Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-02-28
SOIL FERTILITY.
Attention Must be Given to Me
chanical Condition of Soil
as Well as its Supply of
Plant Food.

So firmly has the idea, that sol
fertility is simply question OF
plant food in the soil, taken hold
of great many of our farmers that
/ almost question whether we would
not really now be in better shape TO
get the maximum good out of fer
tilizers had we continued to accept
Jethro Tulls idea that tillage is
manure" So important part does
proper tillage play in soil fertility
that, had we acted upon this belief,
many of our soils would to-day be
in better shape than they actually
are. While it is not actually so,
yet we will not go very far wrong
if we assume that nature, knowing
that our soils would be called upon
to produce crops forever and day,
stored those soils with supply Of
plant food for all future needs. But,
very wisely, she placed most of this
food in form that would not dis
solve in water. Now we know that
all food assimilated by plants from
the soil is taken up by them in the
form IF solution, so before the
plants can derive any benefit from
any substance in the soil that ma
terial must first have been dissolved
in water.
The agents that do this are large.
ly the same that wore away and
demolished adamantine rocks from
which our soil is derived and we
must understand what these were
and the conditions under which
they will continue to actif we want
to utilize this reserve store Of food
to the fullest extent. Briefly sta.
ted, the most live of these agents
Are the oxygen of the air; changes
of temperature. causing an alter
nate expansion and contraction OF
the material; the power of water In
freezing and also its wearing power
in running down hill to find Its
level; acids exuded by the roots OF
growing plants as we'll as those de-
rived from their decay when death
takes place; even burrowing animals
and the lowly earth worm add
their mite towards robbing natures
,storehouse.
What the Bacteria Do.
THERE'S still another set of agents
engaged in this work that are OF
very great importance and that toe
often are not considered, possibly
because they are so humble and un'
obtrusive that we seldom see work
that we can always attribute direct,
ly to them. When the existence OF
germs and microbes was first dis
covered it was little dreamed that
we were forming our first acqualnt,
anoe with some of the farmers
chief friends-little beings that to-
day we are learning are very lmpor,
tant agents in working over and
preparing the material of our soil
for the use of plants. These bacte-
ria, we are beginning to learn, are
of the greatest importance in reu,
dering and keeping soil fertile,
So important are they in this res
pect that their absence means an
unproductive soil, while they are
found in the greatest abundance in
the most fertile soils. A fertile
soil, then, is one teeming with life
and is no longer the mass of dead,
inert matter that we have so long
considered it. 1t has long been
recognized that ton of stable ma
nure invariably gave results far i'll
excess of what we were warranted
in expecting from its composition
of plant food. An average ton of
this material only contains about
so or $3.50 worth of plant food
and yet it is well known that we reap
much more than this benefit from
It's use. Even when vegetable mat
ter is used with commercial fertiliz-
ers to supply the humus, the stable
manure still gives better results.
A close study of the composition of
stable manure shows it to be in re-
ality a mass of these living bacte-
ria-or to speak more correctly
thatit contains thee organisms in
innumerable numbers. When we
add this manure to cur soil we start
the growing and development of
bacteria just as when the house
wife adds the yeast cake to her
dough. These organisms in their
search for food attack the insoluble
compounds of the soil and convert