of a certain soil may show that 
 there are 5,000 pounds of phosphoric acid in the 
 upper nine inches, but it does not and cannot show 
 how much of this vast amount is soluble, or in 
 such a form that plants can use it; this makes 
 a great deal of difference, from the farmer's 
 point of view. An analysis often points out 
 glaring deficiencies and gives hints that may 
 be valuable in fertilising a soil; but it is 
 by no means a reliable guide, and it usually 
 bears no relation to the method of fertilising 
 which will be found most profitable on that 
 soil. 
 
 It is generally understood, however, that cer- 
 tain types of soils have special needs. Clay and 
 other heavy soils are usually rich in potash, but 
 poor in phosphoric acid ; sandy soils, and all others 
 deficient in humus, lack nitrogen; peat and muck 
 
890 SOILS 
 
 soils need potash and phosphoric acid more than 
 nitrogen, especially potash. 
 
 Questionincj the Soil. — A good farmer will not 
 long be satisfied to fertilise solely on hearsay evi- 
 dence. He will observe the effects of different fer- 
 tilisers on his own crops and, gradually learning the 
 peculiar needs of his soil, will fertilise accordingly. 
 It is not necessary to lay out an elaborate series 
 of plot experiments with fertilisers in order 
 to determine with considerable accuracy what 
 fertiliser pays best on a certain soil. In many 
 cases it is enough merely to test different fertilisers 
 as a part of the regular farm practice; in other 
 cases it will pay to lay out fertiliser plots. In 
 either case, the testing should be done methodi- 
 cally and the results should not be interpreted too 
 hastily. 
 
 A common way of testing fertilisers is to use 
 different kinds indiscriminately, until one is found 
 that answers the purpose. This hit-or-miss method 
 is usually unsatisfactory. Another way is to 
 apply each of the three plant foods separately 
 and in combinations. This is an exact and 
 reliable method. In these experiments it is cus- 
 tomary to use nitrate of soda, sulphate of potash, 
 and superphosphate as the sources of plant food, 
 since these materials each contain but one kind 
 of plant food. 
 
 These fertilisers may be applied to different 
 rows of plants, or to plots of the same size. Plots 
 one rod wide and eight rods long, containing 
 T7 of an acre, are a convenient size. The plots 
 should be long and narrow, so as to cover 
 inequalities of soil. If the land is sloping, run them 
 up and down the slope. Make every condition 
 in the several plots as nearly alike as possible:, 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 391 
 
 except as to the kind of fertiliser applied. It is 
 best to leave between plots a strip of land at least 
 four feet wide, which is unfertilised; this prevents 
 the fertiliser applied to one crop from affecting the 
 crop in an adjoining plot. The full experiment 
 would look like this: 
 
 Plot 1 
 
 Nitrate of Soda, 8 lbs 
 
 Plot 2 
 
 Acid Phosphate, 16 lbs. 
 
 Plot 3 
 
 I'l.OT 4 
 
 Sulphate of Potash, 8 lbs. 
 
 If it is desired to test the value of different com- 
 binations of plant foods, add : 
 
 Plot 5 
 
 Nitrate of Soda, 8 lbs. 
 Sulphate of Potash, 8 lbs. 
 
 Plot 6 
 
 Nitrate of Soda, 8 lbs. 
 Sulphate of Potash, 8 lbs. 
 Acid Phosphate, 16 lbs. 
 
 Plot 7 
 
 Nitrate of Soda, 8 lbs. 
 Acid Phosphate, 16 lbs. 
 
 Plot 8 
 
 Stable Manure 
 
 Plot 9 
 
 Sulphate of Potash, 81 bs. 
 Acid Phosphate, 16 lbs. 
 
 Plot 10 
 
392 SOILS 
 
 The fertiliser should be applied broadcast and 
 harrowed in lengthwise, not crosswise, of the plots. 
 The amount used should be somewhat larger than 
 in the field at large; if the plot is aV of an acre 
 satisfactory amounts are 8 pounds of nitrate of 
 soda, 8 pounds of sulphate of potash and 16 
 pounds of superphosphate. The fertiliser may 
 be mixed with dry soil or sand in order to dis- 
 tribute it more evenly. Throughout the season 
 give all plots the same care. 
 
 In comparing the crops grown under the dif- 
 ferent methods of fertilising it is well to take only 
 the inside rows of each plot, if no unfertilised strips 
 have been left between plots, because the outside 
 rows may have been affected by the fertilising of 
 the adjacent plots. The yields of the several plots 
 may be measured for comparison. Such a test as 
 this, even though not carried out in every detail, 
 gives valuable results to the man who is obliged to 
 use commercial fertilisers. It is well to repeat the 
 experiment two or three years and upon the same 
 land if possible. 
 
 The Needs oj Different Crops. — The chemical 
 analysis of a crop is of very little practical value to 
 the man who wishes to know what fertiliser to 
 apply to that crop. The proposition looks plaus- 
 ible, however. The chemist tells the cotton farmer 
 that the crop of cotton plants which produce 190 
 pounds of lint per acre draws an average of 40 
 pounds of nitrogen, 16 pounds of phosphoric acid 
 and 25 pounds of potash from the soil. The farmer 
 will then apply these amounts of the plant food each 
 year, but adding a little more, because probably 
 part of it does not reach the crop. 
 
 But the chemical analysis of a crop is no more 
 reliable as a guide to fertilising that crop than the 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 393 
 
 chemical analysis of a soil. Both are useful hints, 
 and may point out striking needs or deficiencies, 
 but other factors are much more important. An 
 experiment at the New York State Experiment 
 Station, for example, showed that a fertiliser con- 
 taining nearly the proportions of plant food used 
 by the potato plant was much less useful than one 
 containing very different proportions, based on 
 the experience of observing growers. An abun- 
 dance of phosphoric acid in the soil contributes 
 more to the profitable growth of the cotton crop 
 than either of the other plant foods; yet an analy- 
 sis of the cotton plant shows that it contains less 
 phosphoric acid than either nitrogen or potash. 
 The needs of the soil and the needs of the crop 
 cannot be studied separately and independently 
 with any degree of satisfaction ; they are coordinate 
 and complementary. 
 
 Crops do differ, however, in their demands upon 
 the soil. A knowledge of the special needs should 
 be helpful to the man who does not have the 
 results of a home fertiliser test to guide him. A few 
 general suggestions follow: 
 
 The small grains — wheat, rye, oats, and barley, 
 are especially benefited by an abundance of nitro- 
 gen and of phosphoric acid. The latter is espe- 
 cially needed in the development of grains. 
 
 Indian corn, a very exhaustive crop, is more apt 
 to need applications of the mineral plant foods 
 especially phosphoric acid, than of nitrogen. 
 
 Forage crops, including the grasses and grains 
 grown for forage, but not clovers, are most apt to 
 need nitrogen. 
 
 The clovers, including all legumes, need potash 
 and phosphoric acid, but not nitrogen; they also 
 draw heavily on lime. 
 
394 SOILS 
 
 Root and tuber crops are more variable in their 
 demands. Potash should be the most important 
 ingredient of a fertiliser for sweet and Irish pota- 
 toes — the sulphate is preferred to the muriate; 
 phosphoric acid for turnips and nitrogen for beets 
 and carrots. Root crops need quick-acting fertiliser. 
 
 Fruits. — The period of growth of tree fruits is 
 extended over a longer time than other farm crops, 
 and so slow-acting fertilisers may be used upon 
 them to advantage. The small fruits, however, 
 as strawberries and raspberries, must have quick- 
 acting fertilisers. Potash is of special importance 
 in a fruit fertiliser. 
 
 Market-garden crops in which the chief object 
 is to secure the crispness and tenderness that comes 
 from a rapid growth, as celery, radishes, cabbage, 
 lettuce, etc., must have an abundance of quick- 
 acting fertiliser, particularly of nitrogen. 
 
 Cotton especially enjoys an abundance of phos- 
 phoric acid. 
 
 These general suggestions on the fertilising of 
 different crops merely indicate what many people 
 have found profitable. They are subject to many 
 exceptions, depending upon the kind of soil on 
 which the crop is grown. So it all comes back to 
 the elemental problem of questioning the soil. 
 This will ever be an experiment for each farmer; 
 no one else can perform it for him. 
 
 THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE 
 THREE PLANT FOODS 
 
 Phosphoric acid is regarded by many as the 
 most important of the three plant foods; not be- 
 cause it is more essential to the profitable growth 
 of crops, but because it is more likely to be lacking 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 395 
 
 in ordinary soils than either potash or nitrogen; 
 and, furthermore, because the commercial supply 
 of phosphoric acid is apparently more limited than 
 that of the other two plant foods. In most cases 
 the supply of nitrogen may be maintained without 
 difficulty with barn manure and green-manuring. 
 Potash is found more in the straw than in the grain ; 
 the grain, which is rich in phosphoric acid, is 
 commonly shipped away from the farm while the 
 straw remains. From the point of view of the 
 future supply, then, phosphoric acid is the most 
 important of the three plant foods. 
 
 From the point of view of the plant, however, 
 one food is as important as another. Plant foods 
 are often spoken of as though each one performed 
 certain definite functions ; as " Potash makes fruit, " 
 "Nitrogen makes stem and leaf growth," and 
 "Phosphoric acid fills out the grain." Undoubt- 
 edly each of the three plant foods does exert a 
 special influence in one of these several directions, 
 but all are essential to the well-being of the plant. 
 "Fertilising for fruit" or "fertilising for grain" or 
 "fertilising for growth" is apt to be one-sided and 
 unsatisfactory fertilising. The plant as a whole 
 is the unit; fertilise to make a symmetrical, well- 
 developed plant; not for an abnormal develop- 
 ment of any part. 
 
 WHEN TO APPLY COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 
 
 This depends first of all upon the solubility of 
 the fertiliser. One would not apply nitrate of 
 soda, which dissolves almost immediately in soil 
 water, in the fall ; much of the nitrogen in it would 
 be leached from the soil by spring. But one might 
 apply raw bone meal in the fall, because this 
 
396 SOILS 
 
 becomes available quite slowly. The more soluble 
 a fertiliser is, the more necessary it is to apply it at 
 or about the time it will be needed most by the 
 crop. 
 
 As a class, the nitrogen fertilisers are more 
 quickly soluble and more apt to be lost by leaching 
 than the other plant foods; they should usually 
 be applied in the spring or during the summer, as 
 needed. The potash and phosphoric acid in 
 fertilisers are not subject to serious waste; they 
 remain in the soil until taken out by plants, com- 
 bining with lime, silica and other minerals in the 
 soil. This is called the "fixing" of these plant 
 foods. It usually takes place within a week after 
 the fertiliser is applied. With the exception, in 
 some cases, of raw bone and raw mineral phos- 
 phates, it is best to apply fertilisers in the spring. 
 
 The special needs of crops also influence the 
 time for applying fertilisers. Many crops need 
 a special stimulus at certain times and under cer- 
 tain conditions. Thus, if wheat on light land has 
 passed through a severe winter it may need an 
 application of nitrogen in the spring, in addition 
 to the regular fertiliser provided for it the fall pre- 
 vious. Or again, beets that are being forced for 
 bunching will profit by several light dressings |of 
 nitrogen at intervals of two weeks, instead of put- 
 ting all the fertiliser into the ground at planting 
 time. 
 
 HOW TO APPLY FERTILISERS 
 
 The method of applying fertiliser is mostly a 
 matter of expediency. In a majority of cases it is 
 best to broadcast it over the entire surface after 
 plowing and before the last harrowing. Most of 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 397 
 
 the common fertilisers suffer no loss if left on the 
 surface, but it is generally considered best to work 
 all fertilisers into the soil, because this mixing 
 brings the plant food within reach of the roots 
 more quickly. There are some fertiliser distrib- 
 utors on the market that do the work cheaper 
 than it can be done by hand; fertilisers may also 
 be drilled in. 
 
 Whether part or all of the fertiliser should be 
 put into the hill or drill depends upon the soil and 
 the crop. Nothing is lost by broadcasting it, for 
 the roots of the crop will lay every foot of soil under 
 tribute ; but an early start may be gained by putting 
 part of the fertiliser in the hill or drill, if it is quickly 
 available. This is especially profitable on light 
 and poor soils, particularly if but little fertiliser 
 is used; and for market garden crops, as earliness 
 counts for more with them than with general farm 
 crops. In any case only a part of the fertiliser 
 should be put in the hill or drill ; most of it should 
 be broadcasted. With grains, however, all the 
 fertiliser may be drilled in. Fertilisers used on 
 hoed crops that are growing should be cultivated 
 in between the rows. A nitrogen fertiliser ap- 
 plied after the crop has started should not be put 
 on when the leaves are wet; if much of the fer- 
 tiliser sticks to the leaves, injury may follow. 
 
 The amount of fertiliser to apply depends upon 
 the kind of soil, the value of the land, the kind of 
 crop, the market value of the crop, the amount of 
 manure available, whether green-manuring has 
 been practised, the system of farming, and many 
 other factors. No general statement can be made 
 that is of any value. Perhaps a general average 
 for staple crops on the poorer soils of the Eastern 
 States is 20 pounds of nitrogen, 80 pounds of 
 
398 SOILS 
 
 potash, and 100 pounds of available phosphoric 
 acid. Be especially chary in the application of 
 nitrogen. One hundred pounds per acre of nitrate 
 of soda is usually sufficient if used alone. If used 
 with the mineral plant foods, this application may 
 be doubled or trebled. 
 
 WHEN IT WILL PAY TO USE FERTILISERS 
 
 This depends not only upon the condition and 
 needs of the soil, but also upon the money value of 
 the crop and the value of the land. The higher 
 the value of the land or the crop the more will it 
 pay to fertilise liberally, in order to secure maximum 
 yields which will pay interest on the large amount 
 of capital invested. The largest use of commercial 
 fertilisers is made in market gardens and in 
 special crop farming, as the growing of onions, 
 tobacco, and fruit. It might pay to use a ton of 
 commercial fertiliser on an acre of garden vege- 
 tables on Long Island when it might not pay to use 
 500 pounds on an acre of wheat in Ohio, although 
 both soils were equally in need of fertilising. It 
 is a question of economics as well as of crop 
 culture. 
 
 It depends also upon the thoroughness of the 
 farming; a good farmer, especially one who tills 
 the soil thoroughly and keeps it in good texture by 
 the use of green manures and animal manures, 
 makes the use of commercial fertilisers pay, but a 
 poor farmer does not. The physical condition of 
 the soil — which the farmer can largely control and 
 modify — has more to do with the profit in using 
 them than any other factor. Many farmers are 
 not securing the profit from fertilisers that 
 they might if their soil was in better texture. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 399 
 
 Fertilisers are so easy to get and easy to apply, 
 that there is a tendency to use them hastily, 
 without regard to their content and the needs of 
 the soil ; and to use them in much larger quantities 
 than is really necessary. The rational course to 
 pursue is to use them only to supplement farm re- 
 sources of fertility; and to use them only up to the 
 point where they return the largest ratio of profit 
 for the expenditure. 
 
