The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-15
A Remarkable Soil Maker
H DIRECTOR NATURE


made ready for the operations of hu-
man agriculture long before man
touches 1t with pillow or spade. The OK
ygen of the air in the presence of mols-
ture ccrrodes and eats away the metal
lie veins and the ores of various kinds
mingled with the solid rock which
forms the crust or solid part of the
earth. For the earth is rock, COW
cred in most places with a thin. eX-
tremely thin layer of soil. Its lower
places also are covered with water
the oceans. The oceans and the other
waters wear this rock into stones,
gravel. sand and finer powder called
clay and silt. The carbon dioXide of
the air attacks the rock, especially the
limerick, and dissolves il in the rain
or water that contains the carbon di-
oxid. Plants attack the rock with their
acid roots. and both dissolve and rend
them apart. Microscopic organisms
called spores. the seeds" of minute al
gaze and fungi, terminate and grow to-
gether on rock surfaces and dissolve
and pulverize the hard rock into fine
powder The rain enters the creYices
of the rock, dissolVes out the rock ma
terial. and freezing in winter rends the
rock apart, till il is split off in scale
like pieces of all sizes. Wind, rain,
SnoWslide, rivulet and river carry. mix
and spread out this soil material.
Beetles enrich it by burying organic
matter and the bodies of small ami
mails beneath the surface, Ants pillow
and work it up in making their homes.
Angleworms pulverize it into fine pow
der and mix it with the decaying leaves
which they eat The burrowing ami
mals-gophers. rabbits, chipmunks.
squirrels, badgers, etc, turn up the soil
and transport it for short distances.
Every movement OF tree roots. of I'M
foreground or surface water every
change of temperatuTe-heat, frost.
etc.--eontributes to the pulverizing and
grinding up process. Numberless mi
croscopic plants called bacteria, set to
work upon the manure Of animals and
change il into forms in which the
larger plants can use it. Then nature
covers the soil with vegetation that
springs up by reason Of seeds trans
ported to every corner of the earth.
Rain OF dew irrigates the crop. Bees
and other flying insects cross-fertiliZe
the flowers so that the seeds will ripen.
Birds and toads keep down the insects
that would otherwise destroy every
crop in natures great garden. And so
man is able. with the aid of these
and other natural laborers, to
gather a crop from his small gar
dens. While natures vast product is
raised to feed the unnumbered hosts
Of animals not used by man.
Problem of the Rocks.
Next time you go into one of our
canyons pause before a large rock
mass there and consider how it might
be converted into a soil surface fit TO
support a growth of vegetation.
You might ask how this can be done
Can man with Dlows. even with steel
ploWs sledge hammers, crOwbars. etc.
convert this rock into soil? He can
not; but nature has ways of doing this
vast and apparently impossible piece
of work. This rock and. in fact. all
rock. certain natural agencies seem de-
termined 10 form into soil 1t requires
greater power than man has at his
command to transform these solid.
barren rocks into plant food Man can
neither pillow nor successfully SOW seeds
here. They would only blow away; il
Is useless to try.
Seeds Already Sown.
Yet if We stop to look at the rock
with microscope we shall find that it
IS not altogether barren, for when we
look closely We find that something has
already been sown there.
The pioneer laboTers. before de-
scribed, have just begun the work. II
was far from finished when they left
II. Seeds have been scattered here by
nature and are not TO be wasted. Float
ing about in the air are countless
numbers of spore dust-substances
that correspond TO the seeds of other
plants. The minute spores and cells of
these strange forms of vegetation that
make up the lichen are carried upon
every breeze, and travel around the
whole globe The resulting vegetation
which can be seen on every old rock
wall, roof and tombstone, and on the
rock masses of all our mountain tons
furnishes one of the most interesting
and instructive chapters of nature
study. Photographic" marks on rocks
are usually lichens, the hard coating
of green, yellow, gray and black
moss, as it is generally called. ad-
herring 70 rocks long exposed. is com
posed Of hchens. The spores or fine
dust from which they grow are so light
that they cannot settle unless the air
Is very quiet, and even then the least
breeze viii disturb them.
But they are somewhat sticky. and
this quality enables them 10 remain
when once they alight, so that they
cling TO bare rock. As soon as settled.
they begin 10 grow. They are the first
traces of vegetable life to Dut in an
appearance upon recent streams of
lava. The lava lichens are lust like
helpless stains of dust. and are no.
ticeable only 10 those who look out for
them. Upon first acquaintance. we
could not discover or even suppose that
they would be at all dangerous to hard
rock, for they look perfectly Hfeless.
However, they are very much alive.
and are not at all like the ant which
comes and goes when its work is done.
The lichen. on the contrary. comes TO
stay, and il never leaves until it is
bodily displaced by more important
members of the plant kingdom. In
fact, Hchens are simply the advance
guard of the vegetable host with which
nature has planned to break down,
sooner or later, the hard. barren sur
face of the rocky crust of the earth
and 10 convert it into productive soil.
This Is a process. to be sure. which
requires years and decades for its COM
pleuOn. In the case Of the lava rock.
il must first cool and great numbers
of the hchens have been scOrched to
death IN their attempt to settle upon
The uncOoled masses. They have also.
At some time. found the rock too
glossy, and have failed to secure a
Judgment thereon, being blown away as
fast as they came. But others con-
tinue 10 arrive until. with help of the
pioneer laborers, they soon roughen
The rock and are able TO fix themselves
with so firm a hold that neither wind
nOr rain can dislodge them. Then