Pocahontas star herald., 1914-03-27
Weekly Letter OF John n. Page

i - '"at7 " optfAliuu
IN all agricultural work. The soil,
or the dirt OF which Your land lsl
made, eontains those elements of
nature required to make vegetable
matter grow. The soil then is re
posilory or ssorehouse tor plant
food. The sol itself does no. grow
plants. The elements Of nature are
stored in the soil. The moisture or
water and warmth in the soil ger
inmates or sprouts the seed, aud the
plant comes Up" so to speak. Sand
would serve The same purpose.
When the seed itself seem. to de-
cay aud pass away. In doing 80 II
gives a certain amount Of plant
food, sufficient 70 sustain life m
the young plant until its small roots
begin TO develop. Then the
plant food from the soil and gets Its
susienance. la seed sprouts and
comes up in clean white sand It
will look healthy and vigorous at
first, but soon die, because there is
no plant food lor It. II lt sprouts
in the soil j, wlll grow aud thrive
IN proportion to the available plant
food IN the soil, II properly cultiva-
ted.
There are ten elements Of nature
IN the soil on which plants feed
live and grow. Heat, light and
air also are necessary. THESE
are drawn from sbove. OF the ele
ments OF nature ii the soil. all soils
contain enough Of each one except
TOUR, namely nitnpgen, phosphorus,
potash aud lime. n not one OF these
elements were absent the plant
would not'gIow. |lf there is small
amount of any one element in pro-
portion to the Other plants, no mat.
ter what they are wall no, do we'll
This will eiplaia why some soils
viii make gaAase.sps AID othcrs
vii not. Didsfeat cropa also re-
qaire differently propoisioned guam
Titles Of ihe.e eiemen,s, known as
plant food. Thas a soll may pro-
duee q dns coop Of giape. and a
poor crop ol corn, cotton OF oais.
The pllots ather ,bir own plan,
food ihioaeh lheir tiny roots To
gather the plant food, there must be
moisture. The plants require q
grcu deal Of water, b1t 10 thrive
The water must contain the plant
food. or elements Of nature. Too
much water prevents the plants from
getting the proper proportion Of
p ant food or enough of it. If the
plants grow too large and rank and
do not put on enough'fruit or seed,
It is an indication that there Is too
much nitrogen IN proportion 10
phosphorous and potash. If the
plants are small and scrawny under
favorable conditions it means a lack
of nitrogen. If you use fertilizer
remember these facts when you buy
or use it.
The land should be plowed deep
IN the fsll or winter, and made loose
in the spring before planting, so the
ground will hold plenty Of moisture,
and 50 the esnall roots Of the plants
can find their way in all directions
in search Of plant food. If manure
lis used 10 should be thoroughly
mixed 10 the soil The small roots
will iind way TO it and gather in
ibe plant food The plant food is
taken up ~ the tmaIl hair roots.
Remtmber thgs sIie,a roots extend
ont and away from Tie plant. So
you see putting manure Or fcr-
tilizsr in the i'm where the seed
i. planted is not the best. In cul-
tiyaling a crop the weeds aud grass
should be kept out, because they
take up the plant food that the plants
should have, and shade and choke
them too. The soil should lie loose
aud mellow at planting time so il will
b. necessary TO stir it deep
and break up the roots
that are later on gathering
plant food. The soil should be