 Certain materials that furnish little if any actual 
 plant food, but exert a very beneficial effect upon 
 the soil , are called ' ' indirect fertilisers " or " amend- 
 ments." The most common of these are lime 
 and land plaster and, to a very slight extent, salt. 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF LIMING 
 
 Lime is an important factor in maintaining the 
 fertility of certain farm soils. It is a plant food. 
 If a soil contained no lime, plants would not 
 thrive upon it. Although most soils contain 
 sufficient lime for the needs of the crop, some soils 
 become exhausted of it and it is then needed not as 
 an indirect, but as a direct, fertiliser. 
 
 Lime may benefit certain soils by improving 
 their texture. When applied to a light, leacliy 
 soil, it makes it more retentive. When applied to 
 a clay, it has the opposite effect; the very fine soil 
 grains are cemented together and consequently 
 the soil is made more porous. The practical 
 effect is that liming a sandy soil makes it less 
 leachy, while liming a stiff clay makes it more 
 crumbly; the condition of both is greatly improved. 
 
 A third effect of applying lime to a soil that is 
 deficient in it, is that it makes the plant food in 
 the soil, especially the potash, more soluble. 
 
400 SOILS 
 
 Much of the potash in our soils is insoluble, being 
 "locked up" in compounds with silica. Lime 
 attacks the silica and sets free the potash. It also 
 prevents the loss of soluble phosphoric acid in the 
 soil The practical effect of this is that liming may 
 be equivalent to fertilising, for a time. But since 
 lime supplies no potash, phosphoric acid, or nitro- 
 gen, the soil is eventually made less productive. 
 This is the basis for the old adage, "Liming makes 
 the father rich and the son poor." 
 
 The most important function of lime in modern 
 agriculture is to sweeten sour soils. A soil that 
 contains free acid is "sour," or acid. Such soils, 
 though they may be rich in plant food, usually 
 produce inferior crops ; but if this acid is neutralised 
 by adding lime, they become productive. There 
 are thousands of acres of sour soils in the United 
 States, notably in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
 New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, 
 Maryland, Virginia, and Alabama. The applica- 
 tion of lime to such soils may do more to make them 
 productive than the use of large amounts of com- 
 mercial fertilisers. 
 
 THE SOILS THAT NEED LIMING 
 
 Contrary to the popular notion, soils containing 
 a large amount of humus are not more likely to be 
 sour than upland soils. Soils are sour because the 
 rocks from which they were formed were deficient 
 in lime. Sour soils are very apt to have an abun- 
 dance of sorrel or "sourgrass." When this plant 
 comes into the field and crowds out other plants, it 
 is a fairly reliable indication that lime is needed, 
 although sorrel often grows well on sweet soils. 
 
 Practically all farm crops, except watermelon. 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 401 
 
 Hungarian grass, red-top, blackberries, and the 
 lupines, do poorly on a sour soil; these seem to 
 prefer it. Indian corn and rye stand it much 
 better than the other cereals. Clover, alfalfa, 
 beets, and timothy are almost sure to fail on sour 
 soils. 
 
 TESTS FOR SOUR SOILS 
 
 A simple and fairly reliable method of deter- 
 mining whether a soil is sour, is to test it with blue 
 litmus paper. This can be bought at a drug- 
 store for a few cents. Get several samples of 
 moist soil from different parts of the field, mix them 
 into a paste with water, and insert one end of the 
 litmus. At the end of an hour, if the blue paper 
 has turned red where it came in contact with the 
 paste, probably the soil is sour. 
 
 The litmus test will usually show with con- 
 siderable accuracy whether a soil is badly in need of 
 lime, but soils which are not actually sour may need 
 it. The best way is to apply lime to a strip 
 of soil and compare the growth of crops on this 
 strip with their growth on unlimed parts of the 
 field. In the fertiliser test previously described, 
 use about 200 pounds of lime on the 2^17-acre plot. 
 
 HOW TO SWEETEN SOUR SOILS 
 
 A sour soil should be limed at the rate of 1,000 
 to 4,000 pounds per acre; two tons per acre is 
 about the maximum of application. The lime 
 should be applied broadcast in late fall or early 
 spring. The best form of lime to use is the water- 
 slaked. Put stone lime in heaps on the ground 
 and cover it with moist soil. In a few days the 
 
402 SOILS 
 
 lime will be found powdered and may then be 
 spread. If air-slaked lime is used, the applications 
 should be heavier. If lime is used in seeding to 
 grass, apply it ten to fourteen days before seeding, 
 if possible. It is not usually necessary to lime 
 soils oftener than once in four or five years. 
 
 OTHER AMENDMENTS 
 
 Land plaster, or gypsum, which is sulphate of 
 lime, has about the same effect upon the soil as 
 common lime. Gypsum was formerly used very 
 largely, especially on clover, Indian corn, and pota- 
 toes. It has been observed to increase the yield 
 of clover 20 to 30 per cent. ; but after a number of 
 years, this benefit is no longer obtained. Its 
 beneficial effect is due largely to the fact that it 
 makes the potash in the soil more soluble, thus 
 causing an increase in the crop. Land plaster is 
 not now used to any extent except as it occurs as 
 a part of acid phosphate, but in this case it has no 
 value for sweetening the soil. It can be used to 
 great advantage, however, on the floors of cow and 
 horse stables and the roosts of hen houses to pre- 
 vent the escape of ammonia. It is also useful, in 
 some cases, for treating alkali soils. 
 
 Wood ashes are about 35 per cent, lime, and im- 
 prove the soil in all the ways that lime does. Part 
 of the excellent results commonly secured from 
 the use of wood ashes is due to the value of the 
 ashes for correcting acidity and setting free plant 
 food. 
 
 Marl, which is chiefly fossil shells, contains 
 much carbonate of lime and is valuable for dressing 
 land that needs lime. Large areas of land in New 
 Jersey that were formerly unproductive have been 
 
COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS 403 
 
 made productive by applications of marl. It 
 improves the texture of the soil, sets free plant 
 food and corrects acidity, the same as lime. If 
 a deposit of it is handy, it is certainly worth using. 
 Salt was once used considerably as a fertiliser, 
 especially on asparagus. It makes the soil more 
 moist and assists decay, but its agricultural value 
 is not equal to its cost, which is $4 to $6 per ton. 
 The potash salt, kainit, is one-third common salt. 
 If salt is needed, buy it in this form, because the 
 price of kainit is based solely upon the amount of 
 potash in it. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 I. ROTATIONS PRACTISED IN DIFFERENT STATES 
 
 The following remarks on the crop rotations practised in or recommended 
 for the different states are a summary of correspondence between the author 
 and the various authorities quoted. 
 
 ALABAMA 
 
 In the cotton states the majority of farmers pay little attention to rotations. 
 Where small grains are grown the following rotation is reconomended: 
 First year, corn, with cowpeas planted in May or June between the corn rows. 
 Second year, fall-sown oats or wheat, followed by cowpeas in June. Third 
 year, cotton. The cowpeas after the crop of small grains are usually cut 
 for hay, but may be picked for seed or may be pastured or plowed under in 
 January or February. This can be lengthened into a four-year rotation, in 
 order to put one-half of the arable land of the farm into cotton, by adding 
 cotton as the crop of the fourth year. 
 
 Director, Alabama Experiment Station. J. F. Duqgar. 
 
 ARIZONA 
 
 Our soils are still so new to cultivation and so fertile that the need of 
 rotations has not yet been felt. The deficient elements of our soils are nitro- 
 gen and humus. At present, and doubtless largely in the future, these are 
 supplied by alfalfa. 
 
 Agriculturist, Arizona Agr. Experiment Station. V. A. Clark. 
 
 ARKANSAS 
 
 Arkansas is both a cotton and fruit state. Land along the rivers is culti- 
 vated in corn and cotton without reference to rotation. Throughout the 
 state cowpeas grow well and are usually sown after oats and wheat are har- 
 vested, also in the cornfields. Rye is used only for winter pasture. In the 
 orchard belt the usual rotation is corn, wheat, cowpeas; or corn, oats, clover. 
 The rotation of stock farmers is corn (summer), rye (winter), cowpeas or 
 sorghum (forage), wheat (winter and spring). The weak point in the agri- 
 culture of this state is the lack of diversified crops. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, University of Arkansas. Geo. A. Cole. 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 The course of California agriculture hitherto has been to avoid rotation 
 and to keep the land producing that to which it seems adapted, and for 
 which profitable prices could be had, for an indefinite period. Recently 
 
 405 
 
406 APPENDIX 
 
 the desirability of rotation has become more apparent, especially in connection 
 with sugar beet growing. Our rotations probably will never be like those 
 in the East because it is only occasionally that a certain piece of land is suited 
 to the growth of three different grains. California must devise rotations 
 of her own, as her agriculture advances, and the question will be quite as 
 much what crop wiU succeed at all, as what crop will be best for the land. 
 Professor of Agriculture, University of California. E. J. Wickson. 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Under ditch the principal rotation is alfalfa for several years, beets or 
 potatoes, followed by grain and again seeding to alfalfa. The tendency is 
 to grow beets several seasons on the same ground on account of the high 
 profit of the crop, but they should be grown only one to two years. Where 
 potatoes are grown the same is true. In the San Luis Valley, where 50,000 
 acres of peas are grown annually, the rotation is peas, potatoes, grain. The 
 regions outside of both potatoes and beets have no definite rotation. We 
 have under experiment a rotation of alfalfa two years, roots one year, grain 
 one year. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, Colorado State Agr. College. W. H. Olin. 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 No regular rotation is practised. One of our principal industries is dairy- 
 ing and we must grow large quantities of corn for silo. On fields where corn 
 can be grown with greatest economy it is often the practice to grow com 
 year after year, using stable manures and commercial fertiliser to maintain 
 the productive power of the soil. A rotation I have found well adapted to 
 our conditions is: First year, corn; second year, potatoes; third year, rye; 
 fourth year, meadow. The rye is put on in the fall after the potatoes are 
 removed, and the grass seeding put on with the lye. Where potatoes are 
 not desired, we sometimes break up the sod and grow corn two years in 
 succession; then seed down either with rye or use grass and clover seeds 
 alone. 
 
 Director, Storrs Agr. Experiment Station. L. A. Clinton. 
 
 DELAWARE 
 
 On most of the soils of Delaware devoted to grain farming, the most 
 common rotation, and probably the best, is corn seeded to wheat the same 
 fall; the wheat cut in Jime, the stubble clover and weeds cut once or twfce 
 with mowing machine and allowed to fall to the ground; clover, or clover and 
 timothy the next June followed by a second crop of hay; or, more usually, 
 the field is turned out to pasture for the remainder of the year. In other 
 words, a three-year rotation of corn, wheat and clover. Sometimes the field 
 is pastured the second season, making a four-year rotation of corn, wheat, 
 clover, pasture. This rotation in itself is not so good as the three-year 
 rotation, but it means more live stock and, therefore, more forage and grain 
 fed on the farm and consequently more manure. A few farmers get a good 
 crop of corn fully matured every fall following a good crop of crimson clover 
 hay from the same land. 
 
 Sec. of Delaware State Board of Agriculture. Wesley Webb. 
 
APPENDIX 407 
 
 FLORIDA 
 
 There is little or no systematic rotation practised. In the northern part 
 of the state, where corn and cotton are grown, they follow corn with cotton 
 and sow cowpeas in the com, or a row of peanuts between the rows of corn. 
 Farther south where velvet beans are grown and used for fattening cattle 
 a rotation is: corn the first year, velvet beans the second year, and the velvet 
 beans are pastured off during winter and the ground is again put in corn. 
 In the vegetable section of the state, no rotation is practised unless it is 
 forced by plant diseases which can be killed only by rotation. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, University of Florida. Chas. M. Conner. 
 
 IDAHO 
 
 There is little systematic rotation of crops here. A few farmers rotate 
 grain with such crops as corn, potatoes, and beans. In some irrigated 
 sections grain is rotated with sugar beets. In older irrigated sections an 
 effort is being made now to rotate grain with alfalfa. Our practice at the 
 Station is a five-year rotation: Two years of grass, one of corn, one of wheat, 
 and one of oats or barley. 
 
 Director, Idaho Agr. Experiment Station. H. T. French. 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 Some crop rotations which are being practised to some extent in this state 
 are: 
 
 THREE-YEAR ROTATION 
 
 First year, wheat, followed by cowpeas or soy beans as catch crop; second 
 year, corn, with cowpeas or soy beans as catch crop; third year, cowpeas 
 or soy beans (to be followed by wheat). All crops except the wheat should 
 be fed or pastured or used as bedding and all manure returned to the land. 
 If the corn crop is cut and shocked, then a three-year rotation of com, wheat, 
 and clover is a good one. 
 
 FOUR-YEAR ROTATION 
 
 First year, com, with cowpeas or soy beans as catch crop; second year, cow- 
 peas or soy beans ; third year, wheat (with clover to be seeded in spring) ; 
 fourth year, clover. 
 
 If well filled, the second crop of clover should be harvested for seed. All 
 other crops, excepting wheat and possibly cowpea or soy bean seed, should 
 be fed and the manure returned to the land. 
 
 FIVE-YEAR ROTATION 
 
 This may be the same as the four-year rotation except that timothy may 
 be seeded with clover and the land pastured the fifth year. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, University of Illinois. C G. Hopkins. 
 
 INDIANA 
 
 Com is our principal crop practically all over the state, and forms the basis 
 of every rotation, as it is generally desired to bring in com as often as possible. 
 The prevailing rotation, whenever any system is followed, is the three-course — 
 
408 APPENDIX 
 
 corn, wheat or oats, clover. The four-course — corn, oats, wheat, clover, is 
 more or less used in central Indiana; also corn, wheat or oats, clover and 
 grass two years. In southern Indiana we sometimes find a two-course — 
 wheat and clover rotation. For general purposes we consider the three- 
 course rotation best. Most of our farmers claim that they can get a better 
 stand of clover in wheat than in oats. Occasionally we find a four-course 
 rotation, consisting of corn, corn, small grain, clover. 
 
 Agriculturist, Indiana Agr. Experiment Station. A. T. Wiancko. 
 
 IOWA 
 
 Com is the "money-crop" of Iowa and it is desired to raise as many crops 
 of corn as possible. Clover has thus far been found the most satisfactory 
 leguminous crop for a rotation in this state. In the southern part of the 
 state a common rotation is corn two years; wheat one year; clover one year. 
 This may be extended into a five-year rotation by allowing the land to remain 
 in clover and timothy for two years. Another rotation, practised less 
 extensively, is corn one or two years; oats one year; wheat one year; clover 
 and timothy, one or two years. In the northern portion of Iowa, where 
 winter wheat has not been as successfully grown, the rotation most extensively 
 practised is corn two years; oats one year; clover one year. In many cases 
 it is necessary to sow a catch crop of cowpeas in order to include a leguminous 
 crop in this rotation. Winter wheat is superior to oats as a nurse crop for 
 clover, and is being included in rotations wherever it can be successfully 
 grown. 
 
