PRODUCE HUMUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 538, 15 December 1928, Page 30

PRODUCE HUMUS

GREEN MANURING A good way of increasing the, amount of humus in the soil and it 3 fertility is by green manuring. This is particularly necessary in the market garden and the orchard, and in these days when animal manure in any quantity is hard to come by, is the only satisfactory method of keeping the ground up to the mark. MANY YEARS AGO From Water to Land There is little doubt that life, both animal and vegetable, first made its appearance in water, and that many years passed before some adventurous forms invaded the land and adapted themselves to a terrestrial ! existence. Algae and seaweeds may be regarded as direct descendants of the original aquatic types, but what are generally designated water plants to-day, such as water lily, water hyacinth and water violet, are the offsprings of typical land plants which ! have taken to water late in life. From Land to Water A careful search of the growth on the banks of a pond or lake shows very clearly how the transition from land to water has been brought about. The upper ground will / be covered with vegetation common to the land of the district, but as the soil becomes wetter these give place to such forms as rushes and iris. These in turn are replaced as the water's edge is approached by reeds, arrowhead and mangoes. Then come water lilies, pond weeds and many others, some of which are rooted in the mufl at the bottom, while others float suspended at the surface. Thus we find graduation from ordinary land plants to marsh and bog species to true aquatics.