The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1921-09-20
Agriculture
(By ]. F. O'Brienl

We have learned that the various
types of soil are designated according
to the quantity of rock particles or
vegetable matter they contains so
the soil weight is also influenced by
the size of the particles. humus and
water. The coarse or sandy soils are
naturally the heaviest and the peat
and muck soils the lightest, because
they contain more humus. The color
of Che soils, depends also upon their
composition. The sandy soils are
lighter in color. Humus makes the
soil darker and of course water tenn
porarily darkens the soil. Therefore
If we van to buy a farm, or choose
a good piece of ground, we can make
a pretty good estimate of its value
by its composition and color. We
have learned that plants live upon
liquid food, so that water in the soil
is absolutely necessary for the growth
of plants. Ninety percent of cabbage
n lettuce is water and 80 per cent
If corn and potatoes. Water is also
composed of oxygen and hydrogen,
two of the ten essential plant foods.
OF course to have the plant water
logged would drown it out, but pro-
vided the drainage is good, SO that
the excess water can flow off, it is
seldom the plant gets too much mois-
ture from rains. After a rain or irri-
CATION the surface of the soil should
be cultivated to admit air to the roots
because air al w have already seen
is necessary for the organization of
the seed and the successful growth
of the plant. This brings us to the
next essential condition for the sue
cessful growing of crops.
Plant food in the soil. Hawaiian
soils already stated are very def
,cient in some of the most important
plant foods. Plant food in the soil
depends upon (1) the size of the soil
particles, the larger the particles the
less plantfood. (2) Formation or slope
of the land, sloping land like we have
in Hawaii teaches or washes more
quickly than level land (3) humus,
which contains plantfood and liber-
ates other plantfood in the soil by its
decaying process and (4) the crop
system. The farmer who grows the
same crop continually eventually *
hausts the plantfood for that particu-
lar crop, and the yield becomes so
poor as not to pay for the labor. Some
farmers calls it crop sick" land, not
a bad name for it. Even the sugar
plantations cannot grow the large
crops of cane they originally did and
some of them spend many hundred
thousand dollars on fertilizers each
year when by rotation of crops, grow
ing of legumes, returning the humus
to the soil, and increasing the length
of the stalks by scientific seed selec-
ton the same amount could be grown
upon a much smaller acreage.
The third and final step in the pro-
cess of successful crop growing we
might term:
Plant environment. Plants like ami
mails throw off extra or waste and
unless this waste is disposed of they
will sicken and die. We must clear
out the poisonous materials by letting
in air and light through cultivation
and by rotating the crops. We might
sum up this portion of our study by
stating hat plants must drink, plants
must feed, plants must have a healthy
home to live in.
Plant Food Elements. All agricul-
tural plants are composed of ten es-
sential chemical elements and the
growth of any crop is absolutely de-
pendent upon the supply of these ten
plantfood elements. If any n of
them is limited the crop will be limit
ed. Four of these, oxygen, hydrogen,
nitrogen and carbon are taken from
the air and the remaining set, iron,
calcium, potassium neagnesuinm
phosphorus and suffur are taken from
the soil. There are others such as
SILICON aluminium sodiums but they
are not essential to the growth Of
plants. Plants are largely composed
of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and
these are taken from the air. The
younger the plant the greater the pro-
portion of hydrogen, because the pro-
portion of water is greater, and water
is simply oxygen and hydrogen (H20)
2 parts hydrogen and 16 parts oxygen
The soil is never deficient many of
the %plantfoods but 4 viz. nitrogen,