The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1907-01-17
THE AIR IN THE SOIL.
important Part u Plays in Making
Plant Food Available.


There Is a soil atmosphere as Ger.
tainly as there Is an atmosphere above
the surface of the soil. This is not
generally understood. II is imagined
that no air pcuetrates the soil be-
u q person could be smothcred
in the soil. IL is not that there is no
air in the soil that a person smothers,
but because that air is not in mo
ton sufficient to supply the lungs
with the large amount Of oxygen re-
quired every minute. The soil OF the
earth is full OF air as certainly as the
waters of the ocean are full of air,
which is breathcd by the living things
in the sea by lean of appliances es.
pecially adapted to that purpose. The
insects and worms deep in the ground
breathe air and live by SO doing.
Everything is full of air down to the
solid rock. II is this soil atmosphere
that supplies nitrogen to the minute
plants on the roots of other plants,
that it may be made over into a kind
of nitrogen that the plants can feed
upon. The amour of air ia the soil
Is surprising in its quantity, says the
Farmers Review. II is not small, as
might be supposed, but very large.
Onc-half of a cubic foot of soil Is air
space. The soil particles in a foot of
earth of average texture have a sur.
face of over three acres. We see
then, how it is that the soil warns up
quickly if it is we'll drained. The air
In the soil readily transmits the heat
rays. That air should be in III soil
is very necessary, and its presence
should be encouraged by draining the
soil so as to keep out water. The
presence of water in the soil is the
greatest detriment TO the presence OF
air, as the amount Of air in water Is
very small compared with the proper
ton of air in the soil, in which the
only water Is the film water surround
ing the soil PARTICLES. Most plants
that are useful on the farm cannot
grow with as little air Us they can get
out of water. but there are some that
can Such, however. are the marsh
grasses and forms of vegetation that
we call semi-aquatic. Even the aquatic
grasses use air, but only in small
quantities, which they are prepared
to draw from the water. We under.
stand but little as yet about the use
of air plants and what plants require
more and what less air. or what
plants are adapted to get their air
from the water and what from the
land. We merely say that this plant
or that plant is injured by the We. If
a man is devoting his farm to the
growing of plants that need much air
in their feeding operations, he must
see to it that the soil Is so free from
water that the roots of the plants can
find free air and can take their water
only in the form OF the film that sur.
rounds the soil particles. This con
sideration should lead to much more
perfect drainage than we now have on
most farms. If the drainage is only
fair the water Will remain about the
roots of the growing plants for days
and during hat time the growth OF
the plants will be at a s%tandstill. Toe
much water will therefore sometimes
extend the growing season of the corn
plant till It is caught by the frost, be
cause the plant has lost time and haC
TO stand still for days in its develop
ment.