RESTING THE SOIL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 351, 16 March 1889, Page 5

RESTING THE SOIL.

absolute re s t good for the soil ? Sir J. B. Lawea says nob. On the contrary he claims to have proved by experiments ofb repeated that land at rest and unoccupied by a crop wastes and lo?es fertility. Soil kept constantly at work, he says, i*< gathering strength and fertility, both from the atmosphere and through its own gradua' decomposition which is effected by the roots of the crops it nourishes. Roots have ability to decompose the mineral elements of the coil and to gather matter from the air, both of which are changed into plant food. When in a porous condition, too, the soil oxidizes organic matter and accumulate^ nitrogen, but it must be kept porous to render it effective. Hence, when not actually growing crops, it should still be kept active by working it with the plough, and particu arly by manuring it. There is a prevalent idea, that land loses much of its man u rial treasures by percolation after rains. Experience proves rather the opposite. Sandy land that ha-> been salted will show in dry weather following rain the fino white saline efflorescence on its surface; and clayey soil will show the same to a much greater extent. The ie?son from practical facts like these is obvious. Plough land in thg autumn, ploughing in a liberal dressing of good manure. T< is will keep your fit-Ids active all winter, and you will find in spring that the manure has beeu decomposed and becomes part and parcel of the soil itseli — greatly enriching it and ensuri' q it a proportionately increased crop of whatever it is asked to produce. Thus is it, like mercy, twice blessed, ble=sing both him that gives and him that receives.