Milton Whitney
Published: 2017-11-20
Total Pages: 76
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Excerpt from The Chemistry of the Soil as Related to Crop Production The objects to be attained in the management of a soil are the deter mination of the crop or crops adapted to it, the regulation Of the yield, and the control of the quality of the product. The investigations made by the Bureau of Soils during the last ten years have Shown that the economic distribution of crops is dependent mainly upon the physical characteristics of soils and upon climate. It has been believed that the chemical characteristics of soils have a more or less direct and controlling influence on the yield Of a crop On any particular soil; that is to say, where wheat yielded 10 bushels per acre in one field, and in an adjoining field (the soil of which had the same texture, so far as could be determined, although it might be in a better physical condition) 25 or 30 bushels were Obtained, this difference in yield would be found to be due to or associated with a difference in the amount of available plant food in the soil of the two fields. It was believed, further, that the better physical condition resulting through loosening up and aerating the soil and exposing it to the weathering influence of the atmosphere by better and more thorough methods Of cultivation would in itself prepare a larger amount of readily available food material for the use of crops. These two subjects, distribution and yield, are both of vital impor tance to the farmer; but While the yield of crops has been a study for the experimenter and farmer alike throughout historic times, too little attention has been paid by him to the adaptation of particular soils to crops. The yield is to-day the paramount question with the farmer, and all his energy and resources in the last analysis tend to this end. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.