Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-02-21
FERTILITY or THE soiL.
uow ~ H. uaintHined md Increased by
Natural Causes.

Natural Causes.
Chemists tell us that the solid mineral
elements Of plants are derived exclusively
from the soil Hence, in their decay or
combustion by fire, none Of these elements
are added 10 the soil that had not before
been taken from it but they are returned
to il in a state TO he more readily taken up
by the roots Of cultivated plants. The
roots Of forest trees and Of many species Of
wild plants penetrate 10 a much greater
depth than those Of most cultivated kinds,
thus bringing up the mineral riches Of the
subsoil aud depositing them within the reach
/ Of the roots Of cultivated plants. But by
/ far the larger part of vegetation is not de
rived from the soil, but from the atmos
l phere and from water Only from one to
ten per cent is of mineral origin. Every
successive year the decay Of vegetation
/ leaves upon the surface the material derived
/ from the atmosphere for fertilizing organic
compounds 1t has been question among
chemists in what way these organic com
pounds nourish the plant, but it is not ques-
toned that they add to the fertility Of the
]
mains
In our heavily timbered. hard wood for
ests, the fallen leaves annually cover the
ground to the depth of several inches. If
they were TO remain IN an unchanged state,
in less than a century they would cover the
ground to the depth of many feet per.
haps, on an average, 90 feet or more. Es-
timating that this yearly accumulation Of
leaves and dead vegetable matter may in
time be reduced TO the one-hundreth part
of an inch in depth, in one hundred years
it would amount to full inch, in one thou
sand years to ten inches How many hun
bred years-how many thousand years has
this process continued There would be a
vast accumulation of these organic remains
upon the earth's surface did they not again
and again return, in part, at least, TO the
source from whence they came.
Other natural agencies are constantly at
work preparing the food of plants Causes
so silent and gradual in their effects as
hardly to he observed during the lifetime
Of an individual, are sufficient to change a
country from barrenness to fertility grant
ing only the length of time indicated by the
| facts of geological science New combina-
| tions Of elements not fertile in their sepa
rate state, that become so in their com
/ pounds, are continually taking place. The
/ solid rocks are pulverized and worn away
/ they rust and tarnish the wind the storm
/ the frost and the abrasion Of water. re
| duce them Both chemical and mechanical
| forces are constantly at work grinding from
| their surfaces the flour that plants con
sumo. If the solid rocks are thus pulver-
lied, it is evident that their smaller frag
ments and the coarser particles of the soil
are more exposed to the same mechanical
and chemical forces
Myriads of insects and minute forms of
animal life leaving their remains in the soil
is another source Of fertility. Some of
these insects-as the ants-are also uncon
scious tillers of the soil, burrowing in it
and rendering it porous and pulverous
l Millions of these are contained in every
acre Of our dry soils. Many extensive
geological deposits, it is well known, are
almost wholly composed Of the remains Of
minute forms of animal life. BY these
agencies, by the decomposition of animal
and vegetable matter. by new combinations
Of the elements, by disintegration and pull.
verization, by mechanical and chemical
forces, nature has prepared the way for
the present products Of the soil
According to the theory of modern sci
entists, there was a time when the earth
was herbless and treeless, the lower forms
of vegetation appearing first, as the lichens
and other orders of cryptogamous or non
towering plants, to be gradually succeeded
by the higher orders as the material to sus
tain their growth accumulated. until after
the lapse of innumerabe ages, the present
wealth of vegetation appears the thou
sands Of species of beautiful Towering
plants, the forests and the fields of waving
grain If this theory be true, then many
Of the causes of this progressive fertility
are as active and potent at this time as ever
before
We need have no fears of the earth be
coming exhausted and unfertie on the
contrary. it seems to be the tendency of ma
ture to increase the Accommodations of plant
food. Whenever they are exhausted by
injudicious culture, nature at once sets to
work to repair the loss and what is taken
from one locality is received at another
Thus New England receives the fertiizing
elements of the millions of bushels of west
ern grain that she consumes