Show GOOD Campbell superintendent of the farm demonstration asks and answers the question is good in which he says The requisites for good farming can be counted on the fingers of one Available plant food in the Such preparation of the seed and such methods of cultivation as will conserve the moisture and thereby keep the plant food available during the entire growing at the proper good seed of a variety adapted to the The proper distribution of plants over the Prevent other plants from crowding and the ones from which we hope to gather our Most of our soils contain a far greater amount of plant food than we average originally The question of how to make this available for the use of growing plants is so simple that all can understand who The little plants can not eat even the well developed plants cannot eat even small Even the mightiest oak in our forests is utterly incapable of digesting the smallest particle of soil or of extracting the plant from the most finely pulverized soil so long as that soil is No either large or has the power to extract plant food from the soil and appropriate the same to its own use except in liquid In order to make available the largest amount of plant food in the the soil must be thoroughly pulverized and then sufficiently compacted that the soil particles will be surrounded by a thin film of which will dissolve a portion of the plant food in the This water is then taken up by the tender plant The plant food contained in same is appropriated by the plant and the surplus water passed off into the A thoroughly pulverized nicely formed and containing the requisite amount of makes an ideal condition for plant feeding and consequently plant A very closely compacted soil makes poor feeding ground for plants Because the little feeder roots enter such soil with Because such soil will not retain a sufficient amount of moisture to dissolve and make available sufficient plant Very loose soil is not very good feeding ground for plants' because the air and heat passing too freely through such soil dry it out so that it does-not long contain a sufficient amount of water to dissolve the necessary plant It is very difficult for the little feeder roots to travel around in this kind of soil and gather and dispatch to the plant above sufficient food to secure good The soil particles must be sufficiently pressed together to enable the capillary attraction to bring up the moisture from the Soils that are too dry do not make good feeding because plants can not but must drink their Soils that are too wet do not make good feeding ground there is too little substance in the water which the feeder It is like feeding a child on too thin a Land that is continually wet is transformed most excellent farms by tile This draws off the surplus and the surplus from the tile The soil then pulverized the necessary air is permitted to enter to keep the soil alive and instead of dead and clammy as Such soil will retain the proper amount of moisture for ideal plant and will replenish its supply from the wet subsoil below the To enable the upper stratum of the wherein is contained by far the largest per cent of plant to carry the proper amount of moisture to dissolve and properly dilute this food for the use of it is necessary that this soil be well but reasonably Preparation of such seed bed as will keep the plant food available during the entire growing season is absolutely Three of most of our top soil contain ample plant food to grow a perfect yet the man who prepares a seed bed of only three inches usually makes a partial and a total for the very simple reason that a five or six inch stratum of soil can not carry sufficient deposit of moisture to render the plant food available during an extended seldom escape a drouth of more or less To grow crops successfully it is just as essential to have a deposit of Plants can not use the one without the They will live longer in a tub of clear Avater than they will in a bed of the richest 6 When we have a sufficient deposit in bank it will tide us through until harvest but it is far more essential when the drouth begins to pinch that we be found with a sufficient deposit of moisture in the soil or in the subsoil and proper connections made so that the plant may check on it than it is to have a deposit of money in the |