Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-29
BEST THOUGHT IN AMERICA
DIGEST OF THE MAGAZINES

years ago. In 1908 Italy's harvest
OF cereals alone was five times that Of New
York, though her area is but twice as great
Counting her systematically cropped forests
"a per cent. of her territory is worked by
men and women who understand the uses
of their land as thoroughly as mechanic
understands his tools.
The problem of infertile soils seems to be
not one of forced feeding or the use of drug
stimulants but air, light, deep plowing, In
tenSiVe cultivation, exercise, suggesting fur
ther interesting analogies with modern med
ical practice. Such. soils are sick. Open the
windows of the fields, let in the air and sun
light to the roots of the plants, and the
oxygen will cleanse the poisons from the air
they breathe and from the soil solution which
they feed.
The United States Bureau of Soils has now
isolated 81 organic compounds. none Of which
had previously been known to exist in the
soil. It's patient work has slowly trans
formed our knowledge of the soil, and we
begin to perceive that it is a highly complex
organism, with vital functions akin to those
by which we ourselves live and breathe, per-
petually changing, a crucible, like the stom-
ach of animals, where organic compounds are
formed and reduced, and where the mineral
plant food elements are transformed as they
are in the course of human metabosm.
These discoveries are no summons TO waste
the mineral content of the soil, or to neglect
the use of mineral fertilizers. They are a
call to the intelligence of the farmer cry
for self-reliance and discriminating cult
walton.
Raising Ancestors
This analogy between the soil from which
we sprang and our own lives is carried fir
ther by Royal Dixon, whose studies Of plant
life are reviewed in Current Opinion ~; he
asserts that the flowers WOO and marry:
Before the mating of any pair of plants
occurs, there is at this stage in the eVoIu,
ton OF many among them a brief pertcf Oh
what must be called Courtship. The happy
and gallant wooer adorns himself gorgeously
with brilliant flowers, each having powdered
faces, calling to his love on every breeze ne
In considering this plant courtship, there
is one point which needs special emphasis,
a point which must necessarily he reltefaleu
time and again. 1t is the existence OF sone
guiding force, too impulsive to be mechanical'
too versatile and efficient to be instinctVe;,
which controls the actions and manners VI
plants in all the stages of their Reproductive
functions. There is an almost human saI
gacity in these actions; in the display y.
brilliant colors and soft perfumes 70 atLaGs ttaa,
their lovers; in the cunning when tney % siUn hs,
in imprisoning bee if he should arrive oe,
fore the pollen grains are ready to DO siIteu
on his back, and of holding hlm soneLles ,lsen
days at time, until he can go forth ldugi' 1e.I
with the pollen that is to adhere 10 u pis.,, p
and so find its way to the ovary ana perform ~
the great miracle that results In seeusi ~
the many similar tricks when they eLv use ~
entice and to hold; all Worklhg uosTtaS. sHsa
toward that one great aim of plant NE
reproduction.
There is similar emphasis in an article On
breeding grains by e. B. Powell OF the oni-'
versity of Illinois, in the Review OF KeVieN'
(5):
It is conceded, in theory at least, that at 70 70
be we'll born is a right. 1t Is known una. A.
be nicely hatched-from the ancestrai sstI aaion
MONTHS distinct cause for congratulau.Iun .u
we are now discovering that to give .bs .bs
plants the best available grandfatheIs land nj
part of wisdom Therefore, all over the sss laa,S.
scientists are engaged in tying little papes
bags over sweet peas and other biossOhHs
that no outside pollen may come a-l4vsiIhd l4esIshsd
ing and destroy the purity OF theH cis'
strains. - o, hrsaders
Germany has 46 breeders of rye "a preSsu'5s gS "a
of wheat GA breeders Of barley anain Anu
breeders of oats Now that the price o. IN, must
the United States is so high, the FARMER arls,nt
get the most possible from 1t or cond9eS, coliaSnai
losing business. When notable lnustt1 'i,st not
appears in the field Its destination n'' to be.
be the elevator; it must pe uestlheu
come an ancestor.