Agriculture for Beginners | Page 7

into nitrates; that is, into the form of nitrogen most useful to
plants.
9. It enables plants to resist drought better because the roots go into the
ground deeper early in the season.
A soil that is hard and wet will not grow good crops. The
nitrogen-gathering crops will store the greatest quantity of nitrogen in
the soil when the soil is open to the free circulation of the air. These
valuable crops cannot do this when the soil is wet and cold.
Sandy soils with sandy subsoils do not often need drainage; such soils
are naturally drained. With clay soils it is different. It is very important
to remove the stagnant water in them and to let the air in.
When land has been properly drained the other steps in improvement
are easily taken. After soil has been dried and mellowed by proper
drainage, then commercial fertilizers, barnyard manure, cowpeas, and
clover can most readily do their great work of improving the texture of
the soil and of making it fitter for plant growth.
[Illustration: FIG. 10. A TILE IN POSITION]
=Tile Drains.= Tile drains are the best and cheapest that can be used. It
would not be too strong to say that draining by tiles is the most perfect
drainage. Thousands of practical tests in this country have proved the
superiority of tile draining for the following reasons:
1. Good tile drains properly laid last for years and do not fill up.

2. They furnish the cheapest possible means of removing too much
water from the soil.
3. They are out of reach of all cultivating tools.
4. Surface water in filtering through the tiles leaves its nutritious
elements for plant growth.
=EXPERIMENTS=
=To show the Effect of Drainage.= Take two tomato cans and fill both
with the same kind of soil. Punch several holes in the bottom of one to
drain the soil above and to admit air circulation. Leave the other
unpunctured. Plant seeds of any kind in both cans and keep in a warm
place. Add every third day equal quantities of water. Let seeds grow in
both cans and observe the difference in growth for two or three weeks.
=To show the Effect of Air in Soils.= Take two tomato cans; fill one
with soil that is loose and warm, and the other with wet clay or muck
from a swampy field. Plant a few seeds of the same kind in each and
observe how much better the dry, warm, open soil is for growing farm
crops.
SECTION VI. IMPROVING THE SOIL
We hear a great deal about the exhaustion or wearing out of the soil.
Many uncomfortable people are always declaring that our lands will no
longer produce profitable crops, and hence that farming will no longer
pay.
Now it is true, unfortunately, that much land has been robbed of its
fertility, and, because this is true, we should be most deeply interested
in everything that leads to the improvement of our soils.
When our country was first discovered and trees were growing
everywhere, we had virgin soils, or new soils that were rich and
productive because they were filled with vegetable matter and plant
food. There are not many virgin soils now because the trees have been

cut from the best lands, and these lands have been farmed so carelessly
that the vegetable matter and available plant food have been largely
used up. Now that fresh land is scarce it is very necessary to restore
fertility to these exhausted lands. What are some of the ways in which
this can be done?
[Illustration: FIG. 11. CLOVER IS A SOIL-IMPROVER]
There are several things to be done in trying to reclaim worn-out land.
One of the first of these is to till the land well. Many of you may have
heard the story of the dying father who called his sons about him and
whispered feebly, "There is great treasure hidden in the garden." The
sons could hardly wait to bury their dead father before, thud, thud, thud,
their picks were going in the garden. Day after day they dug; they dug
deep; they dug wide. Not a foot of the crop-worn garden escaped the
probing of the pick as the sons feverishly searched for the expected
treasure. But no treasure was found. Their work seemed entirely
useless.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVE POWER
OF THE SOIL Second crop of cowpeas on old, abandoned land]
"Let us not lose every whit of our labor; let us plant this pick-scarred
garden," said the eldest. So the garden was planted. In the fall the
hitherto neglected garden yielded a harvest so bountiful, so unexpected,
that the meaning of their father's words dawned upon them. "Truly,"
they said, "a treasure was hidden there. Let us seek it