St. Landry democrat., 1888-08-18
AERATION OF SOIL.
Its Importance Illustrated by Number OF
Observations.

+ AUS importance Illustrated Dy d NumDeF U
Observations.
, In the Mediterranean regions thu
! steep mountain slopes and hillside
/ are terraced for the culture of oranges
lemons and olives, and these terrace:
are held in place by rough stone walls
laid up without mortar or cement
Behind these loose walls, trees, shrubs
and vines are grown with the Creates
success, as they have been for cent
uries. A wealthy English gentleman
who spends his winters at Mentone
on tF . shores of the great tropical sea
named above, thought to improve upon
the customs of the country by build.
ing his terrace walls of stones laid in
cement. But, to his surprise, his
trees made a feeble, sickly growth,
and bore miserable crops, while those
OF his poor peasant neighbors growing
behind dry and often dilapidated
walls, We're models of health and pro-
ductiveness. The removal of some OF
these walls brought to light most i'm
porta1lt fact IN agriculture-then neces-
sity of soil pration to the healthful
growth of roots. The rear side of the
loose and dry rubble walls was COM
pletely closed with a mat of finely
interlaced root fibers from the fruit
trees growing on the terraces. The
mat followed down the walls, clear to
the base, and extended to a consider
able distance, horizontally, in both di-
rections. Thus large surface was ex-
posed to the beneficial influence of the
atmosphere. Behind the cemented
walls, however, no such root develop
ment was found. The rootlets spread
out somewhat beneath the surface of
the narrow terrace, but failed to fol-
low the walls downward. The cement
ed walls had shut out the oxygen, and
there was no encouragement for root
growth. The trees were restricted in
their nutrition, and a depauperate
growth was the result.
In. my experience in washing out
roots of various plants at our New
York State Experiment Station, l have
been often struck with the fact that
the roots of crops spread out over the
surface of the layer of soil that lies
just beneath the plow-line, as upon a
table. The roots are almost exclusive
ly in the lower three inches of the soil
moved by the plow The loose sur
fooa 1orar of coil 70 +ho
dry rubble wall. Beneath it is the
mat of roots. Every florist finds the
mat of roots always close to the inner
wall of the pots. If he uses a glazed
pot the plants do not prosper, the roots
being deprived of the influence of
oxygen. They are in the same condi-
tion as were the gentleman's trees
growing behind the cemented walls
The moral is obvious. We must keep
the surface soil loose. We
are admonished to do this
in order to prevent evapora-
ton, but this is but half of the argu-
ment, as the illustrations to hand so
clearly show. Nature in some mys-
terious way provides for her own nra-
ton. Go into the woods where the soil
supports a vigorous vegetation and
take up spadeful of earth. 1t will be
found fully as porous as the most thor
oughly cultivated field. The sod
ground along an old fence, though not
disturbed by the plow for half cent
lry, is always porous and friable.
But in cultivated fields, where we dis
,urb natural processes, the soil be-
comes compacted, unless kept loose by
,illage. How then can we expect
good crop from a baked soil, or good |
5ield of fruits from trees in land packed |
nto hardpan by cattle or swine? The
ame truth is illustrated in cities, where
hade trees refuse to grow along paved |
treets.-Prof E. S. Gof, in N. Y.
Tribune.