The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1921-09-13
Agriculture
(By J. F. O'Brien)

AS far as agriculture is concerned
VT divide the upper few feet of the
earth into 2 divisions.
1. Soil and sub-soil the prefix
Sub" simply. meaning under or
beneath. Everything that is necessary
for our physical existence comes from
food that we eat the clothes that we
wear, the very bodies in which we
live, came from this u%ppercourst of
the earth and shall return to it again.
And so the cycle goes on for ever.
AS the poet has said:
All nature dies and lives again,
The flower that paints the field;
The trees that crown the noun
tains brow,
And boughs that blossoms yield.
This sinface of the earth was orr
ginally rock and composed of various
minerals, lime, silica, iron, coal etc.
Here in Hawaii which is a compare
lively new portion of the earth's sur
face we have a wonderful opportunity
of studying and seeing how the origi-
n2l rock becomes decomposed or rot
ted and turned into soil. This rot
ting is caused by heat and cold, water
wind, etc. The soil and the subsoil
therefore differ only in their state of
decomposition (rottenness) an d
mount of vegetable matter in them.
The soil is darker than the sub
soil because it abs more of this
rotted animal and vegetables matter
in it, and animal and vegetable mat
ter we call humus. This humus is the
life giving principle of the soil and
the proportion or amount of humus in
the soil greatly influences the crop.
If the soil is rich in humus We say
it is fertile and will yield good crops,
If deficient or poor in humus we call
it infertile and will yield a poor crop.
Hawaiian soils owing to their recent
formation and volcanic origin are ma
turally very deficient in humus and
extremely deficient in nitrogen the
most valuable plant food. Humus
makes the soil spOngy and retains the
water. 1t makes the soil mellow or
crumbly, preventing it from packing.
1t admits air to the roots of the plants
and to the beneficial bacteria which
are in the soil and about which we
shall speak later. The air and water
together dissolve mineral plant food
and make it available or fit for the
plants to feed upon, for plants are
like babies, they cannot eat solid
food. Everything they eat must be in
a liquid state. This humus contains
nitrogen, the most valuable plantfood,
yet we see people b%urrowing up this
humus when they should plow it u
der to make more plantfood. If it
cannot be plowed under it should be
placed in a pit, rotted and returned
to the soil. We have now dealt brief
ly with soil, subsoil and humus and
we might state here that it is very
important for all who intend to study
this agricultural course to get the def
in&tions clearly fixed in their mind for
we shall use them continually; and
also to keep the lessons for future
reference.
Let us now consider such portions
of the soil as are neither animals or
vegetable in their origin commonly
called, Inorganic soil ingredients.
They are simply particles of rock
classified according to size. For con-
venience we divide all sorts into 3
main divisions. l Sand, 2 silt, 3 clay.
Sand is the largest rock particles, silt
is finer than sand, darker and less
angular, and clay is the smallest or
finest rock particles of soil. When
these inorganic soil ingredients are
mixed with the organic or humus con-
tanning ingredient We have several
subdivisions Or types of soil as sandy
soil, silly soil, clay soil, peat soil,
muck soil, loan soil, named particu-
larly after the ingredient which pre-
dominates in their composition. When
the farmer talks of a sandy soil he