 Iowa State College, Dept. of Agr. Extension. A. H. Snyder. 
 
 KANSAS 
 
 Less than 10 per cent., and perhaps less than 5 per cent., of Kansas farmers 
 practise rotation of crops. The three main crops are corn, wheat and 
 alfalfa. Many fields can be found in some sections upon which wheat has 
 been grown almost continuously from twenty to thirty years. The same 
 may be said of corn-growing, especially in the eastern part of the state. 
 Alfalfa is often left on the fields for many years. The size of the farms 
 is such that the farmers must resort largely to wheat culture, as it would be 
 impossible to farm them thoroughly with several crops with the small amount 
 of help. In most of the wheat sections the farmers grow some corn, kaffir 
 com or sorghmn, but do not have any definite rotation. Two rotations we 
 are suggesting are: (1) Alfalfa, four years; corn, two years; wheat, one year; 
 and alternating two years of corn with one of wheat for nine years more 
 before seeding again to alfalfa. (2) Grasses and clover, three years; com, 
 two years; spring grain, one year; wheat with catch crops, one year, repeating 
 the latter three twice before seeding to grass and clover in wheat. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, Kansas Agr. College. A. M. Ten Etck. 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 There is no very generally adopted rotation, but as the farmers imderstand 
 the importance of getting humus in the soil, and of using clover or some 
 related plant in order to increase the nitrogen, they generally employ for 
 
APPENDIX 409 
 
 these purposes, bluegrass, timothy, red clover, cowpeas and soy beans. 
 The cultivated crops alternating with these are hemp, tobacco, corn and 
 wheat. 
 Botanist, Kentucky Agr. Experiment Station. H. G. Garman. 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 
 Many sugar planters plant corn and cowpeas after harvesting the last crop 
 of stubble cane, growing a crop of com and cowpeas one year in three or 
 one year in four. The rice land is sown for two, or sometimes three years, then 
 devoted to cotton or allowed to grow weeds and grass, and then put in rice 
 again. On the prairies of southwestern Louisiana many fields have been 
 devoted to rice for twelve or fourteen years in succession. On a majority 
 of the larger plantations cotton is grown continuously year after year. Corn 
 is practicallj' the only other crop grown so there is little rotation. On the 
 alluvial lands, one year in four or five cotton land is put into corn and cow- 
 peas. In the hill lands a few plant grain or cotton, two years; then corn and 
 cowpeas one year; and sometimes a crop of oats, followed by a crop of cow- 
 peas. A very desirable rotation is oats, cotton and corn, with cowpeas 
 between. The oats are harvested in May and the land put in cowpeas. 
 These are harvested in September or October and the land is fall-plowed 
 and the following year planted in cotton. The cotton is followed with com, 
 and cowpeas sown in the corn at the last plowing. The corn is gathered 
 in September or early October and the land is plowed and sown to oats. 
 With the addition of a reasonable amount of acid phosphate this builds 
 up the land very perceptibly. 
 
 Director, Louisiana Agr. Experiment Station. W. R. Dodson. 
 
 MAINE 
 
 In many sections of the state no systematic rotation is practised. We 
 have many " patchy farms " ; a man will go to the middle of the field, or to one 
 side, and plow a small area and on this plant any crop. In Aroostook County 
 a three-course rotation, consisting of potatoes, oats or wheat, and clover, 
 is followed. On the college farm, we are practising a four or five-year 
 rotation, potatoes, com, oats, seeding with the oats to grass, and clover, 
 and allowing the land to remain in grass one or two years. This rotation 
 is frequently followed in dairy sections. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, University of Maine. Wm. D. Hxtrd. 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 The principal crop rotations practised in this state are: Southern Maryland 
 (Tobacco section), (1) tobacco, wheat, red clover; (2) tobacco ,wheat, red- 
 top and red clover. Central and eastern Maryland (dairy farming and 
 grain and hay crops), (3) com, wheat, timothy and clover, timothy; (4) 
 corn, winter barley, timothy and clover, timothy; western Maryland (beef- 
 cattle and grain farming), (5) corn, wheat, clover; (6) corn, oats, wheat, timothy 
 and clover, timothy. 
 
 Director, Maryland Agr. Experiment Station. H. J. Pattebson. 
 
410 APPENDIX 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 Massachusetts farming is largely devoted to specialties. Fertilisers or 
 manures or both are used very freely and there is less dependence upon rota- 
 tions than in many other states. Some of the most important money-crops, 
 especially onions and tobacco, are grown year after year on the same land. 
 In some parts of the state a four-course rotation, (1) turnips, barley, clover 
 and oats, is practised, most of the manure being applied to the com, not to 
 the grass. In parts of the state where dairying is prominent and where 
 the potato is a money-crop, a common rotation is (2) potatoes, one year; 
 corn, two years (the second for ensilage); grass and clover three years. 
 There are several modifications of this rotation. On our light soils the follow- 
 ing three rotations are common: (3) Potatoes, winter rye, clover; (4) corn, 
 potatoes, rye, clover; (5) corn, potatoes, rye, grass and clover two years. 
 Succession cropping is practised with much skiU and success by our market 
 gardeners. 
 
 Director, Massachusetts Agr. Experiment Station. W. P. Brooks. 
 
 MICHIGAN 
 
 A rotation valued at the college is corn, wheat, oats or barley, clover or 
 clover and timothy, pasture. In most cases we spread manures upon pasture. 
 We seed always with a grain crop. In Wexford County the following rotation 
 is used successfully: Clover, potatoes, wheat; seeding to clover with the 
 wheat. Many farmers believe that it is not possible to secure a good stand 
 of clover or clover and timothy with oats, and therefore grow wheat or barley. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, Michigan Agr. College. Joa. A. Jeffeby. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI 
 
 As a rule our farmers do not practise crop rotation. Our best rotation 
 for the general cotton farmer is: Fall oats, followed by cowpeas; cotton; 
 corn, laid by in cowpeas. The above rotation has for i*s principal object 
 the maintenance of soil fertility. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, Mississippi Agr. College. E. R. Llotd. 
 
 MISSOURI 
 
 Missouri fanners are just beginning to rotate crops. In north Missouri 
 and part of Missouri the common rotation has been corn for several 
 years, then grass for a few years and back into corn. In the wheat-growing 
 section it has been mostly wheat for several years, then into grass, and back 
 again into wheat; although some of the farmers have practised a rotation 
 of (1) corn, wheat and clover, or clover and timothy. A rotation used in 
 north Missouri is (2) corn, oats, clover or clover and timothy. Farmers 
 are beginning to sow cowpeas to some extent, using (3) corn, cowpeas, wheat, 
 or (4) com, cowpeas, wheat, clover; or in some cases simply wheat and 
 cowpeas. In southeast Missouri some farmers harvest wheat, turn the 
 land quickly and put in cowpeas, harvest the cowpeas for seed or hay and 
 
 Eut the land back into wheat in the fall. Some farmers in northeast Missouri 
 ave a rotation of (5) corn, oats, wheat, clover, in some cases following the 
 clover with timothy. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, University of Missouri. M. F. Milleb. 
 
APPENDIX 411 
 
 MONTANA 
 
 But one rotation is followed to any great extent — two years in clover and 
 two years in grain; wheat or oats being usually grown after the second crop 
 of clover, and oats or'barley the succeeding year. On dry bench lands above 
 the irrigation ditch a common practice is to summer-fallow one year followed 
 by a grain crop the next. On the watered land, in some sections, summer- 
 fallow is followed by two or three grain crops. In a few instances, peas are 
 followed by two crops of grain. Sometimes this is made peas, potatoes and 
 grain two years. Some are planning the following rotation: Alfalfa, four 
 or five years; wheat, sugar beets, or other cultivated crops, two years; then 
 one or two seasons of grain. 
 
 Director, Montana Agr. Experiment Station. F. B. Linfield. 
 
 NEBRASKA 
 
 Crop rotation is not carried out systematically by many Nebraska farmers. 
 Corn is the main crop throughout the eastern third of the state; frequently 
 it is grown continuously on the same field. Recently farmers have begun 
 to realise the necessity for some change on account of the corn root-worm 
 and other difficulties, and it is now quite common to alternate com with 
 oats. Where anything like a systematic rotation is attempted it generally 
 consists of corn for perhaps two years, followed by oats put in on the corn 
 stubble without plowing, followed by winter wheat drilled in on the plowed 
 oat stubble. In the central part of the state, corn and wheat are alternated 
 by drilling in wheat between the corn rows. In the extreme western part 
 of the state the occasional complete failure of crops takes the place of a rotation 
 so far as its effect on the land is concerned. A rotation at the Nebraska 
 Experiment Station consists of corn two years, oats, wheat, alfalfa, or mixed 
 grasses. If seeded down it is left for four years. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, University of Nebraska. T. L. Lyon. 
 
 NEVADA 
 
 There is no prevailing crop rotation in this state. More often than other- 
 wise two crops of grain follow alfalfa. Potatoes usually follow alfalfa and 
 are followed by grain. The length of time that land is kept in alfalfa de- 
 pends largely upon the stand. It is seldom less than four years. Some 
 alfalfa fields in the state are twenty years old. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, Nevada State University. Gordon H. True. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE 
 
 There are only a few farms which contain arable land in large enough 
 fields to practise a definite system of rotation. The fields on many farms 
 remain in grass for twenty-five years, or even longer. The fields on which 
 the sod is poorest are plowed in late summer and either seeded down again 
 at once to grass or planted to corn or potatoes for a year or two, and then 
 seeded to grass. Perhaps the following is the most common rotation: 
 Com; potatoes; oats, or oats and peas; clover; clover and timothy; timothy. 
 Prof. J. W. Sanborn practises the following eight-year rotation on his 
 
412 APPENDIX 
 
 upland farm: Corn (for husking and ensilage); oats and peas; clover; 
 potatoes; Hungarian; timothy; timothy; pasture. 
 Professor of Agriculture, New Hampshire College. T. W. Taylor. 
 
 NEW JERSEY 
 
 We have a large number of rotations because of the many crops grown. 
 In general farming the rotations are about as follows: (1) Corn, oats, wheat, 
 clover; (2) corn, oats, wheat, clover and timothy mixed, timothy; (3) com, 
 wheat or rye, clover. In dairy, potato and market garden sections the 
 rotations are: (1) Corn, oats and peas and cowpeas, rye or wheat, clover; 
 (2) corn, wheat, potatoes, clover or timothy or mixed; (3) corn, potatoes, 
 hay; (4) corn, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, clover. This is 
 not a regular rotation, but these are used as conditions seem to warrant. 
 
 Director, New Jersey Agr. Experiment Station. E. B. Voobhees. 
 
 NEW MEXICO 
 
 But little crop rotation is practised in this territory. Alfalfa, in most 
 cases, is grown continuously on the same land. There is but one arrangement 
 of crops that can be classed as a rotation, that is wheat and corn, which 
 are usually grown in alternation. 
 
 Assistant in Irrigation, New Mexico 
 
 College of Agriculture. A. C. Maktenbowee. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 One of the best rotations where wheat is grown is : Clover, corn or potatoes, 
 oats or barley, wheat with seeding. In this case the hay is usually harvested 
 but one season. A rotation more generally used in the southern tier of 
 counties where wheat is not grown is : Clover and timothy, two or more years, 
 corn or potatoes, oats with seeding. A rotation considerably used in the 
 northwestern part of the state where buckwheat is much grown, is: Buck- 
 wheat, oats with seeding, meadow as long as the yield is satisfactory, then 
 buckwheat again. It is generally recognised that buckwheat has peculiar 
 value for mellowing heavy soils. Advantage is sometimes taken of this 
 to improve such soils for potato growing. The meadow is cut, the land 
 immediately plowed and sown to buckwheat. This is followed by potatoes, 
 then oats with seeding. There are a large number of other rotations found 
 on different farms. 
 
 Assistant Professor of Agronomy, Cornell University. J. L. Stone. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 We have found the following a very good three-year rotation for a cotton 
 farmer: First year, (a) wheat, oats, or rye, followed by cowpeas, (6) cotton 
 followed by rye, (c) corn with cowpeas; second year, (a) cotton followed by 
 rye, (b) corn with cowpeas, (c) wheat, oats, or rye, followed by cowpeas; 
 third year, (a) corn with cowpeas, (b) wheat, oats, or rye followed by 
 cowpeas, (c) cotton followed by rye. 
 
 The peas are sown after the small grain crops and harvested; the rye in 
 the cotton and the cowpeas in the corn are sown at the last cultivation. 
 
APPENDIX 413 
 
 A good four-year rotation for a tobacco farmer is : First year, clover, com, 
 tobacco, wheat; second year, corn, tobacco, wheat, clover; third year, 
 tobacco, wheat, clover, corn; fourth year, wheat, clover, corn, tobacco. 
 
 Ad excellent rotation for corn on the fine, sandy loam-soil of eastern 
 North Carolina is, corn followed by bur clover. Sow 4 or 5 bushels of clover 
 in bur just before the last plowing of corn. The clover is plowed under in 
 spring and a volunteer crop appears in the fall. Another promising rotation 
 is: Peanuts followed by wheat, wheat followed by cowpeas, corn with 
 cowpeas, cotton. 
 
 Director, North Carolina Agr. Experiment Station. B. W. Kilgore. 
 
 NORTH DAKOTA 
 
 Wheat is our money-crop. It is grown chiefly with a barren summer fallow 
 every fourth or fifth year, and sometimes with a change to barley and millet 
 occasionally, which is quite desirable. The summer fallow exhausts the 
 soil and gives no return that season. In the flax districts, flax and wheat 
 alternate and the two crops are sometimes replaced by barley or millet. A 
 rotation of three wheat and flax crops and one of corn, potatoes, or other 
 cultivated crops is beginning to find favour instead of summer fallow. This 
 gives as good returns as fallow and forces the feeding of more provender 
 to live-stock. North Dakota farmers are now just beginning to grow clover 
 and timothy and to put them into the rotation. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, North Dakota Agr. College. J. H. Sheppabd. 
 
 OHIO 
 
 The most common rotation in this state is corn, wheat, and a timothy 
 and clover mixture, with a variation in the number of years given to each 
 crop. In some parts of the state a very common rotation is corn, two years; 
 wheat, one year; timothy and clover, three years. In some localities where 
 wheat is not profitable oats are substituted far it in this rotation. Alfalfa 
 is now being used considerably in place of the timothy and clover mixture 
 of the above rotation. Potatoes, wheat, and clover have been found a very 
 satisfactory rotation by our Experiment Station. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, Ohio State University. A. G. McCall. 
 
 OKLAHOMA 
 
 No well-defined systems of rotation have been adopted in this new country. 
 When this state was first opened, the one-crop system prevailed: wheat, 
 Indian corn, and cotton. Gradually other crops have been introduced; we 
 have now reached a point where rotations can be adopted. The following 
 general rotation could be used in northern and eastern Oklahoma: Corn; 
 cowpeas seeded at time corn is laid by; oats, followed by" cowpeas for green 
 manure; KaflSr corn; cowpeas, harvested; fall wheat, followed by cowpeas 
 for green manure. This general plan could be followed in other sections of 
 the state but it would be necessary to substitute other crops, as broom com 
 in the northwestern counties, and cotton in the southern counties. 
 
 Agronomist, Oklahoma Agr. Exper. Station. L. A. Moorehouse. 
 
414 APPENDIX 
 
 OREGON 
 
 In the western portion of the state, on farms where general agriculture 
 is practised, the rotation is usually with the cereals and clover or vetch; for 
 instance, wheat, oats, clover for two years, or a crop of winter vetch. In 
 the dairying districts corn is grown as a rotation with clover and cereals. 
 In the Columbia River basin in eastern Oregon, the practice is grain growing 
 exclusively; usually wheat, bare fallow, and wheat again. In sections where 
 the rainfall is greater, some farmers follow wheat with barley, then the bare 
 fallow. 
 
 Director, Oregon Agr. Experiment Station. James Withycombe. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Probably corn, oats, wheat, grass, the latter including more or less clover, 
 is the most common rotation. In some parts of the state another year of 
 of grass is added. In the southern part, notably in the Cumberland Valley, 
 the common rotations are: Corn, oats, wheat, wheat, grass; and corn, wheat, 
 wheat, grass. In the tobacco districts various short rotations are practised 
 according to the soil conditions best adapted to the growth of this crop. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State College. G. C. Watson. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 
 The usual practice is to break up sward land and plant potatoes and corn, 
 sometimes reversing the order of these two, sometimes introducing a crop 
 of millet or oats for another season, and then seeding either with or without 
 winter rje or oats. The land is allowed to continue in grass upon most farms 
 so long as there is anything worth cutting. The following rotations are in 
 progress at the Experiment Station: (1) Oats sown in the spring, with 
 common red clover; clover; potatoes, and winter rye sown after the potatoes 
 are harvested; winter rye cut green and followed by Hubbard squashes; 
 onions. (2) Winter rye; timothy and red top seed sown with rye and 
 common red clover sown on the surface the following March; clover and 
 grass; grass; grass; Indian corn; potatoes. (3) V^^inter rye; common red 
 clover (seed sown in March of the previous year) ; potatoes. 
 
 Director, Rhode Island Agr. Experiment Station. H. J. Wheelek. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 
 Very little rotation is practised here. The main crops raised are corn 
 and cotton. The bottom lands are usually planted to corn year after year 
 and the uplands planted year after year to cotton. Cotton can be contin- 
 uously grown on the same land without diminishing the yield provided the 
 seeds are returned on the soil. But the continuous growing of cotton on 
 uplands diminishes the fertility rapidly; chiefly because the clean cultivation 
 that is required for this crop permits the soil to wash badly. We recom- 
 mend a rotation of corn with cowpeas, and a cover crop of rye; wheat or 
 winter oats; cowpeas, with a rye cover crop; cotton. We have a small 
 section in which tobacco is grown; for this crop we recommend tobacco, 
 with a rye cover crop; corn and cowpeas; oats; cowpeas; rye, with a cover 
 crop; cotton. 
 
 Director, South Carolina Agr. Experiment Station. J. N. Hakper. 
 
APPENDIX 415 
 
 SOUTH DAKOTA 
 
 No very definite methods of rotating crops have yet been adopted. In 
 the dryer central and western portions of tne state it is important, if not 
 essential, that small-grain crops be alternated with cultivated crops or with 
 summer fallow handled to conserve moisture. In the eastern and south- 
 eastern portions of the state, where moisture is more plentiful, a sod crop 
 is needed in the rotation. Some suggested rotations are: (1) Wheat, brome 
 hay three years, flax, wheat, corn. (2) Barley, millet, wheat. (3) wheat, 
 com, oats. (4) Wheat, corn (manured), wheat, oats. (5) Wheat, oats, 
 com, flax, millet. 
 
 Agronomist, South Dakota Agr. Experiment Station. J. S. Cole. 
 
 TENNESSEE 
 
 A rotation often followed is corn, alone or with cowpeas, wheat, grass or 
 grass and clover. This rotation is adapted to east and middle Tennessee, 
 and parts of west Tennessee. Short rotations of wheat and clover, and of 
 wheat and cowpeas are also practised to advantage. A good rotation for 
 cotton is: Cotton;corn, and peas; a cereal (usually oats); cowpeas. Two de- 
 sirable pasture rotations for sheep and hogs are; (1) Barley, (sown in 
 August); sorghum; rape; cowpeas. (2) Clover, either red or alsike, sown 
 in August or early in September; rape or barley or spring oats, followed by 
 soy beans or cowpeas. 
 
 Professor of Agronomy, University of Tennessee. Chas. A. Mooebs. 
 
 TEXAS 
 
 The common rotation in this state is corn and cotton. In a considerable 
 portion of the state, notably the black-land section, alfalfa and cowpeas 
 are added to this rotation. We have no grass crops that can come into our 
 rotations; therefore, for the most part, our soils are covered with intertillage 
 crops. In some sections peanuts are grown, in other sections potatoes have a 
 place. Nearly all the legtimes are grown with considerable success. In the 
 north Texas black-land country is a four-course rotation of corn, wheat, oats, 
 and cotton. 
 
 Professor of Agriculture, Texas Agr. College. F. S. Johnston. 
 
 UTAH 
 
 There is little systematic rotation of crops, largely because our soil is 
 still nearly virgin. Among sugar-beet growers a common rotation is: Beets, 
 manure applied in the fall and plowed; beets; alfalfa, with oats for a nurse 
 crop; alfalfa, third crop plowed under as a green manure; beets. Sometimes 
 an oat crop follows alfalfa previous to seeding the beets. A better rotation 
 is: Sugar beets, manure applied in the fall and plowed under; beets; field 
 peas with or without oats; sugar beets; corn or potatoes; alfalfa and oats; 
 alfalfa, with third crop plowed under; sugar beets. Where it is desired 
 to grow such crops as tomatoes and possibly wheat, or any other main crops, 
 they can be supplied in place of oats, potatoes, or sugar beets, in this 
 rotation. In dry farming the usual method at present is to grow wheat two 
 years out of three, the land being summer-fallowed one year in three. 
 Occasionally wheat is followed by barley or oats. A better system is : Wheat, 
 potatoes if possible, or corn; wheat; field peas; barley; summer fallow; wheat. 
 
 Agronomist, Utah Agr. Experiment Station. W. M. Jardine. 
 
416 APPENDIX 
 
 VERMONT 
 
 Com, potatoes, grass; or corn, oats, grass are about the only rotations 
 practised in this state, grass occupying the major time. 
 
 Director, Vermont Agr. Expermient Station. J. L. Hills. 
 
 VIRGINIA 
 
 The most common rotation is corn, one year; wheat, two years; grass 
 for three to five years. Two years of wheat are put in because the farmers 
 do not consider that they get their land in proper condition for grass following 
 the corn with one year of wheat, especially when they expect to mow it for 
 one or two years. 
 
 Agronomist, Virginia Agr. Experiment Station. John Fain. 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 There have not been, as yet, any well-defined rotations established. In 
 the extreme eastern part of the Palouse country, there is just beginning 
 to be considerable alfalfa and brome grass grown, but where these are grown 
 the farmers usually put them in for permanent meadow or pasture, rather 
 than inserting them as crops in a rotation. 
 
 Through all the wheat belt the common practice is to alternate grain with 
 summer fallow, with two years of grain to one year of summer fallow in the 
 more moist parts of the wheat belt and alternate grain and summer fallow 
 in the drier portions. In the more moist portions the practice is rapidly 
 developing of growing corn, potatoes, or sugar beets on these summer fallows 
 and this is giving excellent results wherever tried. The objections to summer 
 fallowing are too well known to need mention. 
 
 In our irrigated sections cropping is becoming highly specialised, alfalfa 
 continuously in one place, hops in another, fruit in another. On the west 
 side of the state specialisation is also marked, though dairying is beginning 
 to be a permanent factor and farmers are seeking to work out some sort of 
 a rotation and some system of soiling. There are no established rotations 
 as yet in the state of Washington. 
 
 Assistant Agriculturist, Washington State College. Geo. Severance. 
 
 WISCONSIN 
 
 In central Wisconsin clover is sown with barley, and the barley harvested; 
 the second year the clover is clipped after reaching the height of about six 
 inches and the full crop retained for seed ; the third year the land is plowed 
 and run to corn, followed with clover sown with barley. The most common 
 rotation is clover and timothy sown with barley, oats, or wheat as a nurse crop. 
 First year, harvest the grain. The next year the crop is clover largely, 
 getting as a rule two cuttings. The ground is then manured quite heavily 
 in the fall and winter. As a rule some clover and a good crop of timothy 
 will be secured the third year. As soon as the hay is cut the land is usually 
 pastured until fall. The fourth year the sod is turned and corn planted. 
 Some farmers add a fifth year in which the ground is pastured. 
 
 Agronomist, Wisconsin Agr. Experiment Station. R. A. More, 
 
APPENDIX 417 
 
 WYOMING 
 
 There are no crop rotations in general use. In the older fanning districts 
 the farmers are generally adopting the rotation common in northern Colorado; 
 namely, alfalfa three years, potatoes, grain and seed down to alfalfa. This 
 rotation is probably unexcelled for the arid regions where potatoes are success- 
 fully raised as a general crop. At higher altitudes an excellent rotation is 
 field peas one or two years (to be fed lambs through the winter and not 
 harvested), followed by grain. Farming without irrigation consists in faUow 
 one year and grain or some other crop the next. Our soils are rich in mineral 
 foods and poor in nitrogen and humus, so any successful rotation must con- 
 tain a legume. 
 
 Director, Wyoming Agr. Experiment Station. B. C. Buffxjm. 
 
 11. ANALYSES OF SOILS 
 
 The following analyses of a few representative soils illustrate the general 
 composition of farm soils. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF ADOBE SOIL FKOM SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Snica 66.69 
 
 Alumina 14.16 
 
 Ferric oxide 4.38 
 
 Manganese oxide 0.09 
 
 Lime 2.49 
 
 Magnesia 1.28 
 
 Potash 1.21 
 
 Soda . 0.57 
 
 Carbonic acid 0.77 
 
 Phosphoric acid 0.29 
 
 Sulphuric anhydride 0.41 
 
 Chlorine 0.34 
 
 Water 4.94 
 
 Organic matter 2.00 
 
 ANALYSIS OF LOESS FROM DtTBUQUE, IOWA 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Silica 72.68 
 
 Alumina 12.03 
 
 Iron sesquioxide 3.53 
 
 Iron protoxide 0.96 
 
 Titanum oxide 0.72 
 
 Phosphoric anhydride 0.23 
 
 Manganese oxide 0.06 
 
 Lime 1.59 
 
 Magnesia 1.11 
 
 Soda 1.63 
 
 Potash 2.13 
 
 Water . 2.50 
 
 Carbon dioxide 0.39 
 
 Sulphurous anhydride 0.51 
 
 Carbon 0.09 
 
418 APPENDIX 
 
 ANALYSIS OF BOIL FKOM YAKIMA COUNTY, WABHINOTON 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Insoluble matter 71.67 \ -« _q 
 
 Soluble sUica 5.11 j"^''-^** 
 
 Potash 1.07 
 
 Soda 0.35 
 
 Lime 2.00 
 
 Magnesia 1.34 
 
 Brown oxide of manganese 0.04 
 
 Peroxide of iron 6.88 
 
 Alumina 7.91 
 
 Phosphoric acid 0.13 
 
 Sulphuric acid 0.02 
 
 Water and organic matter 2.82 
 
 Total 99.33 
 
 Humus 4.10 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture 4.98 
 
 ANALYSIS OF SWAMP SOIB IN CAKTEBET COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Silica (insoluble) 1.52 
 
 Silica (soluble) 0.00 
 
 Alumina 0.39 
 
 Oxide of iron 0.15 
 
 Lime 0.36 
 
 Magnesia 0.14 
 
 Potash 0.06 
 
 Soda . 0.13 
 
 Phosphoric acid 0.06 
 
 Sulphuric acid 0.38 
 
 Chlorine 0.02 
 
 Organic matter 87.25 
 
 Water 9.60 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 419 
 
 m. NATIVE PLANT FOOD IN FARM SOILS 
 
 The analyses given below show the large amounts of plant food that 
 are in most farm soils, and the wide variation in these amounts. 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 0.2 a 
 
 o.ii«d 
 
 "3.5 « 
 
 Where from 
 
 (U c 
 
 go 
 
 1 s 
 
 o <u 
 
 Pounds 
 itrogen 
 irst 8 i 
 fSoil 
 
 Pounds 
 hosphor 
 c i d i 
 irst 8 i 
 fSoil 
 
 Pounds 
 otash 
 irst 8 i 
 rSoil 
 
 
 Zft. 
 
 a<<;fl« 
 
 cub 
 
 Zfa o 
 
 0^<b, o 
 
 Oiii, o 
 
 Alabama 
 
 .195 
 
 .196 
 
 .183 
 
 4,218 
 
 4,240 
 
 3,959 
 
 Alabama 
 
 .282 
 
 .267 
 
 .866 
 
 6,436 
 
 6,094 
 
 19,756 
 
 Canada 
 
 .048 
 
 .14 
 
 .25 
 
 1,112 
 
 3,244 
 
 5,793 
 
 Canada 
 
 .114 
 
 .13 
 
 .39 
 
 2,638 
 
 3,008 
 
 9,024 
 
 Colorado 
 
 .04 
 
 .23 
 
 .23 
 
 872 
 
 5,016 
 
 5,016 
 
 Connecticut . . . 
 
 .334 
 
 .038 
 
 .056 
 
 7,224 
 
 822 
 
 1,211 
 
 Connecticut . . . 
 
 .14 
 
 .051 
 
 .047 
 
 2,971 
 
 1,082 
 
 997 
 
 Michigan 
 
 .11 
 
 .28 
 
 1.95 
 
 2,455 
 
 6,250 
 
 43,526 
 
 Michigan 
 
 .07 
 
 .21 
 
 1.1 
 
 1,484 
 
 4,451 
 
 23,314 
 
 Missouri 
 
 .14 
 
 .08 
 
 1.32 
 
 3,012 
 
 1,721 
 
 28,395 
 
 Missouri 
 
 .13 
 
 .07 
 
 2.54 
 
 2,814 
 
 1,515 
 
 54,986 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 .07 
 
 1.42 
 
 .197 
 
 1,530 
 
 31,062 
 
 4,306 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 .073 
 
 .062 
 
 .741 
 
 1,581 
 
 1,334 
 
 15,938 
 
 New York .... 
 
 .204 
 
 .115 
 
 .96 
 
 4,362 
 
 2,460 
 
 20,532 
 
 New York .... 
 
 .13 
 
 .16 
 
 .51 
 
 3,074 
 
 3,784 
 
 12,063 
 
420 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 IV. PLANT FOOD DRAWN FROM THE SOIL BY AVERAGE 
 YIELDS OF DIFFERENT CROPS 
 
 (The analyses given in IV, V, VI, and VII are chiefly from New 
 York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut Experiment Station 
 Reports.) 
 
 Name of Crop 
 
 Alfalfa 
 
 Barley 
 
 Buckwheat . . . 
 
 Cabbage 
 
 Cauliflower . . . 
 
 Carrot 
 
 Clover, red . . . 
 Clover, scarlet 
 Clover, white . 
 
 Cowpea 
 
 Corn 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Cucumber .... 
 
 Hop 
 
 Hemp 
 
 Lettuce 
 
 Meadow hay . 
 
 Oat 
 
 Onion 
 
 Pea 
 
 Potato 
 
 Rape 
 
 Rice 
 
 Rye 
 
 Soja (Soy) bean 
 Sugar cane . . . 
 
 Sorghum 
 
 Sugar beet . . . 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 Turnip 
 
 Vetch 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 78 
 
 63 
 
 213 
 
 202 
 
 166 
 
 171 
 
 95 
 
 89 
 
 254 
 
 146 
 
 110 
 
 142 
 
 200 
 
 41 
 
 166 
 
 89 
 
 96 
 
 153 
 
 119 
 
 154 
 
 39 
 
 87 
 
 297 
 
 518 
 
 446 
 
 95 
 
 127 
 
 187 
 
 149 
 
 111 
 
 Phosphoric 
 Acid 
 
 65 
 35 
 40 
 125 
 76 
 65 
 46 
 17 
 29 
 64 
 69 
 32 
 94 
 54 
 34 
 17 
 53 
 35 
 49 
 39 
 55 
 79 
 24 
 44 
 62 
 37 
 90 
 44 
 32 
 74 
 35 
 45 
 
 Potash 
 
 181 
 
 62 
 
 17 
 
 514 
 
 265 
 
 190 
 
 154 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 
 169 
 
 174 
 
 35 
 
 193 
 
 127 
 
 54 
 
 72 
 
 201 
 
 96 
 
 96 
 
 69 
 
 192 
 
 124 
 
 45 
 
 76 
 
 87 
 
 107 
 
 561 
 
 200 
 
 148 
 
 426 
 
 113 
 
 58 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 421 
 
 V. ANALYSES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILISING MATERIALS 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 Plwsphoric Acid Fertilisers 
 
 Apatite 
 
 Bone ash 
 
 Bone-black 
 
 Bone-black (dissolved) 
 
 Bone meal 
 
 Bone meal (from glue factory) 
 
 Bone meal (dissolved) 
 
 Caribbean guano 
 
 Cuban guano 
 
 Mona Island guano 
 
 Nevassa phosphate 
 
 Orchilla guano 
 
 Peruvian guano 
 
 S. Carolina rock (ground) . . . . 
 
 S. Carolina rock (floats) 
 
 S. Carolina rock (dissolved) . . 
 Florida rock phosphate 
 
 Potash Fertilisers 
 
 Cottonseed hull ashes 
 
 Kainit 
 
 Muriate of potash 
 
 Nitrate of potash 
 
 Spent tan-bark ashes 
 
 Sulphate potash (high-grade) . . 
 Sulphate potash and magnesia 
 
 Sylvanite 
 
 Tobacco stems 
 
 Wood ashes (unleached) 
 
 Wood ashes (leached) 
 
 Nitrogen Fertilisers 
 
 Castor pomace 
 
 Cottonseed meal 
 
 Dried blood 
 
 Dried fish 
 
 Horn and hoof waste 
 
 Lobster shells 
 
 Meat scrap 
 
 Malt sprouts 
 
 Nitrate of soda 
 
 Nitrate-cake 
 
 Oleomargarine refuse 
 
 ■SO 
 
 IS a. 
 
 7.00 
 4.60 
 
 7.47 
 
 24.27 
 
 12.52 
 
 7.60 
 
 7.31 
 
 14.81 
 
 1.50 
 
 7.33 
 3.20 
 2.00 
 1.93 
 6.31 
 1.25 
 4.75 
 7.25 
 10.61 
 9.00 
 
 9.98 
 
 6.86 
 
 12.50 
 
 12.75 
 
 10.17 
 
 7.27 
 
 12.09 
 
 7.40 
 
 1.25 
 
 6.00 
 
 8.54 
 
 4.12 
 1.70 
 2.60 
 
 1.67 
 0.76 
 
 7.85 
 
 13.09 
 
 2.29 
 
 5.56 
 
 6.66 
 10.52 
 
 7.25 
 13.25 
 
 4.50 
 10.44 
 
 4.04 
 15.75 
 
 2.30 
 12.12 
 
 2.61 
 
 23.80 
 
 13.54 
 
 50.46 
 
 45.19 
 
 2.02 
 
 51.60 
 
 23.50 
 
 16.65 
 
 6.44 
 
 5.50 
 
 1.10 
 
 1.12 
 1.62 
 
 0.45 
 
 2.20 
 0.40 
 
 Phosphoric Acid 
 
 id 
 I- 
 
 16.70 
 
 8.28 
 
 13.53 
 
 7.55 
 
 8.36 
 0.60 
 
 11.60 
 
 3.05 
 
 is 
 
 0.30 
 15.22 
 
 4.07 
 
 14.33 
 
 6.90 
 
 27.43 
 
 3.60 
 35.00 
 
 5.20 
 
 36.08 
 35.89 
 28.28 
 17.00 
 23.50 
 29.90 
 17.60 
 18.90 
 13.35 
 21.88 
 34.27 
 26.77 
 15.26 
 28.03 
 27.20 
 15.20 
 35.00 
 
 8.50 
 
 1.61 
 
 0.60 
 1.85 
 1.40 
 
 2.16 
 1.45 
 1.91 
 8.25 
 1.83 
 3.52 
 2.07 
 1.70 
 
 0.88 
 
422 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 V. Analyses of Commercial Fertilising Materials — Continued 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 1^ 
 o V 
 
 Phosphokic Acid 
 
 .-So 
 
 <p^ 
 
 Nitrogen Fertilisers 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia 
 
 Tankage 
 
 Wool waste 
 
 Miscellaneous Materials 
 Ashes (anthracite coal) . . . . 
 Ashes (bituminous coal) . . . 
 
 Ashes (corn-cob) 
 
 Ashes (lime-kiln) 
 
 Ashes (peat and bog) . . . . 
 
 Gas lime 
 
 Marl (Massachusetts) 
 
 Marl (North Carolina) . . . . 
 
 Muck (fresh) 
 
 Peat 
 
 Pine needles 
 
 Shell lime (oyster shell) . . . . 
 
 Soot 
 
 Spent tan bark 
 
 Spent sumach 
 
 Sugar-house scum 
 
 1.00 
 
 13.20 
 
 9.27 
 
 15.45 
 
 5.20 
 
 4.40 
 
 18.18 
 
 1.50 
 
 76.20 
 
 61.50 
 
 7.80 
 
 19.50 
 
 5.54 
 
 14.00 
 
 30.80 
 
 50.20 
 
 20.50 
 6.82 
 5.64 
 
 0.30 
 
 0.30 
 0.75 
 0.30 
 
 0.20 
 1.00 
 2.10 
 
 1.30 
 
 0.10 
 0.40 
 23.20 
 0.86 
 0.70 
 
 0.04 
 
 0.10 
 0.04 
 1.83 
 0.10 
 0.30 
 
 .02 
 
 23 
 
 11.25 
 0.29 
 
 0.10 
 0.40 
 
 1.18 
 0.50 
 
 1.05 
 0.56 
 
 0.20 
 0.20 
 
 0.04 
 0.10 
 
 VI. ANALYSES OF FARM MANURES 
 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 a; 4-» 
 
 c. a 
 
 3 41 
 
 •go 
 
 II 
 
 Z0-, 
 
 PhBh 
 
 2 « 
 
 Cattle (solid fresh excrement) .... 
 Cattle (fresh urine) 
 
 73.27 
 
 0.29 
 0.58 
 1.63 
 0.44 
 1.55 
 0.80 
 0.55 
 1.95 
 0.50 
 0.60 
 0.43 
 
 0.10 
 0.49 
 0.85 
 0.35 
 1.50 
 0.30 
 0.15 
 2.26 
 0.60 
 0.13 
 0.83 
 
 0.17 
 
 Hen manure (fresh) 
 
 1.54 
 
 Horse (solid fresh excrement) 
 
 Horse (fresh urine) 
 
 0.17 
 
 Poudrette (night soil) 
 
 1.40 
 
 Sheep (solid fresh excrement) 
 
 Sheep (fresh urine) 
 
 0.31 
 0.01 
 
 Stab e manure (mixed) 
 
 0.30 
 
 Swine (solid fresh excrement) 
 
 Swine (fresh urine) 
 
 0.41 
 0.07 
 
 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 423 
 
 VII. FERTILISING MATERIALS IN FARM PRODUCTS 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 Hay and Dry Fodders 
 
 Alfalfa 
 
 Carrot tops (dry) 
 
 Clover (alsike) 
 
 Clover (crimson) 
 
 Clover (mammoth red) . 
 Clover (medium red) 
 
 Clover (white) 
 
 Com fodder 
 
 Corn stover 
 
 Cowpea vines 
 
 Hungarian grass (brome) . 
 
 Italian rye-grass 
 
 June grass 
 
 Meadow fescue 
 
 Meadow foxtail 
 
 Millet (common) 
 
 Mixed grasses 
 
 Orchard grass 
 
 Perennial rye-grass . . . . 
 
 Red-top , 
 
 Salt hay 
 
 Serradella , 
 
 Soja (Soy) bean 
 
 Tall meadow oat grass 
 
 Timothy hay 
 
 Vetch and oats 
 
 Yellow trefoil , 
 
 Green Fodders 
 
 Alfalfa . 
 
 Clover (crimson) 
 
 Clover (red) 
 
 Clover (white) 
 
 Corn fodder 
 
 Corn fodder (ensilage) 
 
 Cowpea vines 
 
 Horse bean 
 
 Meadow grass (in flower) 
 
 Millet 
 
 Oats 
 
 Peas 
 
 Rye grass 
 
 Serradella 
 
 So; 
 
 6.26 
 
 9.76 
 
 9.93 
 
 16.4 
 
 11.41 
 
 10.72 
 
 28.24 
 9.00 
 7.15 
 8.29 
 
 9.79 
 
 9.75 
 11.26 
 8.84 
 9.13 
 7.71 
 5.36 
 7.39 
 6.30 
 
 7.52 
 11.98 
 
 75.30 
 8.15 
 80.00 
 81.00 
 72.64 
 71.60 
 78.81 
 74.71 
 70.00 
 62.58 
 83.36 
 81.50 
 70.00 
 82.59 
 
 2.07 
 3.13 
 2.33 
 1.95 
 2.23 
 2.09 
 2.75 
 1.80 
 1.12 
 1.64 
 1.16 
 1.15 
 1.05 
 0.94 
 1.54 
 1.28 
 1.37 
 1.31 
 1.23 
 1.15 
 1.18 
 2.70 
 2.32 
 1.16 
 1.26 
 1.37 
 2.14 
 
 0.72 
 .43 
 0.53 
 0.56 
 0.56 
 0.36 
 0.27 
 0.68 
 0.44 
 0.61 
 0.49 
 0.50 
 0.57 
 0.41 
 
 ft 
 o <u 
 
 1.46 
 4.88 
 2.01 
 1.17 
 1.22 
 2.20 
 1.81 
 0.76 
 1.32 
 0.91 
 1.28 
 0.99 
 1.46 
 2.01 
 2.19 
 1.69 
 1.54 
 1.88 
 1.55 
 1.02 
 0.72 
 0.65 
 1.08 
 1.72 
 1.53 
 0.90 
 0.98 
 
 0.45 
 .26 
 0.46 
 0.24 
 0.62 
 0.33 
 0.31 
 1.37 
 0.60 
 0.41 
 0.38 
 0.56 
 0.53 
 0.42 
 
 
 0.53 
 0.61 
 0.70 
 .36 
 0.55 
 0.44 
 0.52 
 0.51 
 0.30 
 0.53 
 0.35 
 0.55 
 0.37 
 0.34 
 0.44 
 0.49 
 0.35 
 0.41 
 0.56 
 0.36 
 0.25 
 0.78 
 0.67 
 0.32 
 0.46 
 0.53 
 0.43 
 
 0.15 
 .08 
 0.13 
 0.20 
 0.28 
 0.14 
 0.98 
 0.33 
 0.15 
 0.19 
 0.13 
 0.18 
 0.17 
 0.14 
 
424 APPENDIX 
 
 VII. Fertilising Materials in Farm Products — Continued 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 ■<-'rj 
 
 ^04 
 
 
 
 Green Fodder 
 
 Sorghum 
 
 Vetch and oats 
 
 White lupine 
 
 Young grass 
 
 Straw, Chaff, Leaves, etc. 
 
 Barley chaff 
 
 Barley straw 
 
 Beech leaves (autumn) 
 
 Buckwheat straw 
 
 Corn cobs 
 
 Corn hulls 
 
 Oak leaves 
 
 Oat chaff 
 
 Oat straw 
 
 Pea shells 
 
 Pea straw (cut in bloom) 
 
 Pea straw (ripe) 
 
 Potato stalks and leaves 
 
 Rye straw 
 
 Sugar beet stalks and leaves 
 
 Turnip stalks and leaves 
 
 Wheat chaff (spring) 
 
 Wheat chaff (winter) 
 
 Wheat straw (spring) 
 
 Wheat straw (winter) 
 
 Roots and Tubers 
 
 Beets (red) 
 
 Beets (sugar) 
 
 Beets (yellow fodder) 
 
 Carrots 
 
 Mangels 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 Rutabagas 
 
 Turnips 
 
 Grains and Seeds 
 
 Barley 
 
 Beans 
 
 Buckwheat 
 
 Corn kernels 
 
 Corn kernels and cobs (cob meal) 
 
 Hemp seed 
 
 Linseed 
 
 86.11 
 85.35 
 80.00 
 
 13.08 
 13.25 
 15.00 
 16.00 
 12.09 
 11.50 
 15.00 
 14.30 
 28.70 
 16.65 
 
 77.00 
 15.40 
 92.65 
 89.80 
 14.80 
 10.50 
 15.00 
 10.36 
 
 87.73 
 84.65 
 90.60 
 90.02 
 87.29 
 79.75 
 87.82 
 87.20 
 
 15.42 
 
 14. ib 
 10.88 
 10.00 
 12.20 
 11.80 
 
 0.40 
 0.24 
 0.44 
 0.50 
 
 1.01 
 0.72 
 0.80 
 1.30 
 0.50 
 0.23 
 0.80 
 0.64 
 0.29 
 1.36 
 2.29 
 1.04 
 0.49 
 0.24 
 0.35 
 0.30 
 0.91 
 1.01 
 0.54 
 0.82 
 
 0.24 
 0.25 
 0.19 
 0.14 
 0.19 
 0.21 
 0.21 
 0.22 
 
 2.06 
 4.10 
 1.44 
 1.82 
 1.46 
 2.62 
 3.20 
 
 0.32 
 0.79 
 1.73 
 1.16 
 
 0.99 
 1.16 
 0.36 
 2.41 
 0.60 
 0.24 
 0.15 
 1.04 
 0.88 
 1.38 
 2.32 
 1.01 
 0.07 
 0.76 
 0.16 
 0.24 
 0.42 
 0.14 
 0.44 
 0.32 
 
 0.44 
 0.29 
 0.46 
 0.54 
 0.38 
 0.29 
 0.50 
 0.41 
 
 0.73 
 1.20 
 0.21 
 0.40 
 0.44 
 0.97 
 1.04 
 
 0.08 
 0.09 
 0.35 
 0.22 
 
 0.27 
 0.15 
 0.24 
 0.61 
 0.06 
 0.02 
 0.34 
 0.20 
 0.11 
 0.55 
 0.68 
 0.35 
 0.06 
 0.19 
 0.07 
 0.13 
 0.25 
 0.19 
 0.18 
 0.11 
 
 0.09 
 0.08 
 0.09 
 0.10 
 0.09 
 0.07 
 0.13 
 0.12 
 
 0.95 
 1.16 
 0.44 
 0.70 
 0.60 
 1.75 
 1.30 
 
APPENDIX 425 
 
 VTI. Fertilising Materials in Farm Products — Continued 
 
 Name of Substance 
 
 ^T3 5 
 
 Grains and Seeds 
 
 Lupines 
 
 Millet 
 
 Oats 
 
 Peas 
 
 Rye 
 
 Soja (Soy) beans 
 
 Sorghum 
 
 Wheat, spring 
 
 Wheat, winter 
 
 Flour and Meal 
 
 Corn meal 
 
 Ground barley 
 
 Hominy feed 
 
 Pea meal 
 
 Rye flour 
 
 Wheat flour 
 
 By-products and refuse 
 
 Apple pomace 
 
 Cotton hulls 
 
 Cottonseed meal 
 
 Glucose refuse 
 
 Gluten meal 
 
 Hop refuse 
 
 Linseed cake (new process) . 
 Linseed cake (old process) . . 
 
 Malt sprouts 
 
 Oat bran 
 
 Rye middlings 
 
 Spent brewer's grains (dry) . 
 Spent brewer's grains (wet) . 
 
 Wheat bran 
 
 Wheat middlings 
 
 Dairy Products 
 
 Milk 
 
 Cream 
 
 Skim milk 
 
 Butter 
 
 Butter-milk 
 
 Cheese (from unskimmed milk) . . 
 Cheese (from half-skimmed milk) 
 Cheese (from skimmed milk) 
 
 13.80 
 13.00 
 20.80 
 19.10 
 14.90 
 18.33 
 14.00 
 14.75 
 15.40 
 
 13.52 
 
 13.43 
 
 8.93 
 
 8.85 
 
 14.20 
 
 9.83 
 
 80.50 
 10.63 
 
 8.10 
 8.53 
 8.98 
 6.12 
 7.79 
 
 10.28 
 8.19 
 
 12.54 
 6.98 
 
 75.01 
 
 11.01 
 9.18 
 
 87.20 
 68.80 
 90.20 
 13.60 
 90.10 
 38.00 
 39.80 
 46.00 
 
 5.52 
 2.40 
 1.75 
 4.26 
 1.76 
 5.30 
 1.48 
 2.36 
 2.83 
 
 2.05 
 1.55 
 1.63 
 3.08 
 1.68 
 2.21 
 
 0.23 
 0.75 
 6.52 
 2.62 
 5.43 
 0.98 
 5.40 
 6.02 
 3.67 
 2.25 
 1.84 
 3.05 
 0.89 
 2.88 
 2.63 
 
 0.58 
 0.58 
 0.58 
 0.12 
 0.64 
 4.05 
 4.75 
 5.45 
 
 1.14 
 0.47 
 0.41 
 1.23 
 0.54 
 1.99 
 0.42 
 0.61 
 0.50 
 
 0.44 
 0.34 
 0.49 
 0.99 
 0.65 
 0.54 
 
 0.13 
 1.08 
 1.89 
 0.15 
 0.05 
 0.11 
 1.16 
 1.16 
 1.60 
 0.66 
 0.81 
 1.55 
 0.05 
 1.62 
 0.63 
 
 0.17 
 0.09 
 0.19 
 
 0.09 
 0.29 
 0.29 
 0.20 
 
 0.87 
 0.91 
 0.48 
 1.26 
 0.82 
 1.87 
 0.81 
 0.89 
 0.68 
 
 0.71 
 0.66 
 0.98 
 0.82 
 0.85 
 0.57 
 
 0.02 
 0.18 
 2.78 
 0.29 
 0.43 
 0.20 
 1.42 
 1.65 
 1.40 
 1.11 
 1.26 
 1.26 
 0.31 
 2.87 
 0.95 
 
 0.30 
 0.15 
 0.34 
 
 0.15 
 0.80 
 0.80 
 0.80 
 
426 APPENDIX 
 
 VIII. SCHEDULE FOR THE VALUATION OF FERTILISERS 
 
 The following is the schedule of prices adopted by agreement by the 
 Experiment Stations of the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New 
 Jersey, and Rhode Island, to be used in the valuation of fertOisers for the 
 year 1906: 
 
 Cents per pound 
 
 Nitrogen in ammonium salts 17.5 
 
 Nitrogen in nitrates 16.5 
 
 Organic nitrogen in dry and fine-ground fish, meat, and blood, and 
 
 in mixed fertilisers 18.5 
 
 Organic nitrogen in fine bone and tankage 18.0 
 
 Organic nitrogen in coarse bone and tankage IS.O 
 
 Phosphoric acid, soluble in water • • • 4.5 
 
 Phosphoric acid, soluble in ammonium citrate 4.0 
 
 Phosphoric acid in fine-ground fish, bone, and tankage ... 4.0 
 Phosphoric acid in coarse fish, bone, and tankage . . . . S.O 
 Phosphoric acid in mixed fertilisers, if insoluble in water and in am- 
 monium citrate 2.0 
 
 Phosphoric acid in cottonseed meal, castor pomace, and wood ashes 4.0 
 Potash in high-grade sulphate, and in forms free from muriate (or 
 
 chlorids) 5-0 
 
 Potash as muriate 4^ 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abrasive effects of sand, 19 
 Absorbent capacity of soils, 95 
 Acid, phosphoric, forms of, 370 
 Acids secreted by plant roots, 9 
 Adaptability of soils, 24 
 Adobe soils, composition of, 63 
 
 where found, 64 
 Air fertilises the soil, 37 
 Air, fertility in, 29, 37 
 Air in soils, 24 
 Alabama, rotation in, 405 
 Alfalfa, value as a soil improver, 340 
 Alkali soils, contents of, 66 
 
 cost to reclaim, 67 
 
 deep tillage for, 68 
 
 deficient in nitrogen, 69 
 
 how to treat, 67 
 
 two types of, 66 
 Alluvial soils, 17, 48 
 Ammonia is not nitrogen, 369 
 Analyses of commercial fertilising 
 materials, 421-422 
 
 of farm manures, 422 
 Analysing soils at home, 71 
 Analysis of adobe soil from Santa F6, 
 N. M., 417 
 
 of loess from Dubuque, la., 
 417 
 
 of soil from Yakima Co., 
 Wash., 418 
 
 of swamp, soil in Carteret 
 Co., N. C., 418 
 Angleworms, service of, 14 
 Animal excretions, value of, 316 
 Animals as soil builders, 12 
 
 enrich soils, 21 
 
 obstruct drains, 228 
 Ants as soil builders, 13 
 Arid land, cost of levelling, 267 
 
 should be level, 266 
 
 water needs of, 265 
 Arizona, rotation in, 405 
 Arkansas, rotation in, 405 
 Artesian wells, available for irriga 
 tion, 244 
 
 Artificial fertilisers, are made of, 366 
 
 growth of trade in, 365 
 Ashes, cotton hull, 384 
 
 hardwood, 384 
 
 lime-kiln, 384 
 
 softwood, 384 
 
 unleached, wood, 384 
 
 use of, 62 
 
 wood, for muck soils, 62 
 
 Bacteria do not thrive on sour or 
 wet soils, 337 
 
 each crop has different, 335 
 
 in manure, 348 
 
 in the soil, 40, 43, 334 
 Barley, temperature of soil for, 32 
 Beam wheel, plow, 133 
 Blood, dried, contents of, 378 
 Bogs, drainage of, 201 
 Breaks, how to construct, 293 
 
 necessary to good farming, 294 
 Brush drag, 173 
 Burrowing animals soil builders, 13 
 
 California, rotation in, 405 
 Capacity of soils to hold water, 80, 93 
 Capillary action, 89, 96 
 Catch crops, how to use, 331 
 Chemical changes in the soil, 44 
 Chemical vs. mechanical analysis, 
 
 71 
 Clay, 52 
 
 loams, 58 
 
 test for, 72 
 
 to separate from sand and 
 silt, 73 
 Clay soils are cold, 33 
 
 composition of, 56 
 
 crops for, 59 
 
 needs of, 389 
 
 properties of, 52 
 
 treatment of, 57, 126 
 
 value of, 57, 93 
 Cleansing properties of commercial 
 fertilisers, 321 
 
 427 
 
428 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Clevis, plow, 133 
 
 Clover, crimson, a soil improver, 340 
 red, is best green-manuring 
 
 crop, 338 
 red, when to sow, 338 
 temperature of soil for, 32 
 Cold, effect on rock, 6 
 Cold soil, drainage helps, 33 
 Colorado, rotation in, 406 
 Commercial fertilisers, 364 
 
 a poor soil improver, 345 
 are made of, 366 
 when to apply, 395 
 Composition of soils, 51 
 Conglomerates, 5 
 Connecticut, rotation in, 406 
 Cottonseed meal, contents of, 378 
 Coulter, disk and knife, 132 
 Cover crop adds humus to soil, 331 
 how to use, 331 
 checks erosion, 293 
 use in fruit growing, 331 
 Cow manure, plant food value, 
 
 349 
 Cowpea, value as catch crop, 339 
 value as soil improver, 339 
 Crimson clover a valuable soil im- 
 prover, 340 
 Crop alternation in U. S., examples 
 
 of, 307-310, 319 
 Cropping impairs fertility, 312 
 Crop rotation checks "club-foot," 
 303 
 fungous diseases, 304 
 insect and disease injury, 303 
 potato scab, 303 
 weediness, 302 
 Crop rotation for "Corn Belt," 
 308, 310 
 for dairy farm, 308, 309 
 for hay and grains, 310 
 why beneficial, 300 
 Crop rotations practised in different 
 
 states, 407-419 
 Crops, catch and cover, how to use, 
 331 
 choosing for a rotation, 305 
 clovers, including all legumes, 
 
 need of, 393 
 cotton, needs of, 394 
 different rooting habits of, 
 
 301 
 early, best slope for, 34 
 forage, need of, 393 
 
 Crops, for loam soils, 59 
 
 for sandy loams, 55 
 
 for sandy soils, 54 
 
 for sour soils, 401 
 
 fruit, need of, 394 
 
 gradual decrease in jdeld, 285 
 due to exhaustion of 
 soluble plant food, 286 
 
 how often to irrigate, 268 
 
 Indian com, needs, 393 
 
 learned by study, 393 
 
 market garden, needs of, 394 
 
 needs of different, 392 
 
 root and tuber crops, needs 
 of, 394 
 
 rotation, a law of Nature, 300 
 
 rotation of, 299 
 
 sweet and Irish potatoes, needs 
 of, 394 
 Cultivate, how often, 165 
 
 how deep, 166 
 Cultivating, 142 
 
 to kill weeds, 157 
 Cultivation to save water, 163 
 Cultivators, broad-tooth, assist ero- 
 sion, 295 
 
 called "horse hoes," 152 
 
 definition of, 152 
 
 hand, 183 
 
 shovel-tooth, or coulter, 153 
 
 spike-tooth, 153, 184 
 
 spring-tooth, 154 
 Cultivators, sulky, 155 
 
 types and use of, 144, 152-156 
 Culture, level, advantage of, 168 
 
 Dairy farm rotation, 308, 309 
 Delaware, rotation in, 406 
 Deodoriser, soil is a, 39 
 Disk plow, 139 
 Ditch digging, 224 
 
 tools used for, 224 
 Ditches, cement-lined, 252 
 
 cost of filling, 229 
 
 fix grade and depth, 203, 214 
 
 how to dig, 202, 224 
 
 open, 200, 202 
 
 when practicable, 201 
 
 how to fill, 226 
 Ditching spade, 225 
 Diversified farming, 315 
 Diversity of soils, 49 
 Do plants excrete? 318 
 Draft in plowing, 127 
 
INDEX 
 
 429 
 
 Drag, brush, use of, 173 
 Dramage capacity of tiles, 223 
 
 direct benefits of, 193 
 
 ditch, how to dig, 202 
 
 for special crops, 195 
 
 natural, 194 
 
 poor, signs of, 190 
 
 signs of need, 191 
 
 warms the soil, 33 
 
 when needed, 190 
 Drainage system, avoid abrupt 
 curves, 217 
 
 cost of, 229 
 
 how to plan, 208 
 
 map and drawing, 208 
 
 outlet for, 209 
 
 planning, 207 
 Draining, effect on soil, 196 
 
 farm soils need, 194 
 
 first cost large, 196 
 
 lowers water-table, 198 
 
 makes soil more moist, 197 
 
 pot holes, 230 
 
 practical results from, 199 
 
 promotes aeration, 197 
 
 reclaims swamps, etc., 193, 
 231 
 
 slope an aid to, 195 
 
 to improve texture, 192 
 Drains, box, 230 
 
 brush, 230 
 
 fall of, 211 
 
 grade for, 207, 210 
 
 kind to use, 200 
 
 mole, 230 
 
 pole, 230 
 
 stone, 229 
 
 surface, 200, 202 
 
 tile, 201, 205, 217, 225 
 Dried blood, contents of, 378 
 Drift soils, how made, 12, 48 
 Drumlins, 12 
 Dry farming, 105 
 
 crops under, 108, 238 
 
 methods, 107 
 
 secret of, 108 
 
 Early crop, best slope for, 34 
 Earth being slowly levelled, 4 
 Earthworms as soil workers, 14 
 Electricity of the soil, the, 39 
 
 increases yield, 39 
 Elements in rocks, 27 
 Elements in soils, 27 
 
 Engines to pump water, 248 
 
 cost of, 248 
 Erosion causes loss of fertility, 286 
 checked by deep plowing, 295 
 directing water, 291 
 side-hill ditches, 291 
 terracing, 291 
 underdrainage, 294 
 methods of checking, 288 
 on slope lands, 288 
 prevented by woodlands, 289 
 trees prevent, 289 
 Erosive action of sand, 19 
 Eucalyptus trees aid drainage, 78 
 Evaporation of water, 88, 93 
 Excretions, animal, value of, 316 
 Excretory theory of soil fertility, 318, 
 321 
 
 Fallowing and soil fertility, 296 
 methods of, 298 
 to get rid of weeds, 298 
 to set free plant food, 297 
 to store water, 297 
 Fall plowing, 134 
 Farming, diversified, 315 
 dry, 105, 238 
 improvident, 343 
 single-crop, 310, 315 
 Farm irrigation, 233 
 Farm manures, 346 
 
 analyses of, 422 
 Farm products, fertilising materials 
 
 in, 423-425 
 Farm soils, leading types of, 53 
 native plant food in, 419 
 test of water capacity, 93 
 Fertile air, 29 
 Fertilisers, amount to apply, 397 
 
 advantages of home-mixed, 
 
 376 
 artificial, are made of, 366 
 
 growth of trade in, 365 
 bill of American farmers ex- 
 cessive, 364 
 calculating value of, from 
 
 analysis, 373 
 commercial, as soil cleansers, 
 
 321 
 commercial, when to apply, 
 
 395 
 common way of testing, 390, 
 
 391 
 cost of, 375 
 
430 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fertilisers, crude fish scrap, 386 
 
 green manures not complete, 
 
 332 
 how to apply, 396 
 indirect, benefit the soil, 399 
 low grade, expensive, 375 
 many brands of, 367 
 new theory as to action, 819, 
 
 320 
 nitrogen, quickly soluble, 
 
 396 
 quantivalence of, 370 
 raw materials can be bought, 
 
 377 
 seaweed, 386 
 tags, studying, 368 
 guarantees on, 368 
 tobacco stems and stalks, 386 
 trade in. State supervision, 
 
 367 
 valuation of, schedule for, 426 
 value based on amount of 
 
 {)lant food contained, 373 
 ue of, 373 
 what kinds to use, 388 
 when complete and incom- 
 plete, 366 
 when it pays to use, 398 
 wool and hair waste, 386 
 Fertilising materials in farm pro- 
 ducts, 423-425 
 Fertility, influence of plant food on, 
 281 
 lost in cropping, 312 
 loss by erosion, 286 
 maintenance.conflicting views 
 
 on, 281 
 of soil, to maintain, 280, 311 
 selling, 311 
 
 soil, new theory of, 318-321 
 Film water, 30 
 
 as plant food, 25, 30 
 held by soils, amount of, 81 
 movement of, 87, 90 
 need of, 31 
 to prevent loss of, 90 
 Fineness of soil, 25 
 Fire-fang or ferment, 349 
 Flooding, in irrigation, 254 
 Florida, rotation in, 407 
 Flume, how to build, 252, 258 
 Forest, preserve on hill crests, 289 
 Forests, influence on water supply, 
 
 Free water, rainfall is, 29 
 
 Fresh mamu'e best for heavier soils, 
 
 360 
 Frost a soil refiner, 21 
 Furrow irrigation, 257-260 
 
 Gang plow, 139 
 
 Garden irrigation, 258 
 
 Gases absorbed by the soil, 38 
 
 German potash salts, sources of, 
 
 385 
 Germination of seeds, 99 
 Germ life in the soil, 40 
 Glacial soils, 49 
 Glaciers deposit soil, 11 
 Good texture, how Nature secures, 
 323 
 humus insures, 323 
 what is meant by, 322 
 Grade of tile drains, 210 
 to be uniform, 211 
 to estabhsh, 212, 214 
 Gravelly loams, 59 
 Green manure benefits poor soils 
 most, 336 
 darkens soil, 35 
 red clover the best, 338 
 two kinds of, 329 
 Green-manuring and worn-out soils, 
 
 322 
 Green-manuring for impaired soil, 
 
 330 
 Green maniures from non-legimi- 
 inous crops, 341 
 not complete fertihsers, 332 
 when to plow under, 337 
 Guarantees, fertiliser, points for 
 
 study of, 372, 373 
 GuUies, clay soils most Uable, 294 
 
 growth checked by breaks, 
 294 
 Gypsum alleviates stable odours, 356 
 
 Hand cultivators, 184 
 Hand tools, 183 
 Harrowing, objects of, 142 
 Harrow, Acme, 148 
 
 cutaway, 149 
 
 disk, 149 
 
 kinds and use, 144-152 
 
 Meeker, the, 150 
 
 plank, 179 
 
 rolling, 149 
 
 smoothing, 147 
 
INDEX 
 
 431 
 
 Harrow, spading, 149 
 
 spike-tooth, 145, 146 
 
 spring-tooth, 147, 148 
 Hay an exhausting crop, 318 
 
 salt, 65 
 Heat, effect on rock, 6 
 Hoes, scuffle, 184 
 
 styles of blades, 182 
 
 wheel, 184 
 Hoeing, good and poor, 181 
 
 purpose of, 179 
 
 to kiQ weeds, 180 
 Hog manure, plant food value, S49 
 Horses, heavy vs. light for plowing, 
 
 128 
 Horse manure, value of, 349 
 How deep to cultivate, 166, 168 
 How often to cultivate, 165 
 How plants drink, 77 
 Humus, 53 
 
 enables soil to hold moisture, 
 328 
 
 increases water capacity of 
 soils, 83 
 
 darkens the soil, 35 
 
 test for, 72 
 
 value of, 8, 83, 92 
 
 Ice has made soil, 11 
 
 Idaho, rotation in, 407 
 
 Idle land unprofitable, 332 
 
 Illinois, rotation in, 407 
 
 Improvident farming, 343 
 
 Indiana, rotation in, 407 
 
 Infertility caused by poor texture, 
 283 
 
 Influence of sun on soil, 34 
 
 Inoculating with old soil, 334 
 artScial cultures, 334 
 
 Inoculation of soils, bacterial, 40, 
 43, 334 
 
 Insect pests, control of, 303 
 
 Iowa, rotation in, 408 
 
 Irrigation, alfalfa, 271 
 
 afternoon best time for, 269 
 by well and spring water, 244 
 directing the flow, 269 
 extent of, 233 
 frequency and time of, 267 
 from artesian well, 244 
 hydrant water for, 244 
 in foreign countries, 233 
 in humid regions, 239, 242 
 in the East, 241 
 
 Irrigation in United States, 233-286 
 market-garden, 241, 245 
 NationjJ aid in, 275 
 objects of, 236 
 of meadows, 271 
 orchard, 271 
 of small fruits, 273 
 of potatoes, 273, 
 piunping water for, 246 
 sources of water for, 244 
 supply of water for, 248 
 of tree fruits, 271 
 of vegetables, 274 
 when necessary, 287 
 winter, 268 
 
 Japanese pea, value as a soil im- 
 prover, 341 
 Jointer, plow, 132 
 Joints of tile drains, 226 
 
 Kainit, effect of, 403 
 
 enriches manure, 357 
 source of and contents, 885 
 value of, 385 
 
 Kansas, rotation in, 408 
 
 Kentucky, rotation in, 408 
 
 Land reclaimed by drainage, 231 
 enriched by irrigation, 237 
 Land plaster, as aid in saving 
 manure, 357 
 or gypsum, effect on soil, 402 
 for treating alkali soils, 402 
 Land, when to ridge, 169 
 Landside plow, 137 
 Legume, what it is, 329 
 
 benefit poor soils most, 336 
 Leguminous plants renovate soil, 
 
 330, 334 
 Level culture, advantage of, 168 
 Level, home-made, to construct 218 
 how to use, 213 
 spirit, use of, 216 
 Lime and land plaster called indirect 
 
 fertilisers, 399 
 Lime, air-slaked, how used, 402 
 effect on light soil, 399 
 leachy soil, 399 
 clay soil, 399 
 how to apply, 401 
 water-slaked best form to use 
 
 on sour soils, 401 
 when to apply, 402 
 
432 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Liming, benefits of, 399, 400 
 
 benefits acid soil, 338 
 Litmus tests for sour soils, 401 
 Live-stock excrements, value of, 316 
 Loams, sandy, 55 
 
 clay, 58 
 Loam soils, value of, 59, 93 
 Loams, gravelly and stony, 59 
 Loess soils, composition of, 62, 
 
 where found, 63 
 Louisiana, rotation in, 409 
 Lupines grown for green-manuring, 
 341 
 
 Maine, rotation in, 409 
 
 Mains, rules for estimating size of, 
 
 223 
 Manure, green, darkens soil, S5 
 two kinds, 329 
 horse, cow, and hog, value of, 
 
 349 
 horse, value of, 349 
 how it benefits the soil, 846 
 improve texture of the soil, 347 
 pits, 355 
 quality of, 350 
 rotted, best for lighter soils, 
 
 360 
 sheep and p ^'iltry, 350 
 spreaders, 363 
 Manures and fertihsers as soil 
 
 cleansers, 319 
 Manures, animal, value of, 316 
 
 amount made on the farm, 
 
 358 
 excel in nitrogen, 362 
 farm, analyses of, 422 
 
 average values of, 350 
 green feeds aid production of, 
 
 358 
 how much to use, 361 
 how to apply, 363 
 how to care for, 354 
 how wasted, 351 
 injury from heating, 353 
 loss from escape of urine, 854 
 loss from fermentation, 353 
 loss from leaching, 352 
 new theory as to action, 319, 
 
 320 
 plant food in, wasted, 352 
 spreading in winter, 360 
 the real value of, 346 
 to estimate plant food in, 359 
 
 Manures to prevent loss by heating, 
 356 
 
 when to apply, 360 
 Marl, effect of, 402 
 Marshes, drainage of, 201 
 Maryland, rotation in, 409 
 Massachusetts, rotation in, 410 
 Measuring water, methods of, 262 
 Meal, cottonseed, contents of, 378 
 Mechanical vs. chemical analysis, 71 
 Michigan, rotation in, 410 
 Mineral contents of soil, 26, 28 
 Miner's inch, definition of, 263 
 Mississippi, rotation in, 410 
 Missouri, rotation in, 410 
 Modules, 263 
 Montana, rotation in, 411 
 Morains, 12 
 
 Mosaic law as to fallowing, 296 
 Moss, sphagnum, 47 
 Mouldboard, plow, 131 
 Moving water, action of, 16 
 Muck, crops for, 62 
 
 soils, 60 
 
 wood ashes for, 62 
 Mulch, definition of, 91 
 
 in dry farming, 107 
 
 prevents loss of soil water, 91 
 Mulches, the most effective, 91 
 Muriate of potash, contents of, 385 
 
 value of, 385 
 
 Native plant food in farm soils, 421 
 Nebraska, rotation in, 411 
 Nevada, rotation in, 411 
 New Hampshire, rotation in, 411 
 New Jersey, rotation in, 412 
 New Mexico, rotation in, 412 
 New York, rotation in, 412 
 Nitrate of soda. Chili salt-petre, con- 
 tents of, 378 
 Nitric acid ferment, 40 
 Nitrification of soils, 40 
 Nitro-culture, bacteria, 335 
 Nitrogen fertilisers quickly soluble, 
 
 396 
 Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, 40 
 
 process of, 329, 334 
 Nitrogen in soils, value of, 41 
 
 most costly plant food, 377 
 
 sources of, 377 
 Non-leguminous plants as soil im- 
 provers, 341 
 North Carolina, rotation in, 412 
 
INDEX 
 
 433 
 
 North Dakota, rotation in, 413 
 Northern slope vs. southern slope, 34 
 
 Oats and buckwheat as soil im- 
 provers, 342 
 
 Obstructions in drains, to prevent, 
 228 
 
 Ohio, rotation in, 413 
 
 Oklahoma, rotation in, 413 
 
 Oregon, rotation in, 414 
 
 Peat and muck soils, need, 390 
 Peat, formation of, 47 
 Peat soils, 60 
 
 crops for, 62 
 Pebbles as plant food, 25 
 Pennsylvania, rotation in, 414 
 Phosphoric acid, available, 370 
 cost of, 383 
 forms of, 370 
 insoluble, 371 
 phosphate meal, 381 
 reverted, 372 
 soluble, 370 
 sources of, 379 
 
 acid phosphate, 383 
 basic slag, 381 
 bone boiled and 
 steamed, contents, 
 380 
 dissolved bone, 382 
 dissolved boneblack, 
 
 contents, 380 
 dissolved rock, 383 
 phosphate slag, con- 
 tents of, 381 
 plain superphosphate, 
 
 383 
 raw bone, contents,379 
 rock phosphates, con- 
 tents of, 381 
 superphosphates, 382 
 Thomas slag, contents 
 of. 381 
 Pine barrens, 51 
 
 Pits, cement, to save manures, 355 
 Planker, how to make, 178 
 
 use of, 179 
 Planking, benefit of, 178 
 Plant food, 25, 45 
 air as, 29 
 
 available only in certain 
 forms, 283 
 
 Plant food drawn from the soil by 
 average yields of different 
 crops, 420 
 
 film water as, 25 
 
 in arid lands ineffective with- 
 out water, 283 
 
 locked up in soils, 283 
 
 loss in seepage water, 85 
 
 loss of under different systems 
 of farming, 314 
 
 native, in farm soils, 419 
 
 not fertility, 281 
 
 pebbles as, 25 
 
 soils exhausted of, 284 
 
 soil a storehouse of, 282 
 
 stones as, 25 
 
 value of different manures, 
 349 
 
 trade value of, 375 
 Plants as soil builders, 7, 8, 10, 53 
 
 do they excrete, 318 
 
 enrich soils, 21 
 
 excrete poisonous wastes from 
 roots, 320 
 
 how they drink, 77 
 
 leguminous, definition of, 329 
 
 for soils lacking nitrogen, 329 
 
 used for green manures, 329, 
 334 ,o; 
 
 soil-br.lding, check erosion, 
 29 
 
 Bermuda grass, 292 
 
 brome grass, 293 
 
 Lespedeza, 293 
 
 sanitation by, 320 
 
 water needed by, 76 
 
 what they feed upon, 45 
 Plow across slopes to check erosion, 
 295 
 
 beam, 131 
 
 beam wheel, 133 
 
 clevis, 133 
 
 coulter, 132 
 
 disk, 139 
 
 early American, 115 
 
 essentials of a good, 131, 133 
 
 evolution of the, 114-117 
 
 gang, 139 
 
 how deep to, 122 
 
 jointer, 132 
 
 landside, 137 
 
 mouldboard, 131 
 
 point, 133 
 
 share, 133 
 
434 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Plow, the modern, 116 
 
 subsoil, 125 
 
 sulky, 138 
 
 swivel, 137 
 
 trenching, 224 
 
 when to, 134-136 
 Plowing, a soil cooler, 36 
 
 deep, 121, 123, 124, 126 
 
 deep, vs. shallow, 126 
 
 draft in, 127 
 
 fall, 134 
 
 flat-furrow, 118 
 
 for fruit trees, and root crop, 
 123 
 
 heavy teams for, 128 
 
 in heavy soils, 121 
 
 in the South, 126 
 
 lap-furrow, 119 
 
 leguminous crop grown for, 
 329, 334 
 
 objects and methods, 114-131 
 
 overlapping-furrow, 118 
 
 power for, 129 
 
 rolling-furrow, 118 
 
 spring, 135 
 
 steam power, 130 
 
 to drain soil, 122 
 
 to establish a mulch, 122 
 Plowing under a green manure, 337 
 
 when dispensed with, 136 
 Plows, adjustment of, 140 
 
 various tj'pes of, 137 
 Potash, sources of, 384 
 Poultry manure, of highest value, 350 
 Power for plowing, 129 
 
 electricity used, 130 
 
 steam, 130 
 Pumpkins, temperature of soil for, 32 
 Pumps for irrigating purposes, 246 
 
 cost of, 248, 250 
 
 hydraulic rams, 250 
 
 steam and gasoline engines, 
 248 
 
 water-wheels, 249 
 
 windmills, 247 
 
 Quantivalence of fertilisers, 370 
 Questioning the soil, 390 
 
 by experiment with fertilisers, 
 390, 391 
 
 Rainfall, general, map of, 236 
 insufficient, 78 
 soil storage of, 79 
 
 Rainfall, supplies free water, 29 
 
 unevenly distributed, 78 
 Rape a good soil improver, 342 
 Raw materials, actual mixing easily 
 done, 388 
 
 cheaper to buy, 388 
 
 mixing the, 387 
 Reclamation Act of 1902, 243, 276 
 Reclamation of alkali soils, 67 
 Red clover excels as a soil improver, 
 
 338 
 Reducing and fining process cease- 
 less, 4 
 Reservoirs, for water storage, 243 
 
 small, how to build, 245 
 Rhode Island, rotation in, 414 
 Ridging crops promotes erosion, 296 
 
 land, 168 
 Rock becoming soil, 3, 27 
 
 elements in, 27 
 
 erosion of, 19 
 
 split by roots and stems, 9 
 
 weathering of, 3 
 Rollers, kinds and use, 177 
 Rolling, to assist germination, 171 
 
 benefits of, 173-176 
 Roots, fertilising value of, 332 
 
 plant, secrete acids, 9 
 
 split rocks, 9 
 Rotating crops, rules for, 305 
 Rotation, few systems of, in U. S., 
 307-310, 319 
 
 for "Corn Belt," 308, 310 
 
 for hay and grains, 310 
 
 of sown and tilled crops, 303 
 
 typical systems of, 307 
 Rotations practised in different 
 
 states, 407-419 
 Rye improves soil when plowed 
 under, 341 
 
 Salt an indirect fertiliser to small 
 
 extent, 399 
 Salt hay, 65 
 Salt, little used as fertiliser, 403 
 
 marshes, drainage for, 65 
 
 marsh soils, 64 
 
 how formed, 65 
 
 crops for, 65 
 Sand, 51 
 
 abrasive effects of, 19 
 
 dunes, 50 
 
 test for, 72 
 
 to separate from siltand clay,73 
 
INDEX 
 
 435 
 
 Sandy loams, 55 
 
 soils, 54, 93 
 
 soils are warm, 33 
 
 soils, needs of, 389 
 
 treatment of, 55, 123 
 
 value of, 55 
 Seaweed, as fertiliser, 386 
 Sedentary soils, 46 
 Seedlings, tree, 290 
 Seeds of quick-growing trees, to 
 
 sow, 290 
 Seeds, to genninate well, 99 
 Seepage, loss of water by, 84 
 
 water, loss of plant food in, 85 
 Selling fertility, 311 
 Separating sand, silt, and clay, 73 
 Shallow soils, 30 
 
 are dryest, 82 
 Share, plow, 133 
 Sheep manure, a good plant food, 
 
 350 
 Silt, 52 
 
 test for, 72 
 
 to separate from clay and 
 sand, 73 
 Single-crop farming, 310, 315 
 
 is ruinous, 311 
 Slope of land desirable, 34, 195 
 Sod land, to retain water in, 170 
 Soil, a chemical laboratory, 45 
 
 acid, benefit of liming, 338 
 
 alluvial, 17, 48 
 
 analysis a guide to fertilising, 
 389 
 
 bacteria, 334 
 
 becoming rock, 5 
 
 building, history of, 7 
 
 built by wind, 18, 50 
 
 chemical changes in the, 44 
 
 cleansers, manures and fer- 
 tilisers, 319 
 
 cold, drainage helps, 33 
 
 contains air, 24 
 
 elements in, 27 
 
 evolution of, 7 
 
 experts, figures by, 24 
 
 fertilised by air, 37 
 
 fertility, excretory theory of, 
 318, 321 
 
 fertility, newtheoryof,318-321 
 
 fine, water capacity of, 81, 83 
 
 fineness of, 23 
 
 fineness is richness, 25 
 
 formation, example of, 5 
 
 Soil, germ life in the, 40 
 how plants make, 8 
 how water is held in, 29 
 influence of exposure, 34 
 influence of sun on, 34 
 inoculation, bacterial, 334 
 inoculation with bacteria, 40, 
 
 43 
 is a deodoriser, 39 
 keep it busy, 304 
 left by glaciers, 11 
 made by ice, 1 1 
 made by rocks, 3, 27 
 mineral contents of, 26 
 moved by water, 16 
 must be moist, 30 
 must be warm, 31 
 nature of, 22 
 particles, number of, 23 
 renovation, how to begin, 344 
 vs. subsoil, 69 
 survey, U. S., 74 
 temperature, 31 
 temperature, influence of til- 
 lage on, 36 
 teems with life, 20 
 tests, 72 
 to improve ventilation of the, 
 
 37 
 value as a mulch, 91 
 ventilation of, 37, 111 
 water, seepage of, 85 
 
 can be prevented, 87 
 water, to maintain supply, 75 
 when ready to harrow, 151 
 yeast cake, action of, 335 
 
 Soils, absorbent, 95 
 
 absorb various gases, 38 
 activity of, 3, 20, 21 
 adaptability of, 24 
 adobe, 63 
 alluvial, 17, 48 
 analysing at home, 71 
 average depth of, 48 
 capacity to hold water, 80, 93 
 cause of infertility, 320 
 clayey, 56 
 
 composition of, 3, 51 
 dark-coloured, 35 
 distribution of, 49 
 diversity of, 49 
 drift, 48 
 
 exhausted of plant food, 284 
 farm, leading types of, 53 
 
436 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Soils, farm, mostly incomplete, 4 
 
 native plant food in, 
 
 419 
 test of water capacity, 
 93 
 glacial, 49 
 
 how to manage, 46, 123 
 kinds of, 46-50 
 light-coloured, to make dark, 
 35 
 
 treatment of, 35 
 loess, 62 
 
 native richness of, 281 
 peat and muck, 60 
 salt marsh, 64 
 sandy, 54, 123 
 sedentary, 46 
 shallow, 30 
 sour and wet, unfavourable 
 
 to bacteria, 337, 401 
 test of water-moving ability, 
 
 95 
 tests for, 72 
 that need liming, 400 
 transported, 47 
 unproductive because mis- 
 managed, 344 
 value of, 50 
 value of testing, 73 
 water capacity of, how to 
 
 increase, 83 
 why they are sour, 400 
 worn-out, and green-manur- 
 ing, 322 
 Soja bean a good soil improver, 341 
 Sour soils, crops for, 401 
 
 how to sweeten, 401 
 tests for, 401 
 what to plant in, 401 
 why so, 400 
 South Carolina, rotation in, 414 
 South Dakota, rotation in, 415 
 Soy bean a good soil improver, 341 
 Spade, ditching, 225 
 Sphagnum moss, 47 
 Spring plowing, 135 
 Stock-feeding and soil fertility, 345 
 Stones as plant food, 25 
 
 heaved up, 5 
 Stony loams, 59 
 
 Streams underground, 85, 243 
 Stubble, fertilising value of, 332 
 Sub-irrigation, 260 
 cost of, 260 
 
 Sub-Irrigation, of soils, 260 
 
 pipes for, 261 
 
 tiles for, 261 
 Subsoil, influence on water capacity 
 of soils, 82 
 
 what it is, 69 
 Subsoiling, 124, 125 
 Succession cropping, profits of, 311 
 Sulky plow, 138 
 Sulphate of ammonia, 378 
 
 nitrogen contents of, 378 
 
 of potash, 386 
 
 high grade, cost of, 386 
 low grade, cost of, 386 
 Sun, influence of, on soil, 34 
 
 like a pump, 89 
 Superphosphate, enriches manure, 
 
 357 
 Swivel plow, 137 
 Sylvinit, a crude potash salt, 385 
 
 Tags, fertiliser, guarantees on, 368 
 
 repetitions in, 369 
 
 studying, 368 
 Temperature changes, results of, 5 
 Temperature of different soils, 32 
 
 of the soil, 31 
 
 for barley, 32 
 for clover, 32 
 for pumpkins, 32 
 for tomatoes, 32 
 Tennessee, rotation in, 415 
 Tests for soils, 72 
 Texas, rotation in, 415 
 Texture, soil, manure improves, 347 
 Tile drains, cost of laying, 228 
 
 kinds of tiles for, 221 
 
 need close joints, 226 
 
 obstructions in, 227 
 
 size of tiles for, 217 
 
 to fix grade, 212, 214 
 
 to lay, 206, 216, 221, 225 
 
 round are best, 221 
 
 use of, 205 
 Tiles, 3-inch best for drains, 217 
 
 cost of, 229 
 
 drainage capacity of sizes, 223 
 
 glazed, 222 
 
 how to lay, 225, 261 
 
 how to select, 222 
 
 kinds of, 221 
 
 relative capacity of sizes, 223 
 
 round, most in use, 221 
 
 special forms of, 221 
 
INDEX 
 
 437 
 
 Tillage after irrigation essential, 270 
 benefits of, 97, 105, 112 
 deep, increases water capacity 
 
 of soils, 83 
 good, value of, 36 
 influence on soil temperature, 
 
 36 
 present emphasis on, 97 
 promotes fertility, 110 
 to kill weeds, 101 
 to prepare seed bed, 98 
 
 Tomatoes, temperature of soil for, 32 
 
 Tools, a variety needed, 186 
 extravagance in, 186' 
 farm, selection of, 185 
 hand, 183 
 
 Transported soils, 47 
 
 Tree seeds, 290 
 
 Trees an aid to drainage, 78 
 
 hardwood preferable, . 290 
 how to transplant, 290 
 quick-growing, to check 
 erosion, 290 
 
 Tree roots obstruct drains, 228 
 
 seedlings, how to set out, 291 
 
 Under-drainage, philosophy of, 205 
 
 cost of, 229 
 
 to lower water-table, 83 
 
 benefits of, 192 
 
 deepens shallow soils, 192 
 
 for clayey soils, 192 
 Under-drains, action of, 205 
 
 cost of laying, 228 
 
 depth of, 219, 220 
 
 distance between, 218 
 
 kinds of tiles for, 221 
 
 to estimate size of, 223 
 Underground streams, 85, 243 
 Unproductive soils have been mis- 
 managed, 344 
 Utah, rotation in, 415 
 
 Value of testing soils, 73 
 Ventilation of the soil, 37, 111 
 Vermont, rotation in, 416 
 Vetches, smooth and hairy, soil im- 
 provers, 341 
 Virginia, rotation in, 416 
 
 Washington, rotation in, 416 
 Water absorbed from air, 31 
 
 amount needed by plants, 
 76, 264 
 
 Water, amount required to produce 
 crops, 238 
 capacity of soils to hold, 80 
 
 93 
 contents of soil, 29 
 distribution for irrigation, 250 
 ditches and flumes, 251 
 duty of, 264 
 film, 30 
 
 amount held by soils, 
 
 81 
 movement of, 87 
 to prevent loss of, 90 
 for irrigation, sources of, 244 
 free, to remove excess, 204 
 held in the soil, 29 
 irrigation, best way to use, 254 
 by flooding, 254 
 by furrows, 257 
 contour check system, 
 
 255 
 filling the checks, 255 
 how to apply, 253 
 on slopes, 255 
 wild flooding, 256 
 loss by evaporation, 88, 93 
 loss by seepage, 84 
 measurement, acre inch, 263 
 for irrigation, 262 
 how to regulate, 262 
 miner's inch, 263 
 modules, 263 
 
 moving, action on soil, 15 
 pipes, 252 
 
 required for arid soils, 265 
 right, cost of, 
 soil, cultivation to save, 163 
 
 maintenance of, 75 
 supply, influence of forests 
 
 on, 84 
 units in measuring, 263 
 Water-built soils, 17 
 Water-moving ability of soils, 92 
 Water-moving ability of soils, test 
 
 of, 95 
 Water-table, 29 
 
 height of, 82 
 Water-wheels, as pumps, 249 
 Weathering of rocks, 3, 5 
 Weeders, types and use of, 156 
 Weeds, best time to kill, 159 
 cultivating to kill, 157 
 Weeds, definition, 101 
 
 discourage laziness, 103 
 
438 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Weeds, friendly words for, 102 
 
 hoeing to kill, 180 
 
 injury done by, 157 
 
 in sown crops, 163 
 
 recipes for, 101 
 
 seeds of, 160 
 
 when they thrive, 160 
 Weight of soils, 26 
 Wet soils are cold, 33 
 When to plow, 134-136 
 White mustard improves light sandy 
 
 soils, 342 
 White sweet clover a soil improver, 
 341 
 
 Wild flooding, irrigation by, 256 
 Willow trees aid drainage, 78 
 Wind as soU builder, 18, 50 
 Windbreaks, hedges and trees as, 278 
 Wind-built soils, 50 
 Windmills, use and cost, 247 
 Wisconsin, rotation in, 416 
 Wood ashes benefit muck soils, 62 
 
 ashes, effect of, 402 
 Worn-out soils in special need of 
 humus, 344 
 
 how to restore, 342 
 Wyoming, rotation in, 417 
 
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