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Show HUMUS HELPS DRY FARMING Increased Power of Soil to Hold Water Without Becoming Water-Logged Prevents Washing. 1. Humus is decaying vegetable matter mat-ter in the soil. 2. It is the storehouse of nitrogen, most expensive and the most necessary neces-sary of all plant foods. 3. It contains the food upon which the soil organisms live, whose function func-tion is to convert organic nitrogen into nitrates In order to bo available for the use of plants. It also materially mate-rially assists in decomposing the mineral min-eral constituents of the soil, such as potash and phosphoric acid, making mak-ing them available for tbe use of plants. 4. It increases the power of the soil to hold water without becoming waterlogged. water-logged. 5. It makes clay soil more open and friable. It also serves to compact sandy soil and Increases Its drought-resisting drought-resisting power. 6. It prevents washing to a great extent, ex-tent, thereby diminishing the loss of fertility by that cause. 7. Soil filled with humus more readily read-ily admits the air so necessary to all useful plant growth. j 8. There appears to be a distinct relationship between the amount of humus In the soil and the amount of available nitrogen therein. It has also been observed that as humus disappears disap-pears from the Boil there is a distinct reduction of the ability of that soil to grow crops. Hence in practice in order to obtain the best crops we have to resort to barnyard manure and the furnine under of vegetable matter rather than tbe use of concentrated, fertilizers. , ' ! I |