OCR Text |
Show Colloids in Soils Have Much to Do With Plants Now that such words as legumes, humus and bacteria have become fa- miliar to farmers and their relation to the soil fertility is understood, the term "colloid" is about to claim the attention of soil builders. Soil colloids col-loids consist mainly of organic matter and partially decomposed mineral substances sub-stances existing in a very finely divided di-vided state. These colloids are important, im-portant, scientists are finding out, because be-cause they have much to do with plant growth. The extent of bacterial action ac-tion in the soil, its water holding capacity ca-pacity and the solubility of the plant foods depend very largely upon the nature of the colloids present